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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
Bass fishermen look forward to the month of April like toddlers wait for Christmas. Good things happen in April for fishermen, and Clarks Hill is just about the best lake in the state to take advantage of those good things. If you like catching bass in shallow water, now is the time and Clarks Hill…
Billy Murphy’s success as a crappie fisherman on Clarks Hill, and his local reputation as someone who knows where the crappie are and whether they are biting or not, comes from several factors. One is the fact that he has been fishing the lake full time since it was impounded, first with his father and…
The places you can go in Georgia to catch a catfish are unlimited — in fact, try to find a state Public Fishing Area, big public reservoir, river or pay lake that does not have catfish of some kind and see what you come up with. But if a trophy rod-bender is your target, the…
Daniel Rawlins, 16, of Appling, was hoping for a Clarks Hill slab crappie when he was fishing on April 15, 2001. Instead, he ended up landing this 13-oz. warmouth that nailed his minnow. The new lake-record fish fills a previously empty category. Clarks Hill Lake, is a reservoir at the border between Georgia and South Carolina in the…
Springtime is just a beautiful time ti be in the Peach State. The dogwoods are blooming, the turkeys are gobbling an< on Clarks Hill the blueback-herring spawn is just days away. What this translate; into for the bass angler is that big, aggressive largemouth bass will be following these delectable little baitfish to the spawning…
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 |