Advertisement

Lake Russell

Lake Russell is one of Georgia's youngest reservoirs, completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1983 with construction of the Richard B. Russell Dam on the Savannah River bordering Elbert County, Georgia and Abbeville and Anderson counties in South Carolina. Lake Russell is 26,650 acres and sits between Lake Hartwell to the north and Clarks Hill Lake to the south. As a newer reservoir, environmental laws impacted construction, one factor being that thousands of acres of standing timber were left. Lake levels don't fluctuate much more than 5 feet. Pumpback features at Russell Dam can both pull and release water into and from the tailrace. In addition to the Savannah River, major tributaries include Beaverdam Creek on the Georgia side and Rocky River in South Carolina.

Lake Russell Resources

Lake Russell Fishing Report – April 2025

By GON Staff | March 27, 2025

Russell: Level: 1 foot below 475. Temp: 60-65 degrees. Clarity: Clear on main lake with some stain in the creeks. Bass: Tournament angler Kerry Partain reports, “Now is a perfect opportunity to catch fish and take a kid to enjoy the great outdoors. The month of April is one of the best times to catch bass in a variety of different ways. If you like to fish shallow, you can catch them in the creeks on crankbaits, spinnerbaits and a Texas-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog or lizard. There will also be some prespawn bass out on the points and in the major pockets cruising before they go on bed. For these bass, I like to throw a Blade Runner with a Zoom Fluke or a shaky head out deeper on the points. Later in the month the topwater bite will start to turn on with the herring spawn, and I…

Read More

Lake Russell Articles

Millsaps Run Into The Storm And Collect Russell Win

Mike and Sabrina Millsaps earned another 10 points in the Team Power Ranking race after their May 20 win on Russell at the Southern Bassin’ Couples tournament. “The last time I fished Russell was six years ago, I’ve fished it twice in my life,” said Mike. “Thursday and Friday all I caught was short fish.…

Find the Bluebacks, Catch Russell Bass

The older gentleman with the walking stick leaned his foot on the guard rail of the bridge over Allen Creek on Lake Russell and yelled down to Troy Morrow, who was rigging a rod on the deck of his boat. The man, who was taking his morning walk, saw Troy and asked, “You caught anything…

Lake Russell Summertime Bass

Standing timber everywhere! Sounds like a fisherman’s dream, but on Lake Russell a combination of factors that center around abundant standing timber have created a tough bass-fishing situation. Luckily, GON readers have folks like Bobby Stanfill of Greenwood, S.C. to help put together the puzzle that is summertime bass fishing on Russell. Bobby is a…

The Lake Russell Reef Marker Staycee Scenario For Magnum Spots

It is time to take Staysee fishing. At Lake Russell. On main-lake points and humps south of the Hwy 72 bridge. According to bass fisherman Brandon Davis of Athens, that’s the formula for some great spotted-bass fishing in April. On March 18, Brandon and I were on the lake to test the theory. We put…

Lake Russell’s December Crappie And Perch

During the early winter months as water temperatures drop into the low 50s on Georgia reservoirs, large schools of baitfish, like threadfin shad, move off the main lake and into the coves and creeks. This massive migration of bait is followed closely by concentrations of larger fish that move along under the schools and feed…

Lake Russell Record Fish

Largemouth Bass13-lbs., 4-ozs.Eddy Propes03/04/90
Spotted Bass6-lbs., 8-ozs.Mike Strickland04/06/13
Striped Bass63-lbs. *Terry McConnell04/03/09
White Bass4-lbs., 4-ozs.James L. Payne04/12/94
Walleye11-lbs., 6-ozs.Neal Watson09/11/95
Brown Trout10-lbs., 8-ozs.Tim Harris07/04/93
Black Crappie3-lbs., 6.08-ozs.Aaron Jenkins02/23/24
White Crappie3-lbs.Tony Baker04/03/03
Hybrid Bass14-lbs., 9-ozs.Wayne McCollum01/11/04
Yellow Perch1-lb., 5-ozs.Vern Fulmer09/27/23
White Perch1-lb., 4-ozs.Eric Young01/02/21