Clarks Hill Fishing Report October 2013

Clarks Hill: Level: 0.5 feet below full pool. Temp: Low to mid 80s. Clarity: Stained but clearing.

Bass: Tournament angler Jon Hair reports, “The fish are moving shallow. You can catch them early on a Zoom Trick Worm in merthiolate and also a buzzbait. Later I would try a Greenfish Tackle Creeper Head in 1/4-oz. or a Crawball shaky head. Fish the outside of the stick grass with the shaky head.”

Linesides: Guide William Sasser reports, “The hybrids and stripers have flipped from a morning bite to an early afternoon bite. The morning bite is still there, but it has slowed down with fish coming from 40 to 50 feet deep off the sides of humps in the mid-lake channel. The afternoon bite has turned into a fast-and-aggressive feeding pattern with stacks of hybrids on the sides of shoals, humps and underwater islands waiting to feed on herring. Downlining live herring and cut bait in 40 to 45 feet from about 3 to 7 p.m. has been very productive. Small schools of fish have began popping up along the edges of the main channel giving signs that within a week we should start having plenty of topwater action throughout the lake with hybrids chasing bait clusters. On the upper end of the lake, pulling large herring behind planer boards in the Russell Creek area has produced some really nice 15- to 30-lb. stripers. When schooling begins, have a topwater plug ready to catch smaller fish while downlining live bait underneath the schools to catch the larger fish.”

Crappie: Guide William Sasser reports, “With fall weather setting in a little earlier this year, crappie fishing has already turned on. Small shiners over brushpiles has been filling coolers quickly. Fishing 15 to 20 feet deep over treetops with small shiners and tuffies in the South Carolina Little River has really produced some nice slab crappie.”