Lake Hartwell Fishing Report – October 2009

Hartwell: Level: 3.0 feet below full pool. Temp: 75 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Good. Josh Fowler reports, “The run-and-gun topwater techniques have really fired up over the last few weeks. The fish are bunched up on offshore points, humps and ledges all over the lake. On Sept. 12, Greg Kellum and I won the Relay for Life Tournament with 21 pounds by targeting these schools of fish that are set up on offshore structure. It’s all about timing with this deal, and you need about 30 waypoints on your Lowrance unit so you can rotate from one spot to the next. At some point during the day, you will hit an active school of fish. A variety of topwater baits will work, but I like to stick with the old reliable Zoom Super Flukes and Lucky Craft topwaters like the Sammy or Gunfish. This bite should hold strong as we move into October,” Josh said.

Linesides: Very good. “Fishing has been excellent over the last few weeks,” Josh said. “The lake has exploded with surface activity. The fish are schooling from Portman Marina all the way to the dam. They will hit just about anything, but it’s hard to beat a Scrounger Head Jig rigged with a Fluke Jr. Most of the fish are feeding on small bait, and the Scrounger is a perfect match. The worst enemy for the schooling activity is a bright, sunny day. On these days you will have to bring along some live bait. We are in the beginning stage of the fall turnover, so look for the fish to start spreading out. As we move into October, we should see more and more activity up the rivers and in the major creeks.” Guide Preston Harden reports, “Fishing has been good for larger fish down deep. Small fish have been schooling all over the lake. I have not seen large fish come up yet, but they should come up soon. The large fish have been on the lower lake from 60 to 90 feet deep and eating herring fished on Carolina rig at the depth you mark them on your graph. The fish will soon spread out with cooler water temps. Have a topwater plug or fluke ready to throw when they school. Keep throwing in the area after they stop because they will still come up to eat a loud plug working in the surface.”