July 21 

 

Lake Hartwell water level is 652.21 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 89 degrees.  

 

The striper and hybrid action continues to be excellent at Lake Hartwell, with early morning still providing the best action of the day. Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that fishing is solidly entrenched in the summer pattern now.

 

Over the past week, the stripers and hybrids have moved farther down the main lake, but plenty are still in the areas where he has been catching them over the past couple of weeks. Other than that, the pattern remains basically the same.

 

Captain Chip did report the topwater schooling action is still occurring best early in the morning, at first light. Still, sporadic surface activity occurs for a couple of hours after sunup.

 

Hybrid and striper action is excellent, and Captain Chip said the action is often fast paced. 

 

Stripers and hybrids are still often roaming in big schools, and the two species are often caught in the same area. Captain Chip is targeting these fish in 20 to 30 feet, with the fish suspended over water from 30 to 90 feet deep. The most productive bottom depth is generally closer to 30 to 40 feet early, then deeper as the sun gets higher. 

 

Live blueback herring fished on down rods is productive, but the weightless freelines with herring are also providing a good bite, especially early when the fish are shallower. The freelines are occasionally being hit immediately by a fish patrolling near the surface. Once it slowly sinks to about 15 feet in the Harwell clear water, the fish located 5 to 10 feet below will readily come up in the water column to eat it. 

 

He said that the thermocline is setting up and the fish are at that depth and shallower. Most mornings, the action is early, then slacks off by 10 until late evening, when low-light conditions return. Captain Chip said most days they’re limiting on hybrids and stripers by mid-morning.

 

The crappie fishing action is good, but the fish are holding deep, Captain Jay Bruce(Carolina Fishing Adventures with Jay Bruce; 864-420-8512) reports. The crappie generally  hug near the bottom close to the thermocline, which is about 30 feet deep right now. They’re oriented to brush and woody structure, and the two basic methods of catching crappie are tightlining minnows to target crappie congregated on top of the brush, or backing off and casting jigs.

 

This is a typical summer pattern at Lake Hartwell, and while the fish are not as frisky as during the spring, good catches can be made by working several different brushy targets in that depth. Captain Jay said that after catching a few fish, the bite often slows at that spot, so move to another target.But a return to that same target later is often again productive.

 

Black bass fishing is consistent, and Guide Luke Wilson withWilson’s Guide Service (706-283-3336) reports thebass activity on the lower end of Lake Hartwell has been good. Luke is catching bass on topwater lures, and live herring, off points in the backs of the smaller creeks. He noted a lot of anglers seem to be doing well using Forward Facing Sonar to find them, but he’s enjoyed good results working the early morning or late evening surface activity or spotting them first using traditional sonar. 

 

 --Terry Madewell 

 

July 8

 

Lake Hartwell water level is 652.48 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 84 degrees.  

 

The striper and hybrid action continues to be excellent at Lake Hartwell, with early morning still providing the best action of the day. Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that fishing has transitioned to the typical July pattern, with hybrids and stripers often grouped along the river channel ledges. The fish continue to move down the lake.

 

Tuesday morning reports are that they’re in the lower third of both the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers, and fish are on the main Savannah River channel as well. His party had its limits by 8:30 am Tuesday.

 

The striper bite is on fire early at Lake Hartwell, and Captain Chip is set up at dawn.

 

Captain Chip is catching the fish in 20-30 feet, with the fish suspended over water from 30 to 90 feet deep. The bottom depth is generally closer to 30 feet early, then deeper as the sun gets higher. Live blueback herring fished on down rods is productive, as are slow-sinking freelines with herring. The freelines are occasionally being hit immediately by a fish patrolling near the surface, but once it slowly sinks to about 15 feet in the Harwell clear water, the fish below see it and race to see who gets it. Stripers and hybrids readily move up in the water column to take a blueback herring.

