Lake Russell Fishing Report – August 2007

Level: Down 0.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 81-84 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Slow during the day — typical for Russell in the summer. Tournament angler Trad Whaley said, “It’s just summertime dreaming here, not much of a bite in the daytime at all.” Trad said the topwater bite has completely died, and some people don’t even waste time throwing it right now. He said fish are being caught in clear water around 20 feet deep on the main lake. “During the week you can catch a few fish on crankbaits on the humps, and on the Savannah River side there is a good spotted-bass bite,” said Trad. He said to find a brushpile or rockpile in 11 to 13 feet of water, and there will be spotted bass there. The night tournaments are doing well with 13- and 14-lb. weights winning. Trad said they are catching them at night in dingy water on 10-inch Zoom Magnum worms in any dark color. If the Magnum worm doesn’t work, Trad throws a black Trick Worm on a Spot Remover jig head. He said the bass aren’t huge, and most of the time a 4- to 4 1/2-lb. largemouth is winning the big-fish pot.

Crappie: Poor. Wendell Wilson said during the day to fish the brushpiles in about 25 feet of water, and try to keep the bait about 5 feet over the structure. He said this time of year they are too deep for jigs and to stick with live bait. Jerry Craft said, “The water is so hot, and the fish are down so deep, you can’t hardly catch them during the day. You can catch them at night if you want to fight the bugs.” Jerry said to look in 15 to 22 feet of water at night while fishing live minnows. He also said there is a short daybreak bite that quickly disappears as the sun comes up. He said the inability to find baitfish combined with the hot weather has made the crappie fishing almost non-existent, and he suggests waiting it out until cooler weather or trying the nighttime bass bite that’s been doing fairly well.