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Lake Murray Fishing Report, South Carolina

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

South Carolina's 50,000-acre jewel on the Saluda: stripers with a landlocked pedigree and summer cane-pile crappie.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
355.25 ft -4.75 vs pool
Air / High
67 / 73 F
Wind
NE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 02168500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Murray sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. The gauge reads 355.30 ft, 4.70 ft below pool, easing 0.54 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 7 mph, steady pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 73. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 71 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

South Carolina requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $10.00 for residents. What a South Carolina licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with SCDNR before you keep anything. The season dates for South Carolina, read off the agency, are on the South Carolina seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from LAKE MURRAY NEAR COLUMBIA, SC.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 02168500. Conservation pool is 360 ft.

356.06357.62359.17pool 360355.30 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp67 F
High / Low73 / 42 F
WindNE 7-14 mph
Pressure1023.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:37 / 18:41
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Murray this week

The best day on Lake Murray this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:01 AM-12:01 PM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM
Minor period
4:22 AM-5:22 AM
Sun
07:37 to 18:41
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 9 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Murray: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

When to come: the Lake Murray calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Murray today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 74 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 76 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

South Carolina requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Striped bass: 5 per day, 21-inch minimum (check seasonal lower-lake rules June-Sept). Black bass: 14-inch minimum, 5 per day. Confirm with SCDNR.

Access

Dreher Island State Park, Billy Dreher ramp, Larry Koon and Sunset landings. The dam area parks give bank access to the summer schooling zone.

About this water

50,000 acres on the Saluda River, Lexington/Newberry/Richland/Saluda counties, SC. Dominion Energy, dam completed 1930.

Fishing Lake Murray: the full guide

Where landlocked stripers began

Lake Murray's claim in fishing history is real: when Santee-Cooper's stripers proved they could live landlocked, Murray became one of the first great inland striper fisheries, and it still runs on them: a self-image built on June blowups, downline summers and winter bird-play in the creeks. Fifty thousand acres of Saluda River water behind a 1930 dam, 650 miles of shoreline, an island-dotted mid-lake.

The Murray year

Spring: stripers push up the Saluda and bass spawn in the pockets; herring spawns bring topwater dawns on points. Summer: the famous "summer squall" schooling near the dam at first light, then downlines at 30-60 ft; largemouth go dock-and-brush. Fall: bird-chasing begins as bait balls into the creeks. Winter: the lower lake stacks stripers over the river channel and crappie load the deep cane piles.

A lake of brush and docks

Murray's bass fishing runs through man-made cover: thousands of planted cane and brush piles, and dock lines on every arm. Summer crappie fishing over deep cane at 15-25 ft with long poles is a local art form worth learning.

Common questions

What is the "summer squall" on Lake Murray?

The dawn striper blowups near the dam in June-July: schools push herring to the surface in open water. Locals idle out in the dark, wait for the first splashes, and throw flukes and topwaters into the melee.

Are there seasonal striper rules?

Yes: SCDNR applies special summer regulations on the lower lake to protect stripers in warm water. Check the current year's rules before keeping fish in summer.

What makes Murray's crappie fishing different?

Depth and cane: locals sink bamboo cane piles in 15-25 ft and fish them with long poles and minnows through summer, a pattern that out-produces anything shallow once the water warms.

Is fishing good at Lake Murray right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Saluda River18 miBroad River35 miLake Greenwood39 miLake Wateree43 miThurmond Lake55 miClarks Hill Lake66 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 02168500 β€” LAKE MURRAY NEAR COLUMBIA, SC
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 15:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 34.0737, -81.3790 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.