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Lake Hartwell
Lake Hartwell is a 56,000-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir bordering Georgia and South Carolina on the Savannah, Tugaloo and Seneca rivers. Lake Hartwell is one of the southeast's largest and most popular recreation lakes, and it offers good fishing, particularly for bass and stripers. Three recent Bassmaster Classic tournaments have been held at Hartwell. The lake is created by Hartwell Dam located on the Savannah River 7 miles below the point where the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers join to form the Savannah. Interstate 85 crosses Lake Hartwell at the Georgia-South Carolina line.
Lake Hartwell Resources
Hartwell: Level: 0.2 feet below 660. Temp: 56 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Cole Wilson, with Spot Chaser Guide Service, reports, “Fish are in all stages across the whole lake. There are some fish in prespawn, spawn and even postspawn out there right now. For prespawn fish, look in ditches and rocky points throwing a Damiki jig, shaky head and crankbait. For spawning fish, any flat pocket protected from a north wind should be holding spawning fish. Target these fish with a wacky worm or swimbait. Another spawning pattern is to target rocky shoals with a Keitech swimbait slow-rolled on the bottom. For postspawn fish, remember they are going to be lazy but will fall for a slow-moving bait like a Carolina rig, shaky head or a wacky worm. Target these fish on the first points coming out of the spawning pockets. Full moon is April 12, so the biggest wave…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
Peyton Dunn, of Fitzgerald, won the ABA-AFT Division 25 tournament on Lake Hartwell on March 16. He weighed in 21.16 pounds. What was really exceptional about his bag of fish was that it was anchored by an 11.03-lb. largemouth. “To my knowledge, it’s the biggest bass weighed in on tournament scales for Hartwell,” said Peyton.…
A 6-lb., 4-oz. spotted bass was just what Texas angler Chad Mrazek needed on the final day of the MLF Invitational at Lake Hartwell. The big spot propelled Chad to a third-place finish in the tournament, and it set a new GON official record for spotted bass on Lake Hartwell. Chad’s record spot hit a…
As most people were driving home from their 9-to-5 jobs the evening of Feb. 17, Aaron Riggins was having the fight of his life on Lake Hartwell. “With whom?” you might ask. None other than a 75-lb. catfish, and it very well could have been the same 74-lb. fish he caught in the area about…
A Lake Hartwell striped bass fishing tournament ended in tragedy Saturday morning, Jan. 11, when a competitor’s boat with four anglers onboard sank. A 25-year-old woman from Aiken, S.C. did not survive. The Anderson County (S.C.) Corner’s office identified the young woman as Kimberely Gomillion. According to statements from officials, Gomillion was fishing the tournament…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District’s Forest, Fish, and Wildlife Section at the J. Strom Thurmond Lakeand the Hartwell Dam and Lake will accept real Christmas trees for recycling as fish habitat again this season. Thurmond Lake will accept real trees from Dec. 20, 2024, through Jan. 17, 2025, and Hartwell Lake will…
Lake Hartwell Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 12-lbs., 6.5-ozs. | Jack Breshears | 03/08/76 |
| Spotted Bass | 6-lbs., 4-ozs. | Chad Mrazek | 03/16/25 |
| Redeye Bass | 3-lbs., 7-ozs. | Steve Williams | 04/17/04 |
| Striped Bass | 59-lbs., 8-ozs. | Terry McConnell | 02/03/02 |
| Hybrid Bass | 20-lbs., 1-oz. | Buster Green | ----- |
| White Bass | 4-lbs., 5-ozs. | H.T. Davis | 02/06/67 |
| White Crappie | 4-lb., 4-ozs. | Charles McCullough | 04/27/68 |
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 1.76-ozs. | Jimmy Burns | 03/02/22 |
| Walleye | 9-lbs. | T.O. Sherriff | 1974 |
| Blue Catfish | 30-lbs., 8-ozs. | Melvin Wall | 06/26/03 |
| Flathead Catfish | 66-lbs. | Darrin Sealey | 04/04/10 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 4.16-ozs. | DJ Hill | 05/13/23 |
| Chain Pickerel | 2-lbs., 5-ozs. | Jay Franklin | 03/16/23 |