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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

Lake Hartwell Fishing Report — April 15, 2024

By Ronnie Garrison | April 15, 2024

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…

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Lake Hartwell Fishing Articles

Hartwell Record Redeye Bass

Steve Williams, of Dallas, set a Lake Hartwell and a Georgia state record with a redeye bass he caught April 17, 2004. Steve’s 3-lb., 7-oz., redeye bass surpassed a 3-lb., 5-oz. redeye caught on Lake Hartwell in 1999. The South Carolina state record redeye was caught April 4, 2001 by Randy Dixon, of Westminster, S.C.…

Hartwell Striper Breaks Records

If the news that giant stripers are being hoisted from the Savannah River reserviors above Augusta sounds like a broken record  — it is. For the second time in 11 months, South Carolina fisheries officials are evaluating a new South Carolina state-record striped bass: a 59-lb., 8-oz. monster caught in Lake Hartwell Feb. 3 by Georgia…

Hartwell Bass Blowing Up Topwater In May

By the first of May, most of the big Hartwell bass have finished spawning and are waiting on the main-lake points for the blueback herring, which are just moving in to the gravel bars and sandy points for their spawn. May is one of the best times to catch a bunch of grown Hartwell bass, and…

Hartwell Linesides Quick Action In Spring

Lineside fishing guide Greg Beck snatched the rod from the rod holder and reared back to set the hook, but the fish was already gone. Before he could replace the rod, another planer board shuddered on the surface, then surged backwards, signaling a hit on the trailing blueback herring. Greg hurriedly set down the first…

Lake Hartwell Record Black Crappie

Rebecca Crittendon, of Hartwell, Ga., holds her 2-lb., 14-oz. black crappie that set the lake-record mark at Lake Hartwell. Black crappie are not as prevalent as white crappie at Hartwell. The lake-record white crappie from Hartwell was a giant that weighed 4-lbs., 4-ozs., caught by Charles McCullough in 1968. Black crappie typically will be speckled…

Lake Hartwell Record Fish

Largemouth Bass12-lbs., 6.5-ozs.Jack Breshears03/08/76
Spotted Bass5-lbs., 6.08-ozs.Raulie Bleech03/18/07
Redeye Bass3-lbs., 7-ozs.Steve Williams04/17/04
Striped Bass59-lbs., 8-ozs.Terry McConnell02/03/02
Hybrid Bass20-lbs., 1-oz.Buster Green-----
White Bass4-lbs., 5-ozs.H.T. Davis02/06/67
White Crappie4-lb., 4-ozs.Charles McCullough04/27/68
Black Crappie3-lbs., 1.76-ozs.Jimmy Burns03/02/22
Walleye9-lbs.T.O. Sherriff1974
Blue Catfish30-lbs., 8-ozs.Melvin Wall06/26/03
Flathead Catfish66-lbs.Darrin Sealey04/04/10
Shellcracker1-lb., 4.16-ozs.DJ Hill05/13/23
Chain Pickerel2-lbs., 5-ozs.Jay Franklin03/16/23