Lake Hartwell Fishing Report – November 2010

Hartwell: Level: 5.2 feet below full pool. Temp: 75 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Good. Josh Fowler reports, “The fishing on Hartwell has been excellent over the last few weeks, but I expect things to get a little tougher as we move into November. The topwater run-and-gun bite has been the key, and we have seen weights around 20 pounds at all the local tournaments for the last several weeks. However, the fall turnover is under way, and this will mark the end of the topwater bite. I am expecting the next few weeks to be tough until the water settles down and the bass have time to adjust. If you’re on the main lake, you will need a drop shot rigged with a Zoom Swamp Crawler, a Buckeye Lures Pulse Jig rigged with a Zoom Fluke Jr., a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and a Lucky Craft Sammy. You can concentrate on the offshore areas with all of these baits. Use the drop shot along with your electronics to find the schools of bass holding on the points and humps close to brush and deep timber. If you see fish suspended in the water column, you can cast the Pointer and the Pulse Jig to try and draw them up. Keep your Sammy ready in case you see schooling activity. The other option is to head to the backs of the major creek arms and fish shallow. We should begin to see more activity in the backs of the major creek arms as we get into November. I like to keep a lipless crankbait like a Lucky Craft LV 200 and a Buckeye Lures Flat Top finesse jig ready when I am fishing shallow. Use the jig to skip under any docks that are sitting near the creek channel, and cast the LV 200 between the docks and on the shallow flats in the backs of the creeks.”

Linesides: Good. Guide Preston Harden reports, “Schooling fish everywhere! There are fish feeding on the surface almost every day. Most are hybrids from 3 to 6 pounds. The fish can come to the surface at any time of the day. Some days they feed better in the middle of the day. This may be because they have been generating water through the dam starting at 1 p.m. on most week days. The bad news is the fish have left their deep-water summer pattern. It can be hard to find fish unless they school on the surface. They are moving around fast, feeding on small shad and blueback herring. The mid to lower lake is the best area to look for surface activity. Calm and cloudy days are the best days. The water will continue to turn over through November. By the end of November, the turnover will be complete, and fish will then follow the bait up the lake and in the creeks.”