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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

Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – March 28, 2025

By Capt. Bert Deener | March 28, 2025

The reports were as varied as the weather this week. The best reports came from ponds and the Okefenokee Swamp. Saltwater was hit-and-miss. The southeast Georgia rivers are still high but are falling now that the leaves have budded out and the trees are pulling more water. St. Marys River: The Temple Landing is currently closed while the WRD boat ramp crew rebuilds the ramp. The ramp itself is complete, and the crew is working to improve the parking area. The project is winding down, and it should reopen in early April if weather and river levels cooperate (which they are currently not doing). Okefenokee Swamp: Mike and Matt Rouse fished the east side of the Okefenokee on Saturday in the cool, super-windy weather and still caught fish. They had a few warmouth and fliers on black sparkle/chartreuse Warmouth Whacker Jigs. They also caught a couple bowfin by flinging crawfish-brass…

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Clarks Hill Lake Articles

Flats Patterns For Clarks Hill April Bass

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…

Herring Spawn Topwater Bass On Clarks Hill

GON editor Brad Gill joins Augusta’s Tim Rupert for a day of topwater fishing for Clarks Hill bass. The trip took place on June 9, 1999 as most of the largemouth bass were in a postspawn mode, but the blueback herring spawn was just getting started. Tim and Brad fished a Sammy and buzzbait for…

Clarks Hill Bass On Little River Steep Banks

Cooler weather, less competition, and bass ready to eat make October a great time to be a bass fisherman, especially if you fish Clarks Hill. “I would rather be on Clarks Hill in October than any other lake,” said Steve Taylor, a member of the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation (GBCF) state team. “It is just…

Clarks Hill Lake Record Striped Bass

It’s kind of hard to hold this one up! Sam Porter, of Six Mile, S.C., caught this 55-lb., 12-oz. striped bass May 27, 1993 in the trailrace below Russell Dam in the headwaters of Clarks Hill Lake. The monster striper set a new lake record for Clarks Hill and also set a new state record…

Clarks Hill Lake Record Fish

Largemouth Bass14-lbs., 14-ozs.Carl Sasser02/16/72
Spotted Bass5-lbs., 7.2-ozs.Tanner Hadden04/23/2404/23/24
White Bass3-lbs., 9-ozs.Ed Lepley03/09/15
Striped Bass55-lbs., 12-ozs.Sam Porter05/27/93
Hybrid Bass16-lbs., 12-ozs.Jim Hankinson-----
Black Crappie4-lbs., 8-ozs.Dewey Marks1979
White Crappie4-lbs., 12-ozs.Weldon Clark03/30/06
Blue Catfish72-lbs., 3-ozs.Walker Crowe05/07/24
Flathead Catfish70-lbs.Michael Dollar03/04/23
Channel Catfish25-lbs., 2-ozs.James Gunn05/13/93
Yellow Perch2-lbs., 8-ozs.Brad Murphy12/89
Sauger4-lbs., 3-ozs.Stuart Bowers04/05/86
Warmouth13-ozs.Daniel Rawlins04/15/01
White Perch1-lb., 4-ozs.Dennis Franklin02/22/15
Shellcracker1-lb., 9-ozs.Kathleen Weeks06/23/11