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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: 2 feet below 330. Temp: 60s. Clarity: The main lake is clear, with some stain in creeks. Bass: David Earl Thorton says the unseasonable weather has the fall bite slower to turn on. Some schooling activity on the main lake will produce bites on an ima Skimmer or Gunfish 95. If it is windy, throw a Mini-Me spinnerbait in the same places the bass are schooling, especially on humps. For shallow fish, rig a Greenfish Toad Toter and Zoom Horny Toad or the Bass Slayer Hawg Frog and cove the shallows. Jon Hair, with Greenfish Tackle, says to keep it simple. Run shallow cover, especially wood, with a buzzbait early, and then probe 10- to 20-foot-deep brush with a jig when the sun is high Clarks Hill Page: Archived Articles, Fishing Reports & Lake Records
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A flathead catfish weighing 88 pounds on certified scales was recently caught from Clarks Hill Lake by Blake White, of Keysville. The fish was caught on a bush hook and can’t be recognized as either a state or lake record. However, it’s a giant fish that GON is excited to share. “I told my wife…
Clarks Hill bass are eating up the last of the herring spawn as they transition to their summer holes, but bass are still going back up shallow to feed around bream beds, too. In both cases you can catch Clarks Hill bass on a variety of baits this month, with five-fish 15-lb. stringers common. Clarks…
Evergreen trees aren’t typically considered aquatic vegetation, but if they’re used as Christmas trees in the Savannah River Basin, chances are they’ll continue “bearing fruit” under water. Rather than have old Christmas trees go to the landfill, rangers with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs at Hartwell and J. Strom Thurmond (Clarks Hill)…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close six of its eight fish-cleaning stations at Clarks Hill Lake (J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir) due to budgetary constraints, as well as increased costs to operate and maintain the stations. The indefinite closures begin tomorrow Jan. 15, 2020. • Fish-cleaning stations to be closed are located at the…
Topwater baits over rocky humps and points, and dragging jigs on them and down the sides as they drop off into deeper water—that simple pattern is a great way to catch Clarks Hill bass in October. Clarks Hill’s 72,000 acres of water have gone through many changes since the river was dammed in 1950, but…
Clarks Hill Lake Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 14-lbs., 14-ozs. | Carl Sasser | 02/16/72 |
| Spotted Bass | 5-lbs., 7.2-ozs. | Tanner Hadden | 04/23/2404/23/24 |
| 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 | 72-lbs., 3-ozs. | Walker Crowe | 05/07/24 |
| 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 |