Like Michael Bennett did in the Forrest Wood Cup on the same weekend in August in 2008 whoever wins the 2014 FLW Championship on South Carolina’s Lake Murray this week will probably have to “junk it up,” according to veteran local tournament angler Doug Lown of Newberry.

In winning the $1 million first prize in 2008 Bennett said he spent the first day of the tournament fishing deep, shallow and everywhere in between to bring in a limit weighing 11 pounds, 15 ounces. Then he moved shallow and began casting to whatever cover he could find – laydowns, willow trees, riprap, seawalls, any “junk” that might hold a fish – until he zeroed in on docks and found the key to winning the tournament.

And, that, said Lown, is what anglers will have to do this week because no one type of cover, no one spot and no one pattern can be expected to produce fish all four days, or even throughout any of the days.

While Lake Murray boasts a national reputation as a “bass factory” because of all the record weights recorded in big-time tournaments over the years, August is one of the toughest – if not the toughest – months of the year to fish, Lown said.

“Usually the water temperatures this time of year get pretty high and the fish are stressed. They are right in the middle of their summer pattern and they feed a lot nocturnally this time of year because of all the summer boat traffic on the lake.”

Bennett won the 2008 Cup primarily fishing a shallow pattern, concentrating on docks near grass, and Lown believes the championship will also be won this week fishing shallow – primarily.

“We’ve had some rain this summer and the lake is not stained, but it’s not real clear like it has been in the past. That has pushed the fish a little more shallow and they are feeding a lot on bluegills, which are a lot bigger bait for them than the bait they find out deep.

“I think the better quality fish will be caught shallow and the tournament will be won shallow, in water less than five feet deep,” he said. “A lot of fish should be caught around rocky points, possibly next to deeper water, and around water willows in the backs of the creeks,” he said.

“But if the weather gets hot later this week and they start pulling water at the dam that could hurt the shallow bite. The other option would be fishing deep on the bottom, but I don’t think the fish will be found very deep – probably 10 to 20 or 25 feet deep”

The problem is none of these patterns can be expected to carry through the entire tournament, Lown said.

“The problem is being able to do something to produce fish for four days. The bite is inconsistent. In practice you will think you are on something and then the wheels will just fall off. Murray is a hard lake to fish this time of year.”

Two other factors likely will play a major role in the outcome of the tournament, Lown added.

“There is a full moon this week which might pull some bait up and the anglers will be able to find some decent suspended fish. Then you have to wonder how they are going to pull water after all this rain and how that will affect the shallow bite.”

In 2008, Bennett averaged 13 pounds a day, weighing in a four-day total of 52 pounds, 4 ounces, for 19 bass. Lown believes it will take somewhere around that 13-pound average to win the Cup on Lake Murray this week.

The upshot is that whoever wins is probably going to just have to go “junk fishing,” and do a little bit of everything to produce a decent limit each day.

 

2014 FLW Forest Wood Cup

Aug 14-17, 2014

Lake Murray – Columbia, SC

Dreher Island State Park

www.flwoutdoors.com