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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: 0.8 feet below 660. Temp: 48-53 degrees. Clarity: The main lake is clear, but there is stain in the creeks. Bass: Cole Wilson, with Spot Chaser Guide Service, reports, “When March rolls around, there are a lot of different patterns and ways to catch fish. In the early part of the month, continue to look in the ditches early in the morning using Damiki jigs or small swimbaits since fish will still be out there feeding up. As the sun rises and temperatures rise, look for rocky points in the 10- to 25-foot range and target them with a shaky head, jig or small swimbait reeled slowly along the bottom as the spotted bass will be feeding up heavily. Of course, there is always a prespawn rock bite with a crankbait. Target the rocky banks with deep water nearby with a crankbait. A mud-bug color in the Spro…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
If the catfish in Lake Hartwell could complain, they would probably complain about these two: catfishermen Red Duncan and Melvin Wall. When these two go catfishing they usually catch fish — lots of fish, and lots of big fish. A friend recently asked them to keep him the catfish they caught one day so he…
I cast a Lil’ Fishy out onto the end of a narrow, rocky point in Coneross Creek on Lake Hartwell and began a slow retrieve. The white, soft-plastic bait had moved maybe 10 feet when something bumped it. “I just had a hit,” I said to Hartwell fishing guide Steve Crenshaw and his friend Preston…
Hartwell anglers are getting the topwater itch — it’s almost topwater time! Hartwell is famous for this post-spawn topwater bass-fishing blast. After the spawn is completed, the bass move out of the creeks and migrate to deep-water summer hangouts. At Hartwell that means main-lake points and humps that are usually lined with timber. The fish…
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…
By my watch, we started fishing at 8:49 p.m. Darkness was settling in over Lake Hartwell, but some fast-paced fish-catching under the lights was about to begin. Hartwell fishing guide Wayne White had pulled up on a “pull through” as he calls it, a narrow area, or funnel area that concentrates both bait and hybrids…
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 |