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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…
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Each time I go to Lake Russell, I am impressed with its beautiful, clear green water, and good bass fishing. With undeveloped, tree-covered shorelines, steep banks and abundance of cover, it looks like bass-fishing heaven. And it is. Filled in 1994, Russell’s 26,650 acres sit between the upper end of Clarks Hill and the Hartwell…
December is a great month for bass fishing. The fish are still active, and there are few other boats on the water. And if you choose Lake Russell, you will find a pristine lake with no shoreline development, low fishing pressure and lots of largemouth and spotted bass ready to hit. Russell is a 26,650-acre…
With a forest of underwater timber in deep water for bass to hold in, some attractive cover closer to the banks of Lake Russell might make fishing easier for the average angler. That shallow cover may be on the way in the form of pond weed. A joint project between the U.S. Army Corps of…
Intimidating, daunting, tough… all words that have been used to describe bass fishing on Lake Russell, usually by an angler who has never fished the timber-filled, clear water of the Savannah River reservoir. Beautiful, fishy-looking and awesome… words used by others to describe the bass fishing at Russell, especially during the postspawn period in May.…
“The clear water at Russell lets you see bedding and cruising fish in early May and catch them. I would much rather fish where I know a bass is seeing my bait, rather than just casting to a place hoping one will see it,” Bobby Stanfill told me as we discussed plans for fishing for…
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 |