S.C. Electric & Gas. Co., which generates power through the hydro operation at Lake Murray Dam, is drawing the lake down 8 feet . The drawdown began about a month ago and is scheduled to be at the desired level of 350 feet by December 1.

The lake will be maintained at that level until Jan. 1, 2014, after which it will be allowed to rise back to the normal high pool level of 358 feet.

In years past, periodic draw-downs to similar levels were conducted that allowed rain to “scour” shallow coves which greatly benefits water quality. The last draw-down such as this was conducted in 2006 when the lake level was lowered so improvements could be made to Lake Murray Dam.

“Our objective is to benefit the long term water quality of Lake Murray,” said Jim Landreth, vice president of South Carolina Electric & Gas’ Fossil and Hydro Plant Operations. “This method has proven effective in the past, but Mother Nature has not allowed us this type of drawdown for a while. The time has come for us to do it again.”

“An added benefit to the drawdown is that this will give lake residents and businesses roughly a month at the lower level to make dock repairs and shoreline improvements that are permitted by SCE&G’s Lake Murray Shoreline Management Plan,” Landreth said. “We encourage them to start planning now.”

The draw-down may also benefit certain fish species, according to SCDNR Fisheries Biologist Hal Beard.

“From a fisheries management standpoint, there is evidence that a winter drawdown of a reservoir may benefit certain shoreline spawning species, such as crappie, once the reservoir returns to full pool in the spring,” he said.

The drawdown will be especially beneficial to striped bass, said Richy Brensinger, president of the Midlands Striper Club, which participated in the recent federal re-licensing process for the 83-year-old hydro-power dam. Brensinger said one of the end effects of the lake level drop will be to improve oxygen levels in the lake, critical for striped bass which get crowded into small layers of oxygenated water in the lake during the hot summer months. Sometimes, when the fish get too crowded they exhaust the oxygen in the water, which can cause a die-off of stripers.

“We’ve been advocates of trying to reduce nutrient levels in the lake. The drawdown will help kill off weeds and other growth along the shore and when the lake is brought back up in January there will be less nutrients and oxygen levels should be higher,” he said. “From what I have been reading they plan on doing this every two years and that would be a definite help with the oxygen levels.”

The drawdown will also be beneficial to largemouth bass, said local tournament angler Doug Lown of Newberry, who said anglers this December will need to resort to winter fishing tactics used before the utility began keeping the lake level at higher winter levels several years ago.

“I don’t think we will see the fish staying shallow in (November and) December like we have in the past few years when the water level was kept high,” Lown said.

“I used to never fish docks in the fall, but with the water staying higher in recent years the fish stayed shallow in the winter months and you could catch them around docks,” Lown said. “But if they are pulling the water down I don’t think we will see the fish staying shallow this November, December and January like they have the last few years. They will probably relate more to the deeper drops, and secondary points close to deep water. That is typically what happened in the past with lower levels.”

Tactics will largely depend on the weather and how cold it gets, Lown said.

“Crankbaits, jigs and Shakey Head worms will come into play. If the water temprature stays in the 60s you might be able to catch some on buzzbaits, but usually we start getting some cold fronts in December,” he said. “The colder it gets the more the fish will get on vertical structure like steep drop-offs and the structure pretty much has to be rock this time of year,” Lown said.

The drawdown will also provide long-term benefits to bass, Lown said.

“For years the lake was drawn down regularly to 348 or 350 feet which kept the shallow areas clean. Silt was not allowed to accumulate, which is what is happening now,” Lown said.

Some shallow coves, he said, are silted in and have undesirable plant growth on the bottom, which makes it unusable for bass and unfishable for the anglers. Drawing the lake down, he said, will pull the silt out of those coves and expose the unwanted plants to sunlight, providing a cleaner environment for the fish when the lake fills up early next year.

“What they are doing is a good thing. I think it will help the fishery in terms of letting those shallow areas get cleaned out and provide better places for fish to spawn,” Lown said. “If we don’t have periodic drawdowns there is an accumulation of silt and undesirable weed growth in the shallow areas. That makes the habitat undesirable for fish in those areas.”

“I think this will be better overall for the health of the lake,” he added.