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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: 3.5 feet below 660. Temp: Mid 50s to low 60s. Clarity: Clear. Bass & Stripers: Trent Gober, with Fish Hartwell Guide Service, said the bait is moving into the creeks and ditches, and bass and stripers will follow. Look for both back in ditches where the 20 to 25 foot deep water ends. Drag a green-pumpkin Senko on a 1/4-oz. Gamakatsu jig head or a jig ’n pig on the bottom for bass. Everything will be bottom related. Find rockpiles or rock ridges that concentrate the bass at that depth. A Fish Head Spin will also catch fish when reeled slowly along the bottom under bait, as will a spoon dropped under the bait balls. For stripers, get in areas of bait and fish live bait in very shallow water. The big stripers often cruise in 5 feet of water looking for food. Cast your bait to the…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
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…
The great thing about Rounds 4-6 of the Skeeter Eliminator Series is that GON editors ride along for all the tournaments. We take detailed notes and publish each angler’s diary about how they spend their seven hours on the water. The following pages contain diaries from the Round 5 Hartwell and Jackson tournaments. The Skeeter…
With wind-blown chop rocking the surface of Lake Hartwell, close attention was necessary to keep up with the commotion made by a white stickbait being ripped as quickly and erratically as possible across the surface. For an instant it was lost from sight behind a whitecap, before emerging on the face of the wave with…
With 56,000 acres of surface water and a wealth of linesides and largemouths, Hartwell may be known as a striper and hybrid fishery, as well as a great place for topwater bass explosions in the spring. But one thing that is often overlooked on this large lake on the Georgia/South Carolina border is the crappie…
Tournament bass anglers are a serious and dedicated bunch. You’ll find them lined up at first light at boat ramps on most of our Georgia reservoirs, ready to blast off for a day of competition. Winter is no exception. While most of us prefer to sit at home on blustery cold days and sharpen hooks,…
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 |