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Lake Oconee
Lake Oconee is an excellent fishing lake located in central Georgia on the Oconee River near Greensboro, the real Buckhead and Eatonton. Oconee is known for very good bass fishing, great crappie fishing for huge slabs, and very good fishing for linesides and catfish. The lake was created in 1979 when Georgia Power completed the construction of the Wallace Dam on the Oconee River. Lake Oconee runs through Georgia's Morgan, Greene, and Putnam counties and is separated from its sister lake, Sinclair, by Wallace Dam. Lake Oconee is home to a number of golf communities, including Reynolds Plantation, Cuscawilla, and Harbor Club.
Lake Oconee Resources
Oconee: Level: 0.1 feet below 435. Temp: 65 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “During the month of December, I look for the fish to be toward the backs of pockets with bait in them. December is a good month to target fish shallow around rocks. With the cooler water, the fish will be a little slower, so slow down the presentation. I like to slow-roll a 1/2-oz. white spinnerbait this time of year. Check the areas around 44 bridge and south to Old Salem. Look for bait on the shallow secondary points with rock. The largemouth won’t be far away. I also like a green-pumpkin jig with a junebug trailer. It seems to get the bigger bites this time of year. It’s wintertime—slow down and use bigger-profile baits for bigger bites.” Stripers: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “It’s the most…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
Last April, Mike Harris of Watkinsville was fishing an R&R tournament at Lake Oconee with his 16-year-old step-son, Travis Mulkey. “It was the third tournament he ever fished; he’d didn’t catch a keeper in the first two,” said Mike. On a windless morning, less than 30 minutes into fishing, the team had made a run…
February is a feast-or-famine month for bass fishermen in middle Georgia. The fishing runs hot and cold just like the weather. During a warm spell you can catch bass anywhere, but to be consistent all month you need to head to Lake Oconee. Since it is located in the middle of the state, Oconee is…
It sure seemed dark, a thick blanket of fog not helping matters. With no warning, a half-dozen black forms swung out of the fog in front and banked hard left, not 30 yards off the water, and landed on down the willow-lined bank just out of shotgun range. I checked the time — five minutes…
The outcome of the GON Eliminator Series finale at Lake Oconee could have fallen either way; both Mark Massey and David Millsaps have strong reputations on the lake. However, it was Mark who found a decent bite in practice while throwing a Rat-L-Trap which allowed him to scratch out a limit on tournament day and take…
Before you go bass fishing at Lake Oconee in December, you have a shallow-water, deep-water decision to make. For wintertime bass, Oconee angler Kenny Holloway depends on two different lures in two completely different areas of the lake: either a jig ’n pig in super-shallow structure or a jigging spoon on deep drops. Both baits,…
Lake Oconee Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 12-lbs., 14-ozs. | Bill Brantley | 05/14/12 |
| Hybrid Bass | 14-lbs., 4-ozs. | Jan Allen Ward | 04/03/91 |
| Striped Bass | 29-lbs., 14.9-ozs. | Fred Worthy | 05/10/96 |
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 12-ozs. | Edward Rhodes | 02/10/97 |
| Channel Catfish | 34-lbs., 8-ozs. | Jonathan Clifton | 05/31/98 |
| Blue Catfish | 70-lbs., 2-ozs. | Koob Moua | 03/22/23 |
| Flathead Catfish | 62-lbs., 10.4-ozs. | Rob Allgood | 03/11/23 |
| White Bass | 3-lbs., 6-ozs. | Tony Couch | 04/02/93 |
| Longnose Gar | 20-lbs., 13-ozs. | Dustin Turk | 10/05/19 |
| Chain Pickerel | 1-lb., 2-ozs. | Terry Brice | 03/05/17 |
| Spotted Bass | 5-lbs., 3.2-ozs. | Austin Skinner | 03/19/22 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 14.56-ozs. | Randy Smith | 04/23/22 |
| Yellow Perch | 11-ozs. | John Moore | 02/16/23 |