Lake Hartwell Fishing Report September 2011

Hartwell: Level: 5.5 feet below full pool. Temp: Mid 80s. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Fair. Josh Fowler reports, “I expect the bite to gradually improve as we settle into September. The high water temperature has made the offshore topwater bite tough, and the shallow-water buzzbait or frog fishing has produced very few bites. The most consistent bite of late has been drop-shotting deep brush and timber edges in 27 to 38 feet of water. About 90 percent of the fish we’re catching on the drop shot are spotted bass, but we are seeing more quality spots than ever before, and occasionally you will hook into a true magnum spotted bass. We are seeing big schools of fish on the graph, but once you catch one or two they disappear, and you have to move to another spot. I’m using 8-lb. Seaguar fluorocarbon line with a 1/4-oz. weight and a Wackem Baits Big Sissy worm in the Amarillo sky color — a translucent purple that has produced the most bites for me on my recent trips. The drop-shot bite will continue to produce as we move into September, but as the water starts to cool down we will see the topwater run-and-gun bite fire back up. As the water temp starts to drop back into the low 80s, the bass will become more aggressive, and you can draw the fish to the surface with baits that mimic the bluebacks. When the topwater bite is on, you will need a weightless Zoom Super Fluke, a Lucky Craft Sammy 100 and a Lucky Craft Smasher 125. These three baits do a great job of matching the size, profile and action of the blueback herring that the bass love to feed on. September is one of my favorite months of the year to be on Hartwell, and I expect the up coming weeks to be an exciting time to be on the water.”