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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
Will Davis Jr. made history Friday when he won the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship for the second consecutive year. Not only did the 31-year-old Sylacauga, Ala., resident become the first angler to win the event in back-to-back seasons, but he started a chain reaction that helped two other anglers receive a bit of B.A.S.S.…
Will Davis Jr. hoisted the Bryan V. Kerchal Memorial Trophy a year ago, and by all accounts, it looks like he wants to hold on to the hardware that is awarded annually to the winner of the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. Davis, in second place after Day 1 with 16-lbs., 1-oz., jumped into the…
Tim Dube had never fished a competitive round on Lake Hartwell prior to Wednesday’s start of the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. But he went out and treated the place like home water. Dube, a 29-year-old New Hampshire resident, caught a limit of five spotted bass for a total of 16-lbs., 3-ozs. That was enough…
Several dynamic scenarios will be at play when anglers take on Lake Hartwell for the 2023 TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Brandon Cobb believes everything will depend on the lake turnover. “This time of year is kind of a strange time,” the Greenwood, S.C., native said. “On Hartwell the fish…
Kale Temple and Luke Schnell were only 4 ounces out of the Day 1 lead at the 2023 Bassmaster Junior National Championship, so they knew a good finish on Lake Hartwell might lock up the tournament title for them. It did. Temple and Schnell, who compete for the Hart County Junior Anglers, closed the gap…
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 |