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Clarks Hill Lake
Lake Strom Thurmond, known by most Georgia fishermen as Clarks Hill Lake, is a reservoir at the border between Georgia and South Carolina in the Savannah River Basin. It was created by the J. Strom Thurmond Dam during 1951 and 1952 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near the confluence of the Little River and the Savannah River. Fishing for largemouth bass and striped bass in particularly popular at Clarks Hill, and the lake also offers very good shellcracker fishing during the late spring spawn, and there are some giant catfish in the lake. Crappie fishing can also be very good on Clarks Hill. At 71,000 acres, it is the third-largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River, behind Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River and Lake Marion on the Santee River. The J. Strom Thurmond Dam is located upstream from Augusta. Clarks Hill is one of the southeast's largest and most popular public recreation lakes.
Clarks Hill Lake Resources
Clarks Hill: Level: 0.6 feet above 330. Temp: 60 to 70 degrees. Clarity: Georgia Little River is stained to Raysville Bridge and then gets muddy going upstream. All major creeks on the Savannah River are stained to muddy, as is the river from Parksville north to the Russell Dam. The lower lake is clearer. Bass: D.J. Hadden, with Hadden Outdoors, says that April is typically one of the best months of the year on Clarks Hill. Fish will be in all stages of the spawn, and many patterns will work. Herring will also start to spawn, so that means get out a Zoom Super Fluke, Spro Sashimmy and a walking topwater bait. Fish blow-throughs and long, flat, clay points on the lower end of the lake for this pattern. If you are not fishing the shad/herring spawn, target spawning pockets and flats with a buzzbait, spinnerbait, floating worm and swimbait. Cover…
Read MoreClarks Hill Lake Articles
My dad taught me to fish at the two lakes in Stone Mountain Park. He enjoyed taking me in April — a prime time for fishermen, and kids of all ages, to get bit shallow. He’d give me a canepole equipped with a gold hook, a small sinker, a long-skinny bobber and a minnow. While…
Keep it simple. That’s Joe Ludwig’s approach when it comes to a winning strategy for bass fishing on Clarks Hill this time of year. I fished the lake with Joe on January 10, 2006, and we fished all day with just two baits: a lead-head fluke and a jig ’n pig. According to Joe that’s…
Mike Tuten of Augusta, tired of his runner-up finishes in many local bass tournaments, has finally fulfilled a burning desire to make the prestigious Mr. Clark Hill Bass Fishing Championship his first major victory. On October 1 on Clarks Hill Lake, the Richmond County Fire Department lieutenant weighed in five largemouth bass totaling 14.9 pounds…
I parked Dale Turner’s truck and boat trailer in the little gravel lot at his Lincolnton neighborhood’s private boat ramp and hustled back down the hill expecting to see him idling the boat up to the dock so I could jump on board to begin a day of crappie fishing at Clarks Hill Reservoir. When…
“Get the net!” said Sarah Willard, who was hanging onto her rod as a hybrid bass flashed and pulled next to the boat. Sarah’s dad, Clarks Hill linesides guide Dave Willard, stepped to the gunnel with the net, scooped, and netted a silvery, 3-lb. hybrid. Dave unhooked the fish, and was holding the fish in…
Clarks Hill Lake Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 14-lbs., 14-ozs. | Carl Sasser | 02/16/72 |
| Spotted Bass | 4-lbs., 11.8-ozs. | Riley Hale | 03/19/22 |
| White Bass | 3-lbs., 9-ozs. | Ed Lepley | 03/09/15 |
| Striped Bass | 55-lbs., 12-ozs. | Sam Porter | 05/27/93 |
| Hybrid Bass | 16-lbs., 12-ozs. | Jim Hankinson | ----- |
| Black Crappie | 4-lbs., 8-ozs. | Dewey Marks | 1979 |
| White Crappie | 4-lbs., 12-ozs. | Weldon Clark | 03/30/06 |
| Blue Catfish | 62-lbs. | Ralph Barbee Jr. | 09/12/79 |
| Flathead Catfish | 70-lbs. | Michael Dollar | 03/04/23 |
| Channel Catfish | 25-lbs., 2-ozs. | James Gunn | 05/13/93 |
| Yellow Perch | 2-lbs., 8-ozs. | Brad Murphy | 12/89 |
| Sauger | 4-lbs., 3-ozs. | Stuart Bowers | 04/05/86 |
| Warmouth | 13-ozs. | Daniel Rawlins | 04/15/01 |
| White Perch | 1-lb., 4-ozs. | Dennis Franklin | 02/22/15 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 9-ozs. | Kathleen Weeks | 06/23/11 |