Lake Hartwell Fishing Report June 2013

Hartwell: Level: Full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Main lake is clear; creeks and rivers are stained.

Linesides: Guide Preston Harden reports, “Stripers and hybrids have been active early mornings and late afternoons. The early mornings have been very good with fish moving into coves and pockets to feed. Once the sun gets high, usually by mid morning, they move to deeper water and are harder to locate. If you do not catch them early, it can be a long day. If it is cloudy, they might stay shallow longer. The hybrids and stripers will start migrating south from the upper reaches of the lake toward the lower lake. The No. 1 lure has been a Sebille Magic Swimmer in white. The size that has worked best is a 5-inch, slow-sinking Sebille. Another good choice is a 1/4-oz. Scrounger jig head with a white-ice Super Fluke Junior. Usually this time of year, I will throw a topwater plug, but the water has been slow to warm up. Soon I will throw a Lucky Craft Sammy in ghost minnow. For bait fishing, blueback herring are hard to beat. Pulling freelined herring with no weight works good early in the morning. As the sun gets high, fish herring deeper with sinkers at the depth you see the fish on the graph.”

Bass: Preston reports, “The bass will hang around shoals and points in shallow water with the bright sun. The spotted bass are thick, and seem to be everywhere. As we move into June, expect more of the same.”