Lake Hartwell Fishing Report – September 2010

Hartwell: Level: 2.8 feet below full pool. Temp: 88 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Josh Fowler reports, “Bass fishing has been good for numbers, but the quality fish are hard to come by. We are catching fish shallow and deep. Early or late in the day you can find fish running small bait in the backs of the major creek arms. You can catch them on Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Finesse worms, a Zoom Horny Toad, a Lucky Craft Kelly J topwater prop bait or a Buckeye Lures DH2 buzzbait. If you are in the right creek arm, you will see the fish chasing bait. The most consistent bite is deep brushpiles on the main lake, and if the sun is out, you can catch all you want on a drop shot rigged with a Zoom Meathead or a Swamp Crawler. When you see activity on the graph, you can drop your bait straight down and watch the fish take the bait. If you’re willing to commit to topwater, you can still find a few quality bites. The same brushpiles the drop-shot fish are holding in will also produce a topwater bite. Try casting a Lucky Craft Sammy 100 or a Zoom Super Fluke, and work these baits fast across the surface to draw the fish up. As we get into September and the water temps start to cool down, you can expect this bite to really take off. Concentrate on the points, humps and ledges with topwater baits to get in on the action.”

Linesides: Fair. Preston Harden reports, “It has been very hot since early June, and the fish have become tricky to catch. It is normal for fish to be finicky for three to four weeks during the dog days of summer. There are ways to entice the fish to eat. The technique that I use is called power reeling. With either a live or artificial bait, I reel up through the school of fish. Then I lower back below and repeat. Trolling is effective now with the fish out in the deep main lake. Use lead-core or down riggers to get 40 to 60 feet deep and not be in the trees. The water temperature is cooling, and the fish should eat better. There have been some schooling fish, but I expect more as we get into September.”