 

He said that the thermocline is setting up and the fish are at that depth and shallower. Most mornings the action is e early, then slacks off by 10 until late evening, when low light returns. Captain Chip said most days they’re limiting on hybrids and stripers by mid-morning.

 

The catfish bite on Lake Hartwell is off the charts good right now, Captain Eddie Watford (864-423-7963) reports. The catfish, both blue catfish and channel catfish, are biting aggressively, and blues in the 2–5-pound class and channel catfish in the 1-5-pound-plus class are burying redtops two eyes deep in the water.

 

Captain Eddie begins the day in the shallower water back in the creeks, but as the sun gets up, he moves out to the 15–30-foot depths and targets points, ledges, and humps. He said saddles are excellent areas, but under low-water conditions, many normally productive saddles are now too shallow. He uses live blueback herring as bait, which is another reason the catfish are so eager to bite.

 

Captain Eddie also targets big white perch, and he often catches these tasty panfish in big numbers and sizes when catfishing. But he also specifically targets perch, and catching a cooler full of perch is fast action at its best, and they’re outstanding table fare.

 

Right now, the action is outstanding on both species and should remain so through the summer months. Captain Eddie Watford has been guiding for 8 years and also guides for hybrids and stripers.

Terry Madewell 

 

July 1

Lake Hartwell water levels are down to 653.22 (full pool is 660.00) and the lake is still mostly clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 84 degrees.  

It’s a good hybrid and striped bass bite on Lake Hartwell, and Captain Chip Hamilton with Lake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that each day they are off the water by 9:00 or 10:00 and usually have their limit. The fish have moved down the river a good ways, and now they are concentrated in the lower third of the Seneca and Tugaloo. They are stacked up on the edge of the river channel, from about 37-40 feet out to 90. Usually they are 20 to 30 feet down, as below that the oxygen levels are bad. By the end of the day today they were fishing 25-30 feet down over 90 feet. While the down rod bite is okay the action is better with slowly sinking free-lines – even adding a split shot makes it sink too fast. 

There are a few patterns for black bass right now on Lake Hartwell, but Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614) reports that his preferred way of catching fish is offshore. Over the whole lake including both river arms fish can be found in 15-25 feet of water over brush and on the deeper side of herring points. They are feeding up on topwater lures.

But when the offshore fishing gets too crowded he is turning to shallower patterns, and finding some wolf packs of fish around bream beds. This bite is usually best early, but if you do catch a fish midday it’s likely to be a good one.  He is also catching a decent number of fish around docks with soft plastics. 

On the crappie front, Captain Rodney Donald (864-356-0143) reports that fish are everywhere from docks to brush to suspended in the middle of creeks to standing timber. However, the commonality is that fish are generally 10-15 feet below the surface, with the brush and dock fish in about 15-20 feet of water. The bite had been good with jigs but once water temperatures hit the 80s they now really only seem to want a minnow. They are still catching limits. 

Finally, in catfish news Captain Bill Plumley reports that in 16-18 feet of water he is wearing out channel catfish using dip baits. The best action is coming around rock, and fish seem to be at all stages of the spawn. 

June 24

 

Lake Hartwell water levels are still low, at 653.61 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is still mostly clear.  Morning surface water temperatures are about 84 degrees. 

 

The hybrid and striper action continues to be red hot at Lake Hartwell, and Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that mixed creels of limits of hybrids and stripers are the rule for most guides on Lake Hartwell. He added that the catch is predominantly hybrids, but some quality stripers from 6-10 pounds are mixed in as well. On most trips, plenty of 4–6-pound hybrids are caught, and these aggressive fish put a strain on the tackle.

 

Captain Chip thinks the fishing he’s experiencing right now should remain excellent for the next few weeks, and perhaps longer, and he's using downlines and freelines baited with blueback herring.

 

 Capt. Chip's grandson Knox with a hefty striper he caught last weekend with Chip.

