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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
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…
Read MoreClarks Hill Lake Articles
Blake White, 27, of Thomson, has been fishing his whole life and picked up limb lining when he was 14 years old. Limb lining has been around for many years, and no doubt it’s a fun and very productive way to catch catfish. For limb lining, Blake uses 250-lb. braided cord with a 6- to…
A great recipe for bass fishing would be to start with Clarks Hill, add in the month of May, stir in blueback herring, and you have action that is hard to beat. Clarks Hill has always been a spring favorite of bass fishermen, and the introduction and expansion of blueback herring has made the May…
March weather is fickle, and fishing can be set back with a single front. Now, with April finally here, things have settled down, and the fishing is wide open. Bass are feeding and spawning, and they are as easy to catch right now as any time of the year. Clarks Hill is just about the…
Ed Lepley caught a 3-lb., 9-oz. white bass on March 9, 2015 at Clarks Hill Lake. The fish set a new lake record for Clarks Hill. 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…
Dennis Franklin caught the Clarks Hill white perch record on Feb. 22, 2015. His fish weighed 1-lb., 4-ozs. DNR’s sampling efforts prove the lake to have an abundant population of white perch. Not only do they make for a fun fight on light tackle, but they are delicious to eat. Most anglers catch white perch…
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 |