Post by 31Airborne on Apr 3, 2022 10:47:01 GMT -5
My best friend (Jerry) and I worked on this trip for almost a year. With zero knowledge of the place (other than its general location) we began a deliberate search for lodging, fishing reports, old topo maps, and dining opportunities. It kinda came together this past JAN. We found the perfect cabin on the Tugaloo arm at the right price, only 9 minutes from the state park ramp. We managed to collect enough info on lake conditions and fishing successes/failures that we felt we had at least an entry-level understanding of what was going on.
From what we could gather, the initial wave of spawners came up w/ the early MAR warm spell. Weather and water conditions were warm and stable enough for a long enough period to allow the fish to do the deed. Then the same hard cold snap that hit us later in MAR hit Hartwell. WTs dropped 10-12* as air temps dipped into the low 20s for several days. I was confident the fish had not left their spawning areas completely, just pulled back a bit. Now, Hartwell is a massive complex of turns, steep drops, shallow flats, and offshore humps. It's a lot like Kerr in its layout (only half again as big). Long stretches of red clay are dotted w/ scattered natural chunk rock. We targeted areas where the contour lines were tight, places where the fish could easily elevate in the water column to feed, then return to stable WTs and conditions. No shortage of such places on Hartwell. I mean there are thousands of them. Rather than attempt to try to eat the whole elephant in one sitting, we limited our initial outings to the upper Tugaloo arm. Our map study gave us plenty of good water to work. Once we got on the water and were able to see more detail via my map chip, we knew we'd made a good choice.
Our plan for the first day was to cover water quickly w/ medium divers, spinnerbaits, and chatterbaits to find active fish. We'd slow down once we got bit. We started on the last set of secondary points in the bigger feeder creeks and worked our way back into spawning pockets. We struggled to find any signs of fish for about an hour. Then it hit me - we should be in the water where the wind is coming in on or across the structure. We bounced across the creek and stopped at a plain, do-nothing point. Two casts in we hook up on our first fish. We had a couple other bites w/ failed hook-ups in the same area. From there we bounced around a series of larger creeks and deeper coves, targeting windward points and adjacent transition lanes. Our second stop produced our first SC spotted bass - a chucky 2.5-3 lb'er. Then another. Then we slowed down and worked the area over w/ jigs and a c-rig. And it was game on. It took us about 2 hours to figure out the right structure, depth, wind direction, and presentation. We hit about a dozen places on that first day, each time selecting for a similar set-up. Every one of those areas produced fish, including a few quality fish.
For day 2, we went a bit further up into the Tugaloo arm to visit some of the hard swings the main river channels makes. There are some pretty impressive pieces of structure that butt right up against those swings. I suspected these would be high pay-off locations. There were large flats close by - the kind of places a fish would move to for warmth, food, and maybe even a spawn bed. The sun was out when we launched and the wind settled down some. The area we started in had a gentle breeze blowing in on it. I picked up my spinnerbait and started working the shallow water area of the point. Didn't take long to hook up on a solid keeper LM. Had a couple of his friends follow him to the boat. We continued to work this long transition lane w/ spinners and cranks without a sniff. Then we came upon a stretch w/ clusters of dark, broken rock. I picked up a jig and skipped up shallow. Made a couple of hops before I felt that unmistakable 'tick'. I reeled down and saw my line tracking hard to deeper water. Set the hook on a nice spot, maybe 3 lbs. As I looked down this stretch of shoreline I could see a dozen or so places where the dark rock clusters stuck out from the red clay. We kept working this area w/ c-rigs, jigs, and t-rigs. Every rock pile produced a bite. Was a matter of failed execution that kept us from boated more of those. We did manage to boat a half dozen or so on this pattern. We were able to recreate this bite in a dozen or so places. Moving baits in the wind, slower presentations when we saw rock or brush.
On day 3, the wind picked up some and the clouds came in. We motored down the Tugaloo arm about 10-12 miles into an area w/ long feeder creeks and several off-shore humps. We didn't hesitate to target places where the wind was coming in on or across the structure. Only took us 10 minutes to find the first fish - a small keeper spot caught on a DT-10. A bit later I went up shallow to retrieve my snagged crankbait. As I crossed the first break (in 3-5' of water) I noticed fish holding tight to the deck. As I made way back out I saw the same thing on an adjacent part of the shallow ledge. Immediately