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Big Lake Murray limits at the KBF Trail Event


The big bass at Lake Murray came to play once again during the Kayak Bass Fishing Trail Series for an exciting late winter event with early Spring action

The Kayak Bass Fishing Trail Series had the second stop of the season back at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina. This fishery produced bass in 2022 and were showing themselves up shallow once again in 2023. Old Town Pro Casey Reed came determined to prove what he and this fishery were all about.

The patterns around the lake seemed to be open for whichever style you preferred from finesse to power fishing in deep or shallow water. With water temps in the mid to high 50’s, the Murray bass were positioned everywhere in the lake and seemingly all interested in what anglers had to offer. Big bass were being seen and caught all over the lake from the creeks to the main lake. 2022 Lake Murray Champion Jeremy Heath had landed a monster 25 plus inch behemoth in practice that left him frustrated that he didn’t have a scale with him to get her weight. Jackson Kayaks Pro Hank Veggian had stories of a double digit bass of a lifetime that got away and thats just a couple of the many big bass stories during to the event.

Lake Murray Trail I

Trail I on Saturday showed out to have a slower bite for some but the leaderboard lit up with some impressive limits. Rain and wind had dirtied up a lot of areas changing the bite for a lot of anglers. Wilderness Systems Pro Eric Nelson had a slow start but landed a couple descent fish to put him up the leaderboard, but was unable to get a couple more key culls to make it to the top 10. The difference between 10th place and 1st was over 10 inches with impressive limits in the 90’s in the top 6 spots. Casey Reed was able to pull out the win with 98.5 inches over Ryan Nye’s 95.5 inches. Casey had found some main lake area fish in practice that had been fired up in the back of a pocket, which was now a dirty mess. However he was able to find some big bass roaming around where he had spotted beds in the area. Picking it apart with his favorite method to fish with a Cashion CK Series Shaky Head Rod and Zoom Mag Trick worm.

Jeremy Heath was a threat at the lake that he knows well, and pulled off a 7th place finish and lit the big bass board up with the top 2 bass of the day with a 23.25 and a 22.5 inch bass taking home the Dakota Lithium Big Bass bonus. The Big Bass board had 37 entries of 20 or more inches.

Trail I Full Leaderboard

1	Casey Reed	98.5 in.
2	Ryan Nye	95.5 in.
3	William Brewer	92.75 in.
4	Jimmy McClurkan	92.75 in.
5	Derek Brundle	90.75 in.
6	Tim Isaacs	90 in.
7	Jeremy Heath	89.75 in.
8	Josh stewart	89.5 in.
9	Joseph D’Addeo	89.25 in.
10	Nick Huddleston	88.25 in.
Big Bass	Jeremy Heath	23.25 in.

Lake Murray Trail 2

Trail 2 on Sunday was another big bass fest with many Trail I anglers unable to replicate the previous day, and some able to better their days. Eric Nelson was able to put up a bigger limit with some bigger bites coming from the same areas he has seen bigger fish in practice but couldn’t find on Saturday. Finishing in 7th place on Trail II with 90.75 inches all the fishing coming on a Zoom Trick Worm thrown with the same Cashion CK Series rod preferred by Reed. 

Reed who had another productive day but was unable to match the Trail I performance landing him 2nd place with 93.75 inches, and taking the Dakota Lithium 2 day bonus. However fellow Old Town Pro Ryan Matlewicz pulled off the Trail II win with 97.25 inches.

The Trail II Big Bass board once again loaded up with 32 Murray giants over 20 inches, with Joshua Brewer having the biggest at 23.25 inches.

Trail II Full Leaderboard

1	Ryan Matylewicz	97.25 in.
2	Casey Reed	93.75 in.
3	Rich Biggie	93.5 in.
4	Benjamin Wilkey	93.25 in.
5	Jared Stanley	93 in.
6	Ben Lawwell	92.5 in.
7	Eric Nelson	90.75 in.
8	Jimmy McClurkan	90.25 in.
9	Glenn Landstrom	89.75 in.
10	Robert Sinker	89.75 in.
Big Bass	Joshua Brewer	23.25 in.