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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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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has set the deer hunting dates for the 2019 season at the corps’ Bussey Point Management Area. Bussey Point is a 2,545-acre peninsula located in Lincoln County on Clarks Hill Lake (J. Storm Thurmond Reservoir). All hunts are limited to 100 hunters per day. Hunters are registered on a…
Finding a quiet and safe place for a nursery tops the priorities for new parents, be they humans or fish. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state partners help fish in Savannah River reservoirs find those safe places for their young. To make those safe places this summer, workers, student interns and volunteers have…
(Editor’s Note: GON policy has always been to use the original local names for lakes, rather than names later enacted by Congress to honor fellow politicians. So this lake is always referred to in GON as Clarks Hill rather than J. Strom Thurmond. Likewise, we use Lake Eufaula rather than Lake Walter F. George. The…
The third-annual Peach State Crappie Club (PSCC) Veterans Event was held March 16 on Clarks Hill as a way to show appreciation to those who have served our country in the armed forces. “We take them fishing, it’s a great day of fellowship and a way to thank them for their service to our country.…
It’s December, which means the bass at Clarks Hill have moved to ditches in the backs of coves and can be caught on a variety of baits. The quality of the largemouth on this Clarks Hill pattern is good all this month, and this is a pattern that produces well this time of year. With…
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 |