Clarks Hill Fishing Report June 2018

Clarks Hill: Level: Full pool, and the lake should keep easing up. Temp: 79 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Tournament angler Kerry Partain reports, “Bass fishing has been good on the Hill, with a lot of big bass being caught on the typical topwater lures around herring-spawn areas. This time of year, the blow-throughs, shoals, points, shallow humps and islands hold a big number of Clarks Hill bass, so once the topwater and fluke bites die down, throw a Carolina rig or a Mop Jig in the same areas. There are also some fish shallow, and this should get better as the bream begin to bed around the full moon. A Pop-R or buzzbait will work early and then around any shaded areas where the bream are spawning. By mid June, the summer patterns should really pick up on the deep, main-lake points and humps with a Zoom Super Fluke early and late and then Carolina rigs and shaky heads midday, especially around brush and timber.”

Linesides: Guide Brad Sasser, of William Sasser Guide Service, reports, “The herring spawn is finally finishing up, and the fish are beginning to stack up and move deeper. As of recently, the hybrids and stripers have been holding off of channel points in 20 to 30 feet of water. As the water warms up, they will begin to move deeper into 35 to 45 feet of water. They will stay on the ends of points and also move off the sides of humps. Right now fishing is really good throughout the lake, with no one area any better than any other, but as summer sets in, they will move either toward the lower end or upper end of the lake. The best bite from now through the end of summer will either be in the morning around daybreak or in the evening around sundown. With good stocking numbers the past couple of years and a full lake, we should have a fantastic summer of fishing.” Capt. Eddie Mason reports, “We’re getting a lot of storms right now, but we’re still managing to fish about five days a week. Last Saturday morning, we had Jay Harrison and his two sons Gavin and Dylan, all from Buckhead in Atlanta, and Jay’s dad Harold, from Augusta, out. We left the dock about daybreak and caught 31 good fish. We’re still fishing on the lower end of the lake on major river channel points and humps 15 to 20 feet deep using downrods with blueback herring. Due to hotter weather coming up in June, they start up the oxygen system that is located directly out from the Modoc boat ramp. The water quality will determine when they start it up. Usually it takes a week or so for fish to gather around the oxygen system. By July, a lot of the fisherman will be fishing from the oxygen system to the dam.”