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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 pool. Surface Temperature: 72-75 degrees. Clarity: “Oconee clear.” Topwater was the way to go at Lake Oconee on Saturday, May 18. Kwong Yu won the Potato Creek Bassmasters May tournament with five bass weighing 13.88 pounds. He won big fish with a 5.53-lb. largemouth that hit a Horny Toad under a dock at 2 p.m. He also had a 4.40-pounder that hit a buzzbait early. Second place was Kinny Delay with five bass weighing 10.16 pounds, and third place was Mitch Cardell with five bass at 9.40 pounds. I thought I would have a good tournament day. On Friday while practice fishing, I had landed two good keepers, one around 3 pounds (in picture) and another just a little smaller caught in grass on Trick Worms between 11 a.m. and noon. During the tournament, we started at 6:30 in the morning, and I landed two solid keepers…
Read MoreLake Oconee Articles
I enjoy college kids. They look at the world through a whole different set of eyes than I do, and when it comes to bass fishing, they are a good reminder that old tricks aren’t always the best tricks when it comes to catching fish. Clayton Childs, 21, of Bishop, recently graduated from college, but…
On Feb. 24, Mac McCutchin, of Greensboro, caught a rainbow trout from Lake Oconee that weighed 1 1/2 pounds and measured 15 inches long. Mac was fishing off his dock hoping to catch some crappie. “When I first got out there, I caught some crappie and a couple of catfish,” said Mac. After two hours,…
Brad Stalnaker rolled to a first-place finish in the Jan. 12 ABA tournament on Lake Oconee with almost a 4 1/2-lb. margin over second place. Brad had a five-bass limit that weighed 19.13 pounds. He earned $735 for first. Second place went to Kip Carver, who had 13.85 pounds. The tournament drew 35 anglers, including…
Ricky Boles, a DNR Law Enforcement Ranger First Class, spent Monday morning, Oct. 16, waiting for an accused violator to show up at the Putnam County courthouse. The man was late for his court appearance, and when he did show, a relative had to interpret for the man because he spoke no English. Unfortunately, communication…
The cost to spend a day at federal recreation areas on the Oconee and Chattahoochee national forests could be going up soon. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing increases to user fees at some Forest Service recreation areas in Georgia, including access to some boat ramps, campgrounds and day-use areas. The proposed price hikes include…
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 |