Clarks Hill Lake Fishing Report July 2017

Clarks Hill: Level: 6.5 feet below full pool. Temp: Mid 80s. Clarity: The water is staying mostly clear as the lake level has inched up slightly.

Linesides: Guide William Sasser reports, “The hybrid and striper bite on Clarks Hill has been as hot as the weather. The morning bite is starting around sunrise and lasting until about 9 or 10 in the morning. First thing in the morning, the fish are pushed up along points and humps on the lower lake in 35 to 45 feet of water and feeding on the schools of herring. As day breaks, they are pushing out into deeper water and are moving in suspended groups along the edges of the main channel. This same pattern will hold true until the transition time around end of summer and beginning of fall. There is also a really good evening bite using the exact same patterns, just in reverse with the fish earlier in the afternoon along the edges of the channel, and then at sunset they push up chasing herring. Right now downlining live herring is the most effective method, but the time of year for the magnum spoons is rapidly approaching. Also, for those who like trolling umbrella rigs, they are starting to produce mid morning. The largemouth and catfish are both in the same patterns first thing in the morning, except they have been more in the 20- to 25-foot range. Everything in the lake seems to be in a full-on summertime feeding frenzy.”