Lake Hartwell Fishing Report – June 2009

Hartwell: Level: 3.3 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Mostly clear.

Bass: Fair to good, depending on the weather. Josh Fowler reports, “The postspawn topwater bite that Hartwell is famous for has been slow. The combination of cooler water temps, high water and plenty of shallow cover has kept most of the largemouths shallow. They just haven’t shown up on the typical places yet. The largemouth bite should improve as we move into June. The most consistent offshore bite has been the spotted bass, and I am seeing more 3- to 4-lb. spots than I have ever seen on this lake. The spots are hitting a variety of baits from topwater to a big Mop Jig. If you have some wind, they will bite a spinnerbait, a Scrounger Head jig or a topwater bait like the Ima Skimmer. If you lose the chop on the water, you will have to fish slow with a Spot Remover or a Buckeye Mop Jig. As we move into June and the water starts to heat up, we should see the largemouths start to show up on the offshore stuff. When this happens, you can run-and-gun the humps, points and shoals with Skimmers and flukes.”

Linesides: Fair. Travis Long reports, “All this water coming in and no water going out has made fishing tough for this time of year. It seems like everything is about a month behind. Your fish are still way up both rivers and in the backs of the creeks. Downrods fishing 20 to 30 feet deep and freelines using herring are still productive. Things are going to catch up soon as it gets hot. The fish will pull out to the mouths of the creeks and rivers and get in the holes at the dam. You can catch fish though the month of June using live herring in 40 to 60 feet of water. Fish over trees at the mouths of creeks and rivers. Night fishing will also be good fishing humps 20 to 30 feet deep.”