Clarks Hill Lake Fishing Report – March 2023

Clarks Hill: Level: 1.7 feet below 330. Temp: 58-60 degrees. Clarity: The Savannah River has a light to heavy stain in the creeks and the main river all the way to the dam. Georgia Little River is unusually clear to Raysville Bridge. This is the opposite of most years.

Bass: D.J. Hadden, with Hadden Outdoors in Appling, reports, “The warm weather the last week of February started bass heading to prespawn areas fast. A few will bed as early as the week of the full moon on March 7. Many more will be spawning the last few days of March due to the approaching full moon on April 6. This month start halfway back in the spawning coves, and fish all the way around to halfway out, hitting secondary points with a white and silver Greenfish Tackle Ballistic Blade double willowleaf spinnerbait in clear water. Switch to a chartreuse-and-white bait with one silver willowleaf blade and one gold Colorado blade in stained water. Slow-roll it on the points from 2 to 8 feet deep. Also fish the points with a bladed jig or flat-sided crankbait at the same depths. Early in the month, concentrate on the last biggest flat before you get all the way in the backs of the creeks and coves. Later in the month, go all the way to the backs of the coves and creeks to the smaller flats there. Hit all cover with the spinnerbait, bladed jig and crankbait on both flats. Usually the bass movement on the Savannah River side is a week or two behind the Georgia Little River arm, but this year it seems reversed.  Look for more early spawners on the Little River arm.”

The MLF Clarks Hill Invitational was held the first week of March and the pros had some good catches. The winner, Texas pro Dakota Ebare, said he was fishing all over the lake and various depths, but the key depth seemed to be in the 12- to 15-foot  range as lots of bass were roaming just waiting to move to the bank for the spawn. “The key bait for me this week was a 3/16-ounce Strike King shakey-head,” Ebare said. “I don’t know why there were biting the shaky-head for me – my roommate Kyle (Hall) couldn’t get a bite on it at all, but I caught a lot of fish on it this week. I also caught quite a few on a vibrating jig, and a couple of key fish each day on the Strike King Rage Bug. But the shaky-head was definitely the major player for me, and I just kept throwing what was working.”

Crappie: D.J. Hadden, with Hadden Outdoors in Appling, reports, “Crappie will be on the flats in the backs of coves and creeks early in the month and will spawn around any cover back in them all month. Minnows or small jigs dabbled around buttonbushes and wood is a traditional way to catch them this time of year, but trolling shallow flats can work well, too.”

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