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Lake Sinclair
Lake Sinclair is in central Georgia near Milledgeville directly downstream from Lake Oconee on the Oconee River. The 15,330-acre lake is operated by Georgia Power. Bass fishing and crappie fishing are very good and quite popular on Sinclair, and the lake is also home to plenty of catfish. The lake's dynamics changed in 2013 when Georgia Power ceased operation of Plant Branch, which created a warm-water discharge near the Highway 441 bridge area. Even the iconic Plant Branch smoke stacks were brought down. Lake Sinclair stretches through the counties of Baldwin, Hancock and Putnam. Lake Sinclair was created in 1953.
Lake Sinclair Resources
Sinclair: Level: 1.6 feet below 340. Temp: Low to mid 50s. Clarity: The rivers are stained as are the backs of most pockets. It is clear near the dam. Bass: Karl Pingry reports, “It’s taking 18 to 19 pounds to win the club tournaments. Ed at Lakeside Chevron confirmed that our fishing forecast in November was fairly accurate. The bass are still in the backs of the coves that are stained. Crankbaits are the hot bait right now. A Bandit 200 in black or chartreuse/pearl or a jointed No. 7 Shad Rap in clown or chartreuse/white were recommended by Ed. If you’re fishing rocks, fish the ones with sun on them. A chrome/blue Rat-L-Trap is still the bait to throw. Ed added one more pattern that he learned from Junior Collis: throw a crankbait anywhere you see a sweetgum tree on the bank. Long ago, Junior told Ed the…
Read MoreLake Sinclair Fishing Articles
There are some tired fishermen after two half-day Lowrance Eliminator Series tournaments at Lake Sinclair cut the field from 32 boaters to just eight survivors. Those eight anglers will launch tomorrow morning (March 5) along with eight non-boaters as the 2010 Lowrance Eliminator Series continues. Windy, cold conditions all day made for rough fishing at…
Cold, muddy water didn’t bode well for the 32 boaters and their non-boater partners during Round 1 of the Lowrance Eliminator Series tournament at Lake Sinclair this morning (March 4). Somebody forgot to tell 2008 Eliminator Series champ Aaron Batson — and several other anglers who had great half-day catches under rough conditions. Batson anchored…
February is my favorite month for big bass. That is a bold statement, but it has proven true over and over during the last three decades. Bass have been growing eggs since fall, cold weather pulled them off into a winter pattern, but their instinct tells them that any day it will be time to…
SinclaMichael Reid loves the shallow bass bite on Sinclair this time of year.August bass fishing usually means dredging the depths for bass trying to escape the hot temperatures. Dragging a Carolina rig or fighting a big crankbait is often the way to catch them. Lake Sinclair offers a shallow alternative, with bass feeding around grassbeds,…
It was an overcast morning a few weeks ago as Will Sizer and I left the boat ramp in Beaverdam Creek. In short order we were fishing spinnerbaits on a rocky bank just off a main-lake point. Threadfin shad began to flicker on the surface. “Shad are spawning,” said Will. Indeed they were. One of…
Lake Sinclair Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 13-lbs., 2-ozs. | Jimmy Edge | 02/10/90 |
| Hybrid Bass | 10-lbs., 7-ozs. | David Phillips | 11/27/98 |
| Striped Bass | 42-lbs. | Mike Wicks | - |
| White Bass | 2-lbs., 7-ozs. | James Borders Jr. | 07/12/92 |
| Black Crappie | 2-lbs., 11.5-ozs. | Brent Moye | 01/22/00 |
| Channel Catfish | 21-lbs., 5-ozs. | Kenny Durden | 05/02/07 |
| Longnosed Gar | 15-lb., 3-ozs. | Dustin Turk | 08/18/09 |
| Flathead Catfish | 39-lbs. | Tommy Spell | 07/19/22 |
| Blue Catfish | 79-lbs., 8-ozs. | Guy Covington | 04/27/2024 |
| Yellow Perch | 15.04-ozs. | Eric Phillips | 02/09/22 |
| Spotted Bass | 3-lbs., 9.76-ozs. | Larry Cason | 05/10/21 |
| Warmouth | 12-ozs. | Christopher Leverette | 02/22/23 |
Oconee River Below Sinclair Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 10-lbs., 3.2-ozs. | Tracey Jackson | 03/26/17 |
| Channel Catfish | 32-lbs., 6-ozs. | Rick Leitheiser | 04/07/96 |
| Flathead Catfish | 62-lbs. | Brian Estes | 06/13/99 |
| Striped Bass | 63-lbs.* | Kelly Ward | 05/30/67 |
| Black Crappie | 1-lb., 11.6-ozs. | Kelsey Helms | 12/07/24 |
| Bluegill | 1-lb., 8-ozs. | Duke Campbell Jr. | 03/31/15 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 13-ozs. | Ben Bell | 05/29/22 |
| Blue Catfish | 62-lbs., 15.2-ozs. | Kevin Carey | 01/12/25 |
| Bowfin | 7-lbs., 6.016-ozs. | Benjamin Hammock | 07/24/23 |