Clarks Hill Fishing Report – November 2009

Clarks Hill: Level: 1.9 feet below full pool. Temp: High 60s to low 70s. Clarity: Clear to slightly stained downlake; muddy up the river.

Bass: “November should be a good month,” said William Sasser. He was on the lake during the recent BFL regional and said most of the crowd stayed down the lake in the Lake Springs, Keg Creek areas. They were fishing the secondary points and backs of the pockets, concentrating on grassy areas in 6 feet of water. Floating worms and crankbaits were the ticket. Little Earls are good, but try digging the grass edges with deeper-diving plugs. William has seen some largemouths schooling in front of Little River Marina, Mosley and Fort Gordon. Have a Sammy or Gunfish ready for these fish. November will be a month when you’ll be able to catch fish shallow. However, it’s also the first month when fish return deep to main-lake points.

Linesides: Good. William reports, “Clarks Hill has turned over now, and the bait is moving away from Russell dam and dispersing all over the lake. Schooling hybrids have been caught around the dam and in the backs of most tributaries. Thing Poppers and small spoons are catching the smaller fish, while we are fishing under them with live herring and catching larger fish. In November, we’ll start fishing for larger stripers in shallow water on planers in the backs of creeks, and we’ll do a lot of downlining in 50 feet of water on top of large groups of eager stripers.” Capt. Dave Willard is seeing similar patterns on the lake. He said, “The fish are really bunching up for the seasonal migration up the major tributaries. Little River Georgia toward Raysville and Little River South Carolina toward Baker Creek are starting to produce a lot of nice fish. We are pulling planer boards early and then going to down rods at 24 to 30 feet. We’re also still catching some breaking fish on Thing Poppers. One of the great things about fishing this time of year is we don’t have to get up early. The fish are hitting right in the middle of the day.”

Crappie: Very good. William reports, “Raysville and South Carolina Little River are producing some nice catches of fish on minnows and jigs, with the bright colors — not the camo colors — working best. November is one of my favorite months for grouped-up slabs on the lake. Putting a minnow 10 to 20 feet deep over tree tops near creek channels in whatever depth of water is what we will do all month. Deer hunting in the morning and crappie fishing in the evening in November is a perfect day to me.”