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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: High 70s to low 80s. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “During the month of June, it is transition month. I look for the fish to move from the banks on the periodic shad spawn that has been going on. Docks this month are going to be great. I like to flip docks with a D Bomb with a 1/2-oz. weight pegged. As the month continues on, I like to get off the points with a Carolina-rigged green-pumpkin Trick Worm and work it slow on tapering points in Richland Creek. As the water warms, it’s time to slow down a little bit.” Stripers: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “June will put us in the middle of the summertime striper and crappie bites, and us guides are pretty excited about it. Yep, I said striper! Stripers used to…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
I was young when I figured out a certain fishing technique. No one taught me this one, and I would not be surprised if there are numerous other methods that trump mine. However, I figured out how to put white bass in my boat. The white bass is a fish I feel is often overlooked.…
Over the years, Lake Oconee has earned a reputation as a fantastic lake for striped bass and hybrid bass fishing, and its credentials as a productive bass and crappie lake are nothing to sneeze at. With a major new Georgia Power project at Wallace Dam about to go operational, anglers will have an additional…
If you weren’t fishing Lake Oconee on Saturday, April 23, you missed a really good day of fishing. Two lake records were broken that day! Yesterday, GON announced a new flathead catfish record. Today, GON recognizes the middle Georgia lake’s first-ever shellcracker record. The redear weighed 1-lb., 14.56-ozs. and was caught by Randy Smith, of Fayetteville,…
Shad love to spawn on the seawalls and rip-rap that line Lake Oconee, and this shad spawn gives anglers a fast, early morning bite in May. After the sun ends the shad spawn, bass back off to hold on drops and cover where they can be caught all day. Lake Oconee is lined by huge…
John Burnett’s name will appear on GON’s Lake & River Records signifying his recent catch as the largest flathead catfish ever caught on Lake Oconee, but the Conyers angler says it was really a family affair. The 52-lb., 8-oz. flathead caught on April 23 has been certified as the lake record after being seen by…
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 |