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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
Level: Full pool Temp.: 62-66 degrees. Clarity: Up the river is stained. Down the lake it’s clearing from Highway 44 and south. Linesides: Guide Mark Smith with Reel Time Guide Services reports that the lineside dam run is not really happening this year. It’s actually gotten worse and worse over the last five years. Instead, look for linesides on the south end in Richland Creek between the Ritz-Carlton and Jumping Rock. Best baits have been threadfin shad and small gizzard shad fished on downlines and flatlines. The flatlines have produced the bigger fish during Mark’s guide trips over the last week. Just look for bait in this stretch, and the white fish will be there. The bite could be anywhere from 1 to 25 feet of water. Fish are also up the river, according to Mark. Some of these fish will be all the way up to Barnett Shoals in…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
Robert Nicolai set the hook on his third Lake Oconee keeper in only seven minutes of fishing. He turned around and shook his head. “Something told me this is where they’d be today,” he said. It was a little after 4:30 p.m., and we had been in the boat since daylight. The weather was perfect…
Cold wind, low clouds blocking any hint of a warming sun, and water temperatures holding at 48 degrees… Doug Nelms put the trolling motor down and eased into a lane through the timber up the Apalachee River, a spot known as the Powerline, and he began setting out his minnow-tipped jigs. I glanced at the…
I met Wayne Moore 17 years ago after killing my first deer, a small-racked buck from Coweta County. At the time dad and I didn’t know much about quartering-up game, so we took it down the road to a local deer processor. There, we were greeted by a middle-aged man with an long, dark beard.…
The first batch of tiny, fingernail-sized stripers from this year’s stocking program went to their new home last week, and how well they do there will be of great interest to biologists and anglers alike. The first stocking of the season took place May 18, 2005 at Lake Oconee, one of five middle Georgia lakes…
May 22: Bassmasters Series, Oconee Flipping docks was the primary pattern during the May 22, 2005 Bassmasters Series tournament at Lake Oconee — just not for the winner. Montie Walters of Warner Robins won the tournament with five fish that weighed 16-lbs., 11-ozs. “I took a chance to win,” said Montie, who fished the area…
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 |