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Clarks Hill Lake
Lake Strom Thurmond, known by most Georgia fishermen as Clarks Hill Lake, is a reservoir at the border between Georgia and South Carolina in the Savannah River Basin. It was created by the J. Strom Thurmond Dam during 1951 and 1952 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near the confluence of the Little River and the Savannah River. Fishing for largemouth bass and striped bass in particularly popular at Clarks Hill, and the lake also offers very good shellcracker fishing during the late spring spawn, and there are some giant catfish in the lake. Crappie fishing can also be very good on Clarks Hill. At 71,000 acres, it is the third-largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River, behind Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River and Lake Marion on the Santee River. The J. Strom Thurmond Dam is located upstream from Augusta. Clarks Hill is one of the southeast's largest and most popular public recreation lakes.
Clarks Hill Lake Resources
The reports were as varied as the weather this week. The best reports came from ponds and the Okefenokee Swamp. Saltwater was hit-and-miss. The southeast Georgia rivers are still high but are falling now that the leaves have budded out and the trees are pulling more water. St. Marys River: The Temple Landing is currently closed while the WRD boat ramp crew rebuilds the ramp. The ramp itself is complete, and the crew is working to improve the parking area. The project is winding down, and it should reopen in early April if weather and river levels cooperate (which they are currently not doing). Okefenokee Swamp: Mike and Matt Rouse fished the east side of the Okefenokee on Saturday in the cool, super-windy weather and still caught fish. They had a few warmouth and fliers on black sparkle/chartreuse Warmouth Whacker Jigs. They also caught a couple bowfin by flinging crawfish-brass…
Read MoreClarks Hill Lake Articles
It’s pitch black. Al and Tina Carpenter sit huddled in a campground bathhouse; their two dogs nestled between them. The wind howls, and rain hammers against the roof, while the deafening crash of trees echo throughout the park. Outside, the storm rages on, but inside, a strange stillness settles as the Carpenters wait for morning.…
The J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, sustained severe damage to its forested areas as Hurricane Helene traveled across Georgia and South Carolina on Sept. 27, 2024. In a race against time, the Thurmond Project is clearing fallen trees as quickly as possible before the trees…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District’s Forest, Fish, and Wildlife Section at the J. Strom Thurmond Lakeand the Hartwell Dam and Lake will accept real Christmas trees for recycling as fish habitat again this season. Thurmond Lake will accept real trees from Dec. 20, 2024, through Jan. 17, 2025, and Hartwell Lake will…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, J. Strom Thurmond, Forest, Fish, and Wildlife Section is cancelling the Bussey Point Corps Management Unit (CMU) 2024 deer hunts due to the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Helene caused impassable roads due to fallen trees which makes Bussey Point CMU unsafe for hunting this…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, J. Strom Thurmond Lake has experienced significant impacts, damage and property loss in the area due to Hurricane Helena. The Corps currently has minimal staffing due to the storm, but available project staff are currently assessing all parks/project areas and prioritizing tree removal/cleanup. For adjacent property owner…
Clarks Hill Lake Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 14-lbs., 14-ozs. | Carl Sasser | 02/16/72 |
| Spotted Bass | 5-lbs., 7.2-ozs. | Tanner Hadden | 04/23/2404/23/24 |
| White Bass | 3-lbs., 9-ozs. | Ed Lepley | 03/09/15 |
| Striped Bass | 55-lbs., 12-ozs. | Sam Porter | 05/27/93 |
| Hybrid Bass | 16-lbs., 12-ozs. | Jim Hankinson | ----- |
| Black Crappie | 4-lbs., 8-ozs. | Dewey Marks | 1979 |
| White Crappie | 4-lbs., 12-ozs. | Weldon Clark | 03/30/06 |
| Blue Catfish | 72-lbs., 3-ozs. | Walker Crowe | 05/07/24 |
| Flathead Catfish | 70-lbs. | Michael Dollar | 03/04/23 |
| Channel Catfish | 25-lbs., 2-ozs. | James Gunn | 05/13/93 |
| Yellow Perch | 2-lbs., 8-ozs. | Brad Murphy | 12/89 |
| Sauger | 4-lbs., 3-ozs. | Stuart Bowers | 04/05/86 |
| Warmouth | 13-ozs. | Daniel Rawlins | 04/15/01 |
| White Perch | 1-lb., 4-ozs. | Dennis Franklin | 02/22/15 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 9-ozs. | Kathleen Weeks | 06/23/11 |