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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
I was able to get back to Lake Oconee twice this week and was happy to discover the pollen is gone and crappie are moving back to brushpiles and trees for the summer. I love this time of year because initially the biggest crappie move back to the wood first. I was able to catch 26 crappie in a fog-shortened morning on Tuesday, April 23, and I caught 41 crappie yesterday morning, April 25. Every fish but one was over 10 inches, and I caught some up to 15 inches long. Livescoping is by far the most efficient way to catch these Lake Oconee crappie. Go to your favorite trees and brushpiles and look for fish from 6 to 12 feet deep. The fewer fish there, the bigger they seem to be. I am seeing some evidence that the crappie are reacting negatively to the Livescope transducer. I set my…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
If you enjoy competing in fishing tournaments on lakes Oconee or Sinclair, it may be time to shift gears and do a little yard work. In a statement released on March 30 by Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, he is asking fishing tournament directors to reschedule any tournaments taking place between now and at least…
Prespawn bass hitting your baits in grass and around wood cove—that simple pattern will catch largemouth this month at Lake Oconee. The bass at Oconee will move to the spawning flats and feed heavily before bedding. Lake Oconee is 19,000 acres of water near Eatonton. The Oconee River and Richland Creek make up its two…
Sixty-five folks fishing for facts gathered at The Lodge on Lake Oconee on Saturday, Feb. 1 for the first-ever “Four Seasons of Oconee Seminar” hosted by three Lake Oconee crappie-fishing experts. Capt. Doug Nelms, a regular GON Fishing Reports contributor, taught pushing techniques and shared some of his favorite GPS coordinates for fishing brushpiles and…
There are fish down there. Somewhere. Under all that Lake Oconee mud. They’re stacked up in the creek channel (hint, hint), clearly visible on the Humminbird depthfinder. The three of us up top in the big Ranger want a closer look at them—as in aboard. And I’m confident we can get it done; mainly because…
For the second time in less than a month, the Lake Oconee longnose gar record has been broken. The latest angler to hold the record is Dustin Turk, of Eatonton. Dustin caught his fish on Oct. 5, and it weighed 20-lbs., 13-ozs. and was 52 inches long. “Me, my son Maddox and Michael Brock were…
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 |