Clarks Hill Fishing Report – May 2019

Clarks Hill: Level: 1 foot low. Temp: Upper 60s to low 70s. Clarity: Beginning to clear back up from the rains and the rise in water level. There is still some small debris floating around from the level change. Clear water on the lower lake, and the Savannah and Little river arms are stained.

Bass: Tournament angler Josh Rockefeller reports, “Fishing is getting hot here on Clarks Hill with the herring spawn in full swing. There are plenty of fish moving on the shallow clay points at the mouths of creeks. Most fish can be caught when they show themselves while busting herring on the surface. Zoom Super Flukes and large chrome topwater baits can catch these fish. Look for 65 degree water and warmer as this will be the water temps the herring are the most active. A shaky head with a Zoom Finesse worm can also catch fish while they are not schooling.”

Linesides: Guide Bradd Sasser reports, “The hybrids and stripers are stacked up and feeding very aggressively before sunrise off the sides of shoals and points in 10 to 15 feet of water. After daybreak, they begin to scatter out, maintaining relatively close to the same depths but will be more suspended. Early in the morning, downlines are working great, but as the day sets in, you are having to swap over to trolling planer boards and freelines. This trend will continue for a couple more weeks, but as the water temperatures rise a little more and the fish finish their false spawn patterns, they will begin to push deeper. When this happens, they will start stacking up on the sides of humps in 30 to 35 feet of water. Mid to lower lake areas will be where the majority of the fishing will go on for the next month. We have seen some very good signs of a great spring and summer of fishing with some very fat, healthy fish being caught and an extremely aggressive bite.”

Capt. Eddie Mason reports, “Early morning linesides are schooling on low running points, blow-throughs and shallow humps. For those mornings, we’re  using planer boards and freelines. As the sun comes up and the day gets warmer, the fish are moving out to deeper water. As the day goes on, we’re fishing downrods and corks out the back. Seems like fish are still on the move. We can limit out with great fish one day and then go back the next day and find nothing. Right now we’re  having to hunt them down every day in different places. Next month, we’ll probably start going out about 4:30 in the morning and putting out the lights to draw the bait in, and then we’ll use downrods. That also helps beat the heat. April was also a great month for kids on spring break. One of the best was Aiden McCann from Mt. Pleasant and his Grandad Bruce Winn and Uncle Billy Winn, both from Abbyville. We limited out with a great box of fish, and it was especially great to have a happy little boy out there.”

Crappie: Guide Bradd Sasser reports, “The crappie have moved away from the banks and are stacking back up in brushpiles and structure and also under docks. Shooting jigs under docks and fishing shiners on brushpiles are both producing nice coolers of slabs.”