Advertisement
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
Level: 0.5 over 660. Temp: 62-66 degrees. Clarity: Mostly clear with a little stain in the backs of some creeks. Bass: Ronnie Garrison fished the Potato Creek Bassmasters Tournament over the weekend and reports, “I saw many males preparing beds in Little Beaverdam Creek and the mouth of Reed Creek and a few females cruising them. The full moon this weekend should means lots of bedding bass. “The wind was bad Friday, the first day of our two-day April tournament. I caught five keeper largemouth on a shaky head fished slowly while working bedding flats back in coves. I had caught some 3-lb. spots from rocky humps and points on Wednesday and Thursday, but they did not hit early Friday morning, and the wind made them unfishable Friday afternoon. “Two 3-lb. largemouth helped me have 9.92 pounds. Raymond English had five bass at 14.26 pounds for first place, and Niles Murray…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
The chill of winter puts far too many anglers on the sidelines. Some of the biggest and most impressive stringers of fish you will ever see are caught in early February while air and water temperatures are at their lowest. My advice is to put on plenty of clothes and strike out to Lake…
The lake-record for flathead catfish on Lake Hartwell was set at a mark that’s going to be tough to top. On April 10, 2010, Darrin Sealey caught a flathead that pulled certified scales to 66 pounds. The Georgia state record for flathead is a tie between two Altamaha River cats that weighed 83 pounds. (Most…
Lake Hartwell, on the Georgia/South Carolina border, has long been known as an excellent bass fishery. Both largemouth and spotted bass are present in good numbers, and anglers can land strings of quality fish if they know the territory and habits of the bass. But, right now is arguably the best time of year to…
Many anglers will save their nickels and dimes all year for the chance to sight fish for tailing redfish or bonefish on flats in saltwater. It’s a complete rush to find fish feeding in water so shallow their backs are exposed. What’s more, both of these species are challenging to catch, can grow to some…
The holidays make for a busy time this month, and deer and small-game seasons are in full swing. That means the lakes are not crowded, plus the bass are biting. Lake Hartwell is a great choice this month. Bass are on several patterns, and you can catch three different kinds of bass in one area.…
Lake Hartwell Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 12-lbs., 6.5-ozs. | Jack Breshears | 03/08/76 |
| Spotted Bass | 5-lbs., 6.08-ozs. | Raulie Bleech | 03/18/07 |
| 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 |