 

 

Monday’s trip provides a good snapshot of what’s occurring on most days. Captain Chip was on the water well before dawn, and he found a lot of hybrids in only 25 feet of water along the edge of the river channel. His clients put a dozen fish in the boat within the first few minutes, with the fish surface schooling.  

 

At sunrise, the fish moved to the edge of the river channel, suspended over water 60-70 feet deep, and fish were scattered all the way from the surface down to 35 feet. At this point, some schooling activity was still occurring, and Captain Chip followed these occasional flurries of schooling fish. Each time he moved to that new area, although the fish had sounded, his party caught a half dozen more hybrids and stripers by dropping live herring down to the fish directly under his boat.

 

He didn’t have to move more than 100 yards the entire morning, once on the fish. It didn’t take long to limit, and by 0800, before the heat became too bad, they had a cooler of chunky hybrids, stripers, and ‘spots’.

 

Captain Chip said that, currently, the hybrids are the bread-and-butter species, but occasionally hooking stripers is a great experience. The hybrids are strong, digging down deep under the boat when hooked. Stripers typically move away from the boat when hooked, towards the river channel, trying to wrap anglers around submerged trees in the deep water. Most anglers enjoy the experience of catching fish with completely different fight patterns.

 

Also, as expected, some good-sized  ‘spots’ were caught on the blueback herring, adding to the excitement of the morning.

 

Captain Chip said he and other guides are catching stripers and hybrids throughout the lake; the fish are clustering in specific locations along the river channel ledges. Fish are consistently found halfway up the main feeder rivers, and all the way down the main lake to the lower end.

 

Terry Madewell

June 9

 

Lake Hartwell water levels are still low, at 653.44 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is still mostly clear.  Morning surface water temperatures are about 82 degrees.  

 

The hybrid and striper action is on fire at Lake Hartwell, and Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports the fishing he’s experiencing right now should remain excellent for the next week and perhaps longer. The fish are now transitioning to the warm weather pattern.

 

Captain Chip said he and other guides are catching stripers and hybrids throughout the lake; the fish are clustering in specific locations along the river channel ledges. Fish are consistently found halfway up the main feeder rivers, and all the way down the main lake to the lower end.

 

 

Captain Chip reports a perfect example of the quality of fishing on multiple species right now at Lake Hartwell with the success of the Outdoor Dream Foundation’s annual outing this past weekend. The fishing was sensational, and everyone caught fish. While much of the action was on hybrids and stripers, the black bass bite for ‘spots’ was excellent, and some anglers made outstanding catches of crappie. Others used live bait for catfish, bream and assorted panfish.

 

Captain Chip said specifically for hybrids and stripers, the fish are consistently holding on the edges of the river channels, including the main lake Savannah River channel. The water depths where he’s catching fish this week are 60–80 feet, with most of the fish caught in the 30–45-foot range.

 

He reports that the bite may focus on a more specific depth daily. On his most recent trip, he caught most of his limit of fish at 32–37 feet, but that can vary within the 30–45-foot range daily. Captain Chip searches for areas with hard bottom substrate that are clear of trees, and that’s where he’s having success using blueback herring at the depths fish are marked on the graph. The fish will feed aggressively in those cleared areas.

 

Captain Chip reports it’s wise to be ready for schooling action with topwater lures or swimbaits, because on some mornings the fish will surface-school. He said it did not occur on this recent trip, but he said to stay prepared because it can add quality fish to your catch on any given day right now.

Terry Madewell

 

June 3

Lake Hartwell water levels are still low but up to 653.73 (full pool is 660.00) and the lake is still mostly clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 79-80 degrees. 

Right now the hybrid and striped bass are in a transition period, and Captain Chip Hamilton with Lake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that the fish are getting away from the very early morning shallow spring pattern. In the community of guides there is usually someone out there early to make sure they aren’t missing anything, but being on the water pre-dawn really isn’t that productive. 

