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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: 0.6 feet above 660. Temp: 68-73 degrees. Clarity: The main lake is clear, some creeks are stained. Bass: Cole Wilson, with Spot Chaser Guide Service, reports, “Fish are in all phases across the lake. It’s a time of year when you can pick your favorite thing to do and go do it. Look for the fish to continue spawning and pushing up to bed, as well as the herring and shad spawns across the lake. Target the herring and shad spawns by fishing shallow, flat clay or sandy points. Lots of times you can see these fish schooling and feeding up early in the morning. A weightless fluke and swimbait, such as a Keitech, are my favorites to target these fish. There is also a brushpile bite starting to happen. This pattern isn’t as effective yet, but it is a good pattern to keep in the back of…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
Lake Hartwell was clear last weekend, May 11, 2019, as high school anglers competed. The water temps were hovering in the mid to upper 70s in the main lake and upper 60s to lower 70s in the upper end in the Tugaloo State Park arm of the lake. The fishing on Lake Hartwell is good…
Hartwell largemouth and spots have spawning on the mind in April, and you can catch both on predictable prespawn and postspawn patterns, as well as on the bed, this month. Then near the end of the month both species will be concentrating on the herring spawn and feeding heavily, an exciting time to fish Lake…
Over the last few years, Lake Hartwell anglers have expressed concern about the declining numbers of striped bass in the lake. “We attribute the decline in the striped bass population to low levels of dissolved oxygen found down deep where striped bass live during the summertime,” said WRD fisheries biologist Anthony Rabern. “Droughts and floods…
Spots and largemouth at Hartwell respond to cooling water by moving shallow and feeding heavily in October. You can catch them on a variety of baits on main-lake points and humps, as well as on banks leading into coves. Hartwell is a big 56,000-acre reservoir on the upper Savannah River. The lake regularly produces 20-lb.…
As summer hits us Georgians in full force this month, you can bet anywhere you decide to fish it’s going to be hot, and I mean hot. About the only thing in the northern portion of our state that you can expect to be hotter than the sweltering daytime highs is the striper fishing. As…
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 |