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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
Russell: Level: 0.4 feet below 475. Temp: 66-70 degrees. Clarity: Stained Bass: Tournament angler Kerry Partain reports, “The water is turning over in a lot of areas and causing many sections of the lake to be brown or off colored. When this happens, I look for the clearest water I can find that has baitfish, or I just fish shallow in the areas where the fish have been active previously. Early in the day, I like throwing spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Then, as the day goes on, I switch to a jig or shaky head with a Zoom Magnum Swamp Crawler. As we head into November, the water will begin to clear up as it continues to cool off and the bass will get more aggressive. Once this happens, I try to find big schools of baitfish and catch the active bass on a jigging spoon and an A-rig. Lake Russell…
Read MoreLake Russell Articles
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…
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…
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…
Jerry Craft is a crappie-fishing fanatic. He doesn’t hunt deer much anymore; he doesn’t fish for bass; what he likes best is catching crappie at Lake Russell. In March when the crappie are on the move, coming up from deep structure out on the main lake and moving into the creeks ahead of the spawn,…
The look exchanged by my fishing partner and I was one of surprise, almost shock… a “can you believe that” kind of look. It was late afternoon on a beautiful mid-October day on Lake Russell. What could we possibly have seen that was so surprising? It was another boat, the first and only boat we…
Lake Russell Record Fish
Largemouth Bass | 13-lbs., 4-ozs. | Eddy Propes | 03/04/90 |
Spotted Bass | 6-lbs., 8-ozs. | Mike Strickland | 04/06/13 |
Striped Bass | 63-lbs. * | Terry McConnell | 04/03/09 |
White Bass | 4-lbs., 4-ozs. | James L. Payne | 04/12/94 |
Walleye | 11-lbs., 6-ozs. | Neal Watson | 09/11/95 |
Brown Trout | 10-lbs., 8-ozs. | Tim Harris | 07/04/93 |
Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 6.08-ozs. | Aaron Jenkins | 02/23/24 |
White Crappie | 3-lbs. | Tony Baker | 04/03/03 |
Hybrid Bass | 14-lbs., 9-ozs. | Wayne McCollum | 01/11/04 |
Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 5-ozs. | Vern Fulmer | 09/27/23 |
White Perch | 1-lb., 4-ozs. | Eric Young | 01/02/21 |