Now captains are aiming to get on the water as the sky gets light until the sun comes up, and they are finding fish on the edge of the channel, over ridges, and near but not in trees in 25-40 feet of water. The best action is coming on down-rods, although they are still catching a lot of fish on free-lines and even seeing some fantastic schooling activity on certain mornings. There are also tons of 1 – 1.5 pound hybrids in the backs of coves but the better fish are out towards the mouths in deeper water.   

For now fish are from about halfway up the rivers south to the dam, and they should stay there well into July when the water gets super hot and stagnant. The biggest change this month will be that at some point in mid- to late June the shallow hump bite should turn on first thing while the down-rod bite in 25-40 feet will stay good.   

Right now Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614) reports that it’s a really good topwater bite for black bass, with fish still in the general area of the herring spawn points but getting more out towards brush piles. The best depth is 10-20 feet on both the main lake and in the creeks, but as the month progresses fish will shift more towards 20-25 feet even as the bite gets stronger and stronger. Any type of topwater bait is good, particularly pencil poppers, while subsurface baits like drop shots will usually mess up the schools that want to feed up on herring.

Additionally, particularly as the water starts to come up some bream-related fish are being caught around the banks. That pattern should also hold all month, with the best bite early although you can fish shallow all day.  

On the crappie front, Captain Rodney Donald (864-356-0143) reports that it’s been a pretty good bite throwing small swimbaits to brush in 15-20 feet of water, with almost all of the fish that will bite near the bottom. He suspects that if he had brush in 30-40 feet of water he would catch more fish, but with the lake low he doesn’t. This month he expects the fish to continue to get on the deepest brush they can, but also to shift into more of a shade pattern as it gets very hot. Fish will be on the deepest docks they can find, with small fish generally in large groups and large fish generally in smaller groups. 

Finally, while Captain Bill Plumley reports that they are very rarely picking up blue catfish at this point, with warm temperatures and fish spawning, the channel cat bite has been really good on dip baits in 12-18 feet of water. It should stay there all month. Additionally, in 7-9 feet of water they are catching some nice shellcracker over sand with worms, while any shallower and they just get small fish. That depth range could shift a little deeper in the coming weeks. 

May 28 

 

Lake Hartwell water levels are low at 652.43 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 75 degrees.

 

Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614) reports that black bass are in transition from the shallow water bite around the herring spawning areas. While the herring spawn may be over, Lane said the bass are still lingering in those general areas because herring are still readily available as chow.

 

The black bass bite is good at Lake Hartwell, and should continue to improve.

 

He ranks the bite as ‘good’ but not ‘great.’ The bass are still orienting primarily to points and humps on the main lake, Lane's prime targets. The points around the junctions of creek mouths with the main lake are also holding plenty of bass. With the fish now slipping offshore, Lane said fishing in 15 feet of water is a great starting point, and if you find brush or woody cover on the point, it should hold fish. 

 

The fish are schooling, and topwater lures and flukes are both excellent choices for this pattern. Also, soft plastic such as a wacky-rigged worm will produce fish when they’re not schooling. 

 

Hybrid and striper action remains good on Lake Hartwell, and Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports the fish-catching trend is transitioning from fishing shallow water herring spawning areas in early morning to deeper water in the big coves that feed the main lake.

 

Captain Chip said this specific fishing trend began earlier and was a fallback pattern for him when the herring spawn was sporadic, and hybrids were hard to find. This deeper-water pattern is the next sequence in the annual pattern changes, as stripers and hybrids begin to move into deep coves that feed the main river and travel along creeks or ditches.

 

He said to follow the ditches using your electronics, they’ll be obvious on your graph, and keep checking different depths along the ditch or creek until you mark fish.

Captain Chip said a good depth to work as a reference is water about 30 feet deep, with stripers and hybrids suspended at 10-15 feet.

