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Lake Hartwell Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

A 56,000-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Georgia–South Carolina line, where blueback herring feed striped bass, hybrids and spotted bass.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
648.28 ft -11.72 vs pool
Air / High
72 / 72 F
Wind
ENE 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 02187010, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Hartwell sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. The gauge reads 648.28 ft, 11.72 ft below pool, easing 0.74 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 72. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:36 PM-12:36 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

WalleyeGood

Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 69 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Georgia requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $15.00 for residents. What a Georgia licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with GA DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Georgia, read off the agency, are on the Georgia seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Hartwell Lake near Anderson, SC.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 02187010. Conservation pool is 660 ft.

650.33654.14657.95pool 660648.28 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp72 F
High / Low72 / 44 F
WindENE 8-9 mph
Pressure1022.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:45 / 18:48
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Hartwell this week

The best day on Lake Hartwell this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:36 PM-12:36 AM
Minor period
4:29 AM-5:29 AM
Sun
07:45 to 18:48
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 8 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Hartwell: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

When to come: the Lake Hartwell calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Striped bass
Walleye
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Hartwell today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 77 F, wind to 5 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 76 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 77 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Georgia requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

A Georgia or South Carolina freshwater license covers the lake's waters and banks under the reciprocal agreement, but not the flowing parts of tributaries. Border-water limits, verified today: striped and hybrid bass 10 combined, only 3 over 26 inches; black bass 10 combined, 12-inch minimum on largemouth, no length limit on smallmouth. Crappie limits differ by state (Georgia DNR: 30 a day with no minimum in Georgia waters; 20 a day, 8-inch minimum in South Carolina waters).

Access

The Corps posts open and closed status, lane by lane, for its boat ramps around the lake; SCDNR counts 45 ramps in all. Tugaloo State Park is on the Georgia side.

About this water

A Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Savannah, Tugaloo and Seneca rivers, Georgia–South Carolina; 56,000 acres, 962 miles of shoreline, full pool 660 feet, filled 1961–62.

Fishing Lake Hartwell: the full guide

Behind Hartwell Dam

The Corps of Engineers built Hartwell Dam and Lake between 1955 and 1963, filling the reservoir from February 1961 to March 1962. At the 660-foot full pool it reaches up the Savannah to the junction of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers and well up both arms. SCDNR lists 56,000 acres, 962 miles of shoreline, an average depth of 45 feet and a maximum of 185 feet.

Herring, stripers and hybrids

Georgia DNR says striped and hybrid bass feed almost entirely on blueback herring, and the Georgia and South Carolina DNRs stock both every spring. Its forecast says stripers have not recovered from heavy losses in 2018 and are pressed each summer by warm water and low oxygen, while hybrids keep sampling well at 2 to 4 pounds. In summer both move toward deep, cool water near the dam.

Bass and crappie by creek

On the Georgia side, DNR sampling finds the most largemouth in the Lightwood Log, Shoal, Gum Log and Eastanollee creek arms, and the most spotted bass along the I-85 riprap; for summer spots it suggests drop-shotting brush piles on the lower lake. The same creeks hold the most crappie. Walleye spawn from February to early April in the Tugaloo headwaters, from the Walker Creek ramp up to Yonah Dam.

Common questions

Do I need two licenses on Hartwell?

No. Under the Georgia–South Carolina reciprocal agreement either state's freshwater license covers the waters and banks of the lake. It does not cover the flowing parts of tributary streams.

What do Hartwell's striped bass eat?

Blueback herring, almost exclusively, according to Georgia DNR; large stripers also take big gizzard shad at times.

Where can I find walleye on Hartwell?

Georgia DNR says they spawn from February to early April in the Tugaloo headwaters between the Walker Creek ramp and Yonah Dam, and hold on rocky main-channel points in the upper third of the lake in fall.

Is fishing good at Lake Hartwell right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Keowee24 miChattooga River28 miLake Burton31 miLake Jocassee33 miLake Chatuge45 miLake Russell46 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 02187010 — Hartwell Lake near Anderson, SC
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 34.5252, -83.1624 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.