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
Hartwell: Level: 1.9 feet below 660. Temp: 60s. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Trent Gober, with Fish Hartwell Guide Service, said November is a great month to fish Lake Hartwell. The fish are moving shallow into the creeks. Many baits will catch them, from topwater for schooling fish to crankbaits on rocky banks going into the creeks. Pay attention to channel swings in the creeks. The baitfish tend to load up in those swings. Not all bass will go into the creeks. There will still be a main-lake bite, just a little deeper. Use a green-pumpkin jig or Senko to catch fish around brushpiles and on roadbeds 20 to 35 feet deep. Keep your eyes on your electronics for big pods of bait, and you will find the fish close by. Lake Hartwell Page: Archived Articles, News & Fishing Reports
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
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.…
If you look up the term “fishing addict” in the dictionary, you may notice a picture of Preston Harden in the margin. Preston loves to fish whether it is casting gold spoons for tailing redfish in the Louisiana bayous or flinging flies for trout in north Georgia or even hurling plugs for spotted bass on…
Mike Harris of Watkinsville dodged high wind on Hartwell May 12 to win his Round 4 Skeeter Eliminator Series match-up with Daryl Adams of Senoia. “You had to be on points that didn’t have real strong wind. The waves were so big on some that the fish couldn’t zero in very good,” said Mike. On…
March is unlike every other month of the year for bass anglers at Lake Hartwell. Fishing during the first half of the month is totally different than the second half. And to make things even more confusing, Lake Hartwell is unusually low, making most of the best places to catch fish in March inaccessible. But…
A few years ago, bass fishermen discovered an amazing summer pattern on some Georgia lakes. Bass would hit topwater baits worked over deep water on some of the brightest, hottest days of summer. Blueback herring were the key to that pattern, and Lake Hartwell is one of the best lakes in the state to catch…
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 |