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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 Lake Fishing Report – January 2025

By GON Staff | December 25, 2024

Clarks Hill: Level: 3.3 feet below 330. Temp: Low 50s. Clarity: Clear on main lake, some stain from rain in creeks. Bass: D.J. Hadden, with Hadden Outdoors, says, “January can be a really fun month when the weather allows for some nice time on the water. For the most part, fish will move deep in ditches and in timber. I’m going to attack those fish with jigging spoons and a Greenfish Tackle Tutu jig with a Zoom Winged Fluke using forward facing sonar. With any ditch fishing, the bait can get pushed up in the shallows early in the morning. A Damiki Vault or Spot Choker underspin with a Keitech swimbait will get bites. Up the river, the shallow guys can get some quality largemouth bites, but the bite will be less consistent at times. A Rapala No. 7 Shad Rap and a Berkley Frittside can be deadly in January.”…

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Clarks Hill Lake Articles

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