Angler's Headquarters

The newest, middle and smallest of the three Savannah River chain lakes managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Russell is located in the Piedmont region of South Carolina and Georgia between Lake Hartwell to the northwest and Clarks Hill/ Lake Thurmond to the southeast.  The Russell Dam is located 30 miles downstream from Hartwell Dam and 37 miles upstream from J. Strom Thurmond Dam, and the lake is situated in Anderson and Abbeville counties in South Carolina and Hart and Elberton counties in Georgia.  Construction began in 1974, and the lake was impounded beginning in October of 1983 and reached its full pool elevation of 475 feet in December of 1984.  Lake Russell contains 26,650 acres of water and 540 miles of shoreline, and surrounding the lake there is a 300-foot publicly owned setback which prohibits private docks or clearing trees.  Development on adjacent private land is generally not visible on the lake.  While jet skis are allowed on Lake Russell, personal watercraft can’t be stored on private docks and have to be trailered there, which seriously limits the numbers.  The relative absence of recreational boaters make this deep, clear lake filled with standing timber a fisherman’s paradise!

Anglers target a variety of species on Lake Russell, including largemouth and prolific spotted bass, trophy striped bass and hybrid bass, healthy populations of crappie, channel catfish and white and yellow perch, and an abundance of bream – particularly small ones.  The forage base on Lake Russell is very healthy, and there are prolific numbers of threadfin shad, gizzard shad and blueback herring.  In fact, herring are so common in Lake Russell that commercial bait fishermen drive hundreds of miles to fish this lake.