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 but they are moving out of these areas and into the main lake; targeting coves and ditches in 30-40 feet of water is a productive pattern. Fish are also being caught on points in 30-35 feet of water and as the water continues to heat up fish will continue to get deeper. There is not much schooling activity being reported but a bit of surface action can be found some days in the morning, although it usually does not last long.

Catfish: Good to very good.  Captain Bill Plumley (864-287-2120) reports that channel catfish action is wide open on Lake Hartwell, and pretty much all over the lake from the dam to the backs of creeks channel cats are feeding heavily in 2-20 feet of water. The fish will eat worms, nightcrawlers, dip baits, cut herring and more. While Bill’s boat does not frequently target flatheads at night when they feed most heavily, he has been catching surprisingly good numbers of flatheads as a by-catch while striper fishing. Anglers who want to set up with live bream or perch at night around brushpiles should have good luck targeting flatheads. A few blue catfish are still being caught in 15-30 feet of water, but the majority of fish have moved back into the deep timber where they are very difficult to target.

Black bass: Fair to good. Guide Brad Fowler (864-934-5813) reports that with water levels so high fish are scattered out but there are still a number of decent patterns. Early in the morning there is a pretty good topwater bite and fish can be caught on Pop-Rs and the like. The daytime offshore topwater bite is only so-so because with water levels so high fish are not coming up like they usually do, but fish can be caught offshore on shakey heads and drop shot rigs around brush piles. There are also a pretty good number of fish still in the creeks because bait is in there.

Crappie: Slow to fair.  Captain Bill Plumley reports that crappie fishing remains pretty slow, but a few fish are being caught over brush in 15-20 feet of water on minnows.

DHEC Fish Advisories: Due to PCB advisories visit http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/water/fish/Advisories/hartwell.htm before consuming any Lake Hartwell fish.