— Striped and Hybrid Bass: Very good.  Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) and Guide Chip Hamilton (864-304-9011) report that striper have generally moved into the lower lake, and they can be caught from about 35 feet all the way down to 100 or more.  Down-lining live herring is the predominant pattern.  Hybrids can be caught at night […]

— Overall, Lake Hartwell is at 660.49 and water clarity is normal.  Water temperatures are in the mid-70s. It’s still a transition period for bass on Lake Hartwell according to Guide Brad Fowler, and the end of the spring phase on the lake is starting to give way to summer fishing.  There are only a […]

— Overall, Lake Hartwell is at 660.14 and water clarity is normal.  Water temperatures are in the mid-70s. It’s a transition period for bass on Lake Hartwell according to Guide Brad Fowler, and even though fish can be caught there is no “red hot” bite right now.  Fish can still be found bedding, and there […]

— Overall, Lake Hartwell is at 660.44 and water temperatures shot from the low 60s into the high 60s/ low 70s over the past week and a half. In the four-day ABA Ray Scott Championship a couple of weeks ago on Lake Hartwell there were a good number of 20-pound sacks caught.  The winning angler […]

— Overall, Lake Hartwell is at 660.36 and morning water temperatures are in the low 60s; some creeks can be up to 4 or 5 degrees warmer. In the ABA Ray Scott Championship this past weekend on Lake Hartwell Jason Burroughs of Hodges, SC ran away with the win by weighing in a 4-day total […]

Overall, Lake Hartwell has come up to 660.40 and water temperatures are in the low to mid-60s; there can be five degrees of variance between creeks and the main lake.  Generally the water is pretty clear but fishermen can find some color in the creeks. In his last report Guide Brad Fowler estimated that about […]

— Even before the second FLW Tour event of the season got underway Thursday on Lake Hartwell, Guide Brad Fowler predicated that sight-fishing would play a very significant role in the tournament.  Brad estimated that by Thursday about 50% of the fish were actively bedding, while another 50% were still pre-spawn.  With the weather Lake […]

— Note: Content on these pages, including tournament reports and fishing reports, is generally available only to customers of the Angler’s Headquarters online fishing tackle store.  Any purchase (no minimum value) gives readers full access to all information on this site for 90 days.    What happens when you take a species biologically driven to reproduce […]

IMPORTANT site changes coming.  Effective March 1 only customers of the Angler’s Headquarters online tackle store will have access to our fishing reports.  Read more here.  Whether you like to bass fish in shallow or deep water, muddy or clear water, right now Lake Hartwell has something for everyone. For shallow-water enthusiasts, Guide Brad Fowler […]

IMPORTANT site changes coming.  Effective March 1 only customers of the Angler’s Headquarters tackle store will have access to our fishing reports.  Read more here.  On many South Carolina lakes two or three warm days is all it takes to move good numbers of bass into the shallows, and sometimes a single mild, sunny afternoon […]

Here are some pictures, courtesy of Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120), that show water conditions on Lake Hartwell today.  Even though water levels dropped about a foot yesterday – down to 662.91 as of publication – they are still about three feet above full pool.  Pictured here is the view of Double Springs Ramps, which is obviously still closed, […]

Full pool for Lake Hartwell is 660.0 feet, and right now Lake Hartwell water levels stand at 664.15.  This actually represents a drop of about a foot in the last few days, and at their peak water levels were more than five feet above full pool.  Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) points out that the problem is […]

While the bite for striper and hybrids on Lake Hartwell has gotten really good, the fish still haven’t made a huge move up the rivers.  Guide Chip Hamilton (864-304-9011) reports that the fish usually make the run sometime in November, but with water temperatures still hovering in the low 60s they haven’t made the move […]

Last weekend tournament angler and guide Brad Fowler fished the ABA National Championship on Lake Hartwell and finished in fourth place in the roughly 300-boat field.  Most people would have been thrilled.  However, when we spoke I could tell that – instead of being satisfied at having won several thousand dollars and come out so […]

Guide Chip Hamilton (864-304-9011) reports that striped bass on Lake Hartwell are in a transition phase, and about last Friday he says that the bite got really tough.  For the last few days his boat has been struggling to catch striper and hybrids, and it’s only because of spotted bass that the action has stayed […]

Even though catching bass on Lake Hartwell has been a struggle, the bite just up the road on Lake Keowee is very strong.  Guide Brad Fowler of Pendleton reports that fish are feeding pretty heavily and there is significant schooling activity going on all over the lake, both over shallow water and over deep water.  Anglers […]

This Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the ABA Ram American Fishing Tour held its National Championship on Lake Hartwell, bringing with it nearly 300 boaters competing for the first prize of a top-of the line boat and a Ram truck.  With the lake turning over anglers knew that fishing conditions would be tough, but they were […]

We all know the fish aren’t biting all day every day, and if someone tells you that they can’t miss that’s probably not a fisherman worth trusting.  The report from Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) this week shows that he is someone worth trusting as Bill gives the honest appraisal that striped bass fishing has gotten a […]

Unusual for this time of year Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) reports that striped bass fishing has been pretty tough, and while the causes are unclear it may be related to a lot of hot water having been pulled down deep as part of power generation.  Whatever the cause, mornings have been relatively slow with the fishing […]

Typical of late summer Guide Brad Fowler (864-934-5813) reports that the bass bite has slowed down somewhat on Lake Hartwell, but there are still fish to be caught.  In fact, anglers looking to catch numbers of fish should have no trouble catching a ton of bass drop shotting around deep structure, particularly when there is the […]

In February of this year (around the time that the Bassmasters Classic anglers were dealing with frozen rod guides, icy boat ramps, and more), I remember talking to Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) about what was then a pretty slow striper bite. He told me that he always does better with striper when it’s really hot than […]

Lake Hartwell is at 660.00 and water temperatures are up to about 80 degrees. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Very good.  Captain Bill Plumley reports striped bass fishing is very good right now and his boat is catching strong limits of fish daily, mostly on down-lined live herring. Fish can still be caught in the major rivers […]

Week 13 saw four open/ tournament trail events reported on SCFishingReport.com; an ABA Weekend Series event on Lake Hartwell, two CATT tournaments (Santee and Wateree), and a BFL NC Division tournament on Lake Wylie. ABA Weekend Series Lake Hartwell The American Bass Anglers Weekend Bass Series had its second event of the season on Hartwell out […]