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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: Full at 435. Temp: 51-54 degrees. Clarity: Stained to the Highway 44 bridge. Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “During the month of January, I like to target rocky points with sun on them. With the cold water, the fish are trying to find warmer water. During this month, I like using bigger profile baits. My go-to is a green-pumpkin, 3/4-oz. jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer in the same color. Mid lake is usually the best this time of year. I like fishing the rocky points around Cuscowilla. It is wintertime fishing, so slower presentations are key.” Stripers: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “Throughout this past month of December, it has absolutely been the best striper, hybrid and white bass fishing that I have seen in many years. The Oconee white bass are fat chunks and not a mark on…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
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…
Stan Payne of Athens used to pitch baseballs. These days, he would rather pitch lures around Lake Oconee as a fishing guide. Stan was on the mound when the Georgia Bulldogs won the 1990 College World Series, and he spent several years with the Oakland A’s organization before retiring from the game and returning to…
Bass fishing at Lake Oconee can be fantastic in May. The weather has stabilized, most of the bass are done spawning and are on predictable patterns, and they are feeding heavily. Throw in the end of the shad spawn, and you can have some of the best action of the year. As anyone who has…
Lineside fishermen on several middle Georgia lakes will see a change in future years. A plan to begin phasing in the stocking of stripers and phasing out the stocking of hybrids was introduced by WRD Fisheries biologists at a public meeting in Milledgeville last month. Lakes feeding the Altamaha River basin that over the past…
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 |