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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: Full at 660. Temp: 62-64 degrees. Clarity: Clear except for some runoff in the creeks. The Potato Creek Bass Masters club fished a two-day tournament at Hartwell on Friday and Saturday. Raymond English won with 10 keepers that weighed 32.33 pounds. He had five at 21.41 on Friday, including a 5.77-lb. kicker. His big one hit a Trick Worm. All others hit a Carolina rig. I had big fish with a 6.63-lb. largemouth that looked postspawn. It hit a wacky-rigged Zoom Fluke Stick with the tails dipped in chartreuse J.J.’s Magic. Fish were caught in a number of ways: topwater, crankbaits, jigs and flukes. Many fish were bedding and cruising. I got on a fun pattern Saturday. I fished a Fluke Stick on clay with rocks on sloping banks for 2-lb. spots. They were in 8 to 12 feet of water. They were fun but not tournament-winning fish.…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
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.…
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…
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 |