Water temp: 67
Water: clear with brown tint
Air Temp: 40 in the am 70
High Pressure system is over us now:
Well I think it is safe to say that last weeks cold snap has made a big change in the fishing. Striper/Hybrids were tricky for me over the weekend. I look for the fish
to start to move to shallower water and move up in the water column. It is
completely different in the main lake right now than the past 3 weeks.
Believe it or not the upper parts of the rivers and shallows have already
started to stabilize, from what we consider the ( Fall Turn Over ) There
has been a lot of Dark Brown Bubbles, that looks like foam in the water
and the water just has a darker tint to in in areas. Now I have had some
good Crappie reports from friends continued from my day last Sunday and I did do
well on Spotted bass and stumbled on a good Blue Catfish bite over the
weekend. Matter of fact I was happy to see the Blue cats... Again I don't
focus on Blues that often, in the fall can be a great time to Catch Cats..
It was nice to see the rod bend with a big Catfish when the Stripers are being
tricky. The Catfish and Crappie should continue to bite good for the next couple
weeks while the rest of the lake complete its "turn over"
Water Temp. 70 degrees
Striper and Hybrid are still on the surface here and there. It hasn't been on Fire, but still good. We have just been limited on the days that are good for schooling. We have had some hard weather fronts the last couple weeks with heavy winds. The larger Stripers are still down in the main lake in the deep water, but there are some large schools of Hybrids really showing there selves in the upper part of the lake. Mater of fact I have caught small Hybrids and Stripers all the way up in Clemson this this week. Be ready with a Large Roostertail or Puppy spook for if the fish school on the surface, but look for fish on fish finder in 50-160 foot of water. Most fish are still suspended in the 50-60 ft, but there has been a layer of fish higher in the water colum. Fall turn over is close. As for the Crappie, there Biting! I had Sunday open up and I had an opertunity to Go fun fishing for my self. I love to catch crappie, but don't get to focus on them as often. I looked at 4 Crappie spots from 18-26 foot of water and caught fish in all of them. I didn't smoke them in each spot, but in several areas the were biting good enough to put my 30 fish in the boat in about 3 hours fishing.
For updated fishing reports click "Lake Hartwell and Jocassee fishing reports" above on my websites tool bar! Than
Windy! We had a Hard 15-25mph NE wind that Started Thurs and is still blowing. A hard Low Presure System made fishing a little tought over the weekend. Not that it was tough to get fish to bight, but it was hard to sit tight when you found an active school of Stripers. I did see fish School every day, but it wasn't for long and it was hard to keep the boat with the fish in the 20 mph winds. When you have this hard of wind, it can make things a little complicated. Water temp is 72, which is a great Temp to find schooling fish. This Weather System put the fish on the move. Down by the Dam was a little to windy and Choppy to focus on, but we were able to find a few schools in the upper third of the lake. We should be able to start to find some fish starting up the rivers soon. Artifical baits worked great when when the fish were on the surface. Baits like the Puppy Spook, pencil Popper, and Rooster tails.
I've Got My Baby Back! Gosh was it nice to be on my own rig! I got my boat back. Thanks to Harbor Lights Marina for taking care of me! The Boat sounds good and is running great. Back to the fishing, Lake Hartwell is fishing great right now. Water temp: 76 water is clear.. In my eyes, it is hard to beet the month of OCT. The weather is cooler, the fish are usually larger and You have a chance to have the whole lake to yourself! Saturday was one of the windiest days that I have ever fished on Lake Hartwell and had to fish in the main lake. Usually on a windy day you can tuck away in a cove on the leeward side to stay out of the wind. Saturday we fished the main lake and the wind was out of the north at 15-25 with at times 30 mph gusts. Thank God for Anchors. We had a great Day regardless of the wind. Fish were biting and Company was great. I would say we have a good 3 weeks of fishing before the fall turnover. Guys..... Come and get it