 

His favored tactic is fishing downlines with live blueback herring at the depth where the fish are marked, or slightly above. Freelines fished out of the back of the boat are often just as productive as stripers and hybrids will spot those herring from deeper water and won’t hesitate to move shallow to feed. 

 

And while catching hybrids and stripers, odds are good you’ll load up a few feisty ‘spots’ as well. Captain Chip said he's catching black bass in the same area as the hybrids or stripers, and he also targets them specifically, using the same downlines with live bait he uses for stripers and hybrids. They provide a fun fish-catching bonus for clients, and he added that these fish make excellent table fare.

 

May 12

 

Lake Hartwell water levels are still very low at 652.9 (full pool is 660.00), and the lake is clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 74 degrees. 

 

While the hybrid and striped bass fishing is excellent, Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that this spring's herring spawn is still a bit sporadic from what it’s normally like. However, it’s still the key to some outstanding hybrid fishing.

 

Captain Chip said the early-morning bite before dawn can be phenomenal right now. Yesterday, he was out, and while it was still dark, he eased his boat onto a red clay bottom shallow area where herring love to spawn. He set up in 12 feet of water and began casting freelined blueback herring around the boat. He didn’t get many of the rigs out before the hybrids were loading onto multiple rigs. The action was spectacular, and in short order, his anglers had put 28 fat hybrids into the fish box.

 

Captain Chip said the hybrid bite is wild, and hefty stripers are also being caught 

 

They opted to leave these fish that were still on fire because the three-person party had only two keeper slots left and wanted to fish a little longer, and run some downline rigs. Captain Chip said they moved to deeper water to fish downlines and quickly filled their limits.

 

On another note, Captain Chip talked with another guide after he finished this trip, and that guide had fished even shallower yesterday morning, in 2-4 feet of water. His party mauled the hybrids, with everyone quickly catching limits.

 

Captain Chip reports that anglers can look for specific areas to find potential herring spawning areas. He said to focus on areas with the bottom substrate of red clay, or red clay mixed with rocks. Targeting points and humps are good bets, but his favorite is a saddle, a deeper area between two high spots. A saddle is the target that he set up on in the scenario above yesterday morning, as did the other guide he referenced as well.

 

It's time to ‘Saddle up for Hybrids!’

 

Terry Madewell

 

April 29

Lake Hartwell water levels are very low at 652.77 (full pool is 660.00) and the lake is clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 72 degrees. 

While the hybrid and striped bass fishing is still very good, Captain Chip Hamilton with Lake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that the herring spawn is not going on like usual at this time. He has one or two spots where he can catch a mix of hybrids and even more spotted bass early, but it’s nothing close to wide open. The best morning bite is actually in about 15-20 feet of water a little out from where they usually fish. Free-lines are still the best.

While they hope that in May the herring spawn will reignite and group fish up again, it is probably more realistic to think that pattern is winding down. When water temperatures hit the mid- to upper 70s then the fish will work their way back into the coves, and they will be caught on down rods fished in 25-30 feet of water. 

Right now Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614) reports that black bass are in the midst of what he refers to as “three weeks of misery”, basically because we are in-between everything good. The herring spawn is wrapping up, the bass spawn is mostly done and they are recovering, and fish have not moved offshore yet. Low water levels also don’t help. Right now to catch fish you have to do a little bit of everything because nothing is good. 

With a full moon this weekend there could be an early bream spawn, and so things could improve sooner than usual. However, typically Lane doesn’t expect things to get better until the second week of May. Then fish start to slide to offshore brush in both the main lake and creeks, and there is a good topwater and fluke bite over the brush. Further, in May the fish that are up shallow will transition to feeding on bream and buzzbaits and frogs will both be effective. Soft plastics like wacky-rigged worms will also catch fish. 

Fishing pretty much every day all spring, and then booked all next week, Captain Rodney Donald (864-356-0143) has taken a few days off this week but reports that the fish are pretty thick on brush and docks. He doesn’t expect that to change for the next month, and he says 10-20 feet is the ideal depth range. 

