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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
The Georgia Bass Chapter Federation’s first Junior Club State Championship was held April 30, 2005 on Clarks Hill Lake. Three junior teams participated in the first championship tournament. Anglers competed into two age classes, 11 to 14 and 15 to 18, with the winner of each age group advancing to the Junior World Championship, which…
For the May 14, 2005 Easter Seals tournament at Clarks Hill Lake, catching big sacks of largemouths compliments of the blueback-herring spawn was hit or miss. For those who found schooling activity, they had to weed through the hybrids and stripers to fill their livewell with largemouths. By 1 p.m., the team of Dale Gibbs…
It took about 30 phone calls before I finally began to tap into a few folks who backed a boat into the gin-clear waters of Clarks Hill with the sole purpose of trying to hook into a flathead catfish. The flathead makes its most famous Georgia home in the Altamaha River, where it’s known for…
If you like fishing shallow water for bass, there is an unusual condition at Clarks Hill this year that you should love. The lake level was low for several years, and now there is a lot of dead grass under water. This month the bass will be in that grass feeding and getting ready to spawn. You can catch a lot of bass shallow this…
During some August days, Clarks Hill’s 72,000 acres of water seem devoid of bass. The heat shimmering off the water makes you miserable, and catching a bass to improve your mood seems impossible. But, if you wait until late afternoon and nighttime to fish, you will be more comfortable and the bass will magically appear…
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 |