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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: 4.8 feet below 660. Temp: 84-87. Clarity: Clear. Bass & Stripers: Trent Gober, with Fish Hartwell Guide Service, said bass are on the main-lake brush and canepiles, as well as natural timber. Catch them by casting big topwater plugs, like a Super Spook, OG and Gunfish to draw them to the top. You can also catch them on shaky-head worms and drop shots. Use a green-pumpkin-green Trick Worm on both. Brush in 25 to 30 feet of water is best for spots and largemouth. Many folks are using forward-facing sonar to find and cast to bass over the timber. Use soft minnow baits, like a fluke on a jig head, for them. It takes time to learn how to use FFS to catch them, but once you do, it is the best way to win a tournament. Stripers are stacked up deep from 30 to 80 feet of…
Read MoreLake Hartwell Fishing Articles
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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 |