With down-sized baits Captain Bill Plumley is still catching 5-20 pound blue catfish on small pieces of frozen river herring, but very soon he expects that bite to fall apart as the blue catfish spawn gets underway. May is typically mostly about fishing for channel catfish as they don’t start spawning until late May or June, and he will be targeting 5-20 feet with dip baits. The terrain makes little difference because small channels are everywhere, but he likes sandy areas where he can also pick up shellcracker on worms. 

April 23

Lake Hartwell water levels are very low at 652.85 (full pool is 660.00) and the lake is very clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 70 degrees. 

While the overall patterns for hybrid and striped bass fishing haven’t changed, Captain Chip Hamilton with Lake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that this most recent cold front did make the fishing a little tougher and in particular slowed down the herring spawn. However, by this weekend he expects everything to be back to normal. 

Early the pattern is pretty simple, and anchoring bait just before and after daylight in 2-6 feet of water on points, shoals and roadbeds in the front third of smaller creeks and all along the river channels is very effective. 

Once the sun gets up things get a little odd, but in a typical pattern they can often catch fish in the back of coves and ditches near the bottom in 25-30 feet of water after the bait pulls out. However, on other days they are finding fish schooling on bait over tree tops in 70 feet of water – much more common in fall and winter. 

Captain Chip notes that early they are catching about equal numbers of black bass as striper and hybrids, with particularly spots all over the shallow bait.   

That’s consistent with the report from Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614), who says the basic pattern is still to fish for bass early with topwater lures and flukes, and then to target spawning bass after that. On certain days you can target herring fish all days, particularly if you find big bass focused on them early and there is wind, but then other days it gets tougher once the sun is up. 

The crappie are even more stacked up on brush, and Captain Rodney Donald (864-356-0143) reports that in the creeks and on the main lake (where some of the bigger fish are being caught) fish are on brush in 10-15 feet of water. It’s still a strange mix of pre- and post-spawn fish, and it remains unclear if these fish will eventually come to the banks or spawn deeper. All year Captain Rodney has not bothered with minnows and he continues to fish exclusively with jigs.

The biggest change this week is with the catfish, and Captain Bill Plumley seems to have figured out the blues. By downsizing his gear to light striper rods with 15-pound test and size 2 kahle hooks he is catching 5-20 plus pound fish on small pieces of frozen river herring. It’s really not a surprise to be catching good numbers of blues, because the lake is full of them, but usually they are deep in the timber and hard to approach. When they move up to spawn then they can be targeted.

He continues to catch shellcracker on worms and channels on dip baits most anywhere with a sandy bottom in 8-20 feet of water (where he is also targeting the blue cats). 

April 15

Lake Hartwell water levels are at 653.42 (full pool is 660.00) and the lake is very clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 70-71 degrees. 

The hybrid and striped bass fishing is “great”, and Captain Chip Hamilton with Lake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that they were pleased when the recent cold front didn’t negatively affect things at all. Early the pattern is pretty simple, and with the herring spawn getting underway anchoring bait just before and after daylight in 2-6 feet of water on points, shoals and roadbeds in the front third of smaller creeks and all along the river channels is very effective. 

Once the sun gets up things get a little odd, but in a typical pattern they can often catch fish in the back of coves and ditches near the bottom in 25-30 feet of water after the bait pulls out. However, on other days they are finding fish schooling on bait over tree tops in 70 feet of water – much more common in fall and winter. 

Life is good on Lake Hartwell with Captain Chip Hamilton

Captain Chip notes that early they are catching about equal numbers of black bass as striper and hybrids, with particularly spots all over the shallow bait.   

That’s consistent with the report from Guide Lane Clark (864-254-8614), who says the basic pattern is to fish for bass early that are on focused on spawning herring with topwater lures and flukes, and then to target spawning bass after that. On certain days you can target herring fish all days, particularly if you find big bass focused on them early and there is wind, but then other days it gets tougher once the sun is up. Lane estimates that about 50% of the bass have spawned at this point and so there are still tons in spawning coves that will take soft plastics – as well as plenty of pre-spawn fish.   

The crappie are getting on brush piles pretty heavily on Lake Hartwell, and Captain Rodney Donald (864-356-0143) reports that in 10-15 feet of water in the creeks and on the main lake (where some of the bigger fish are being caught) fish are on brush in 10-15 feet of water. However, the wrinkle is that these are not all post-spawn fish and a good many are still full of eggs. It’s unclear if these fish will eventually come to the banks or spawn deeper with water temperatures in the 70s. All year Captain Rodney has not bothered with minnows and he continues to fish exclusively with jigs.

Finally, in catfish news, Captain Bill Plumley reports that he has been catching a mixed bag of blues, channels and shellcracker fishing in 10-18 feet in sandy areas. He was hoping to catch channels on river herring and American shad caught below Santee this spring, but so far only blues are eating those. Channels are all coming on dip baits while shellcracker are eating worms. 

They have not caught any giants recently, but plan to target fish with bigger baits in the next few days – still looking relatively shallow.   

April 3

Lake Hartwell water levels are at 653.65 (full pool is 660.00), and most of the lake is clear with a slight stain in certain creeks.  Morning surface water temperatures are about 64 degrees, but they’re rising higher on sunny afternoons. 

The big news on Lake Hartwell is the wide-open crappie fishing with spawning fish now in the shallows in the back of the creeks. Capt. Jay Bruce(Carolina Fishing Adventures with Jay Bruce; 864-420-8512) said the good news is that spawning action is great this week, and will likely improve by the weekend. He reports that one day this week, his clients kept three limits of big crappie and culled 100 others on a six-hour trip. Capt. Jay found the fish in the back of creeks in the big bays. Early in the day, the fish were near the bottom in 7 feet of water; by mid-day, they were three feet deep, suspended in water six feet deep. He caught the fish by longline trolling using a double jig rig, with a 1/16-ounce jig in front and a 1/32-ounce trailing. Best color patterns were pink/chartreuse early, then Junebug and chartreuse once the sun got higher in the sky. Captain Bruce said multiple species of fish are in these bays, including crappie, striper, white perch, catfish, bream, largemouth bass, and spotted bass.

Thehybrid and striped bass action has made one big leap in the past week, and Captain Chip Hamilton withLake Hartwell Fishing Charters (864-304-9011) reports that the topwater schooling activity is on fire in the mornings. Herring moving into pre-spawn staging locations is the key to this bite. Capt. Chip said the stripers and hybrids are moving up the creeks where the herring are congregating, and topwater lures work well, but he’s also pulling freelines with blueback herring, and the stripers and huge hybrids are mauling the bait. This is an early morning bite, but the first couple of hours can be sensational. After the topwater action ends, Capt. Chip moves to deeper water, around 25-35 feet, and fishing downlines with bluebacks in the same general area where the fish were schooling and is picking up more fish, but at a slower pace. He said that if you’re fishing on a cloudy morning, the topwater action will last longer, with fish still active until 1030 one morning this week.  The action consists of more than just stripers and hybrids; black bass (largemouth and spots) are schooling on the herring as well.

Theblack bass bite has improved considerably since last week, andGuide Lane Clark (864-254-8614) reports that shallow patterns are the key. He said the dominant pattern for this week and into the weekend is spawning fish on the banks, and with the full moon phase this week, and warm temperatures, it should be an excellent time for bass action. Anglers can target beds and, in between beds, fish the shoreline for cruising fish found throughout the shallows in the creeks and spawning coves. Many different lures are producing, and the Wacky rig, Shakey Head, and Fluke are all productive. Fish any woody cover you see, and rocky areas and points along the shoreline.