— Bass: Fair to good.  Buckeye Lures reports that fish are moving into a pretty strong fall pattern.  A variety of surface-oriented lures including Spooks, floating worms and buzzbaits have all been catching fish. Striper and Hybrids: Fair to good.  Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that striper are in a transition period, and even though numbers […]

— Striper and Hybrids: Very good.  Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that each day his boat is catching very nice limits of both species, mostly fishing about 50 feet deep with down-lined live herring in the lower part of the lake.  Some early schooling activity is just getting started in the same areas where he […]

— August 4 Clarks Hill water levels are at 325.51 (full pool is 330.00), and water temperatures are in the upper 80s.  Clarity is better than normal, except on the weekends when a flotilla of boats and jet skis are stirring everything up. Bass fishing in a lot of area lakes has slowed down with […]

— August 4 Lake Russell water levels are at 474.45, inches below full pool of 475.0.  Water temperatures are as high as 91 degrees in some places and clarity is normal. Guide Jerry Kotal (706-988-0860) jokes that in the heat of the summer it seems that there may not be any largemouth bass alive in […]

— Clarks Hill water levels are at 328.29 and water temperatures are 74 or 75 degrees. Bass fishing on Clarks Hill is known for having the potential to get a little tough once the herring spawn is completed, and unfortunately this year is no exception.  In a 130-boat tournament last weekend it only took about […]

— 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 […]

— Clarks Hill water levels are at 329.61 and water temperatures have risen into the mid-70s. It’s finally gotten to be “that time” of year for bass fishing on Clarks Hill – the period when everyone wants to be on the water and national tournament series want to come to the lake.  Buckeye Lures in Augusta […]

— Clarks Hill water levels are at 330.03 and water temperatures average in the low 60s. In the last few years it has not been uncommon for the best fishing of the year on Clarks Hill to be almost starting to wind down by mid-April, but that isn’t a concern this year!  Buckeye Lures in Augusta […]

— 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 […]

— For anglers who define spring not based on a calendar but as the time when crappie spawn, there can be doubt that spring has arrived on Clarks Hill!  Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that almost all of the fish have moved up shallow, and in the backs of coves crappie are spawning and eating […]

— In the last couple of weeks Clarks Hill water temperatures have skyrocketed, and as a result Buckeye Lures in Augusta reports that significant numbers of male fish have started moving up onto points and getting ready for the spawn.  The next stage for these fish will be moving into pockets, and if the water temperatures […]

Tournament crappie angler Will Hinson of Cassatt, SC and his tournament partner Tommy Slice of Chapin, SC are fresh off a victory in the 80-boat national Crappie USA Super Event on Clarks Hill, in which they weighed in a whopping 29.81 pounds (14 fish, 2+ pound average) over two days.  They are also coming off […]

— Last year at this time Lake Greenwood was giving up 27+ pound bags, but that feat was not to be repeated this past Saturday.  Six months of rain and a cold late winter had Lake Greenwood cold and muddy for the tournament Saturday, but in some tough conditions Jerry Kotal (our customary Lake Russell […]

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.  For a lot of anglers catching bass on Clarks Hill has been no problem, but getting big bites has been an issue.  In the BFL Saturday a week ago […]

Even though Clarks Hill water levels have pretty much returned to normal now, very recently they were 7(!) feet above full pool and the Corps had all of the gates running wide open.  But while fish on some other lakes in South Carolina seem to have been disoriented and thrown out of their natural winter-time […]

If you guessed that near-80 degree days in the latter part of December would have the Clarks Hill bass wondering which way is up, you would be right!  Buckeye Lures in Augusta reports that the fish don’t know what to make of this weather, and the bass are “so daggone confused” that they are hunkered down […]

The endless rain has made fishing difficult, but in the last week or two Clarks Hill guides have managed to squeeze in some trips during dry spells.  Guide William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that striped bass have made their seasonal move into the backs of creeks, and his boat is catching them on free-lines and planer […]

While striped bass fishing on Clarks Hill continues to be strong, there is little doubt that fish are on the move.  Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that fish are starting to make their way up the lake for the winter, and they are also starting to move into the creeks.  William reports catching fish at the […]

Even though temperatures are getting cooler, Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that the best bite for Clarks Hill striper has still been coming early and late.  Between 5 and 7 a.m. his boat has been filling up the box with striper by fishing the lower four miles of the lake with down-lined herring on the […]

A quick look at look at his Facebook page shows that striper and hybrid fishing is still wide open on Clarks Hill for Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000), even though William only rates the bite as an “8” out of 10 compared a 9 or 10 earlier in the summer.  However, parties are still loading the […]

This afternoon on the telephone Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reported to me that the striped bass fishing on Clarks Hill was wide open, but it wasn’t until I looked at the William Sasser Guide Service Facebook page that I saw for myself just how good it has been. In addition to catching excellent numbers of […]

Clarks Hill is at 329.53 Catfish: Very good. Captain William Sasser (864-333-2000) reports that Clarks Hill catfishing remains very strong, and both channel and flathead catfish can still be found spawning in the rocks around bridges as well as the dam riprap. The best technique is to fish a piece of cut herring on a […]

The first time I went fishing with crappie tournament specialist Will Hinson of Cassatt was a warm-weather trip where we targeted crappie around brush and bridges. There were multiple other boats as well as bank fishermen in the same general areas we fished, and I noticed that we out-caught the other fishermen 10 to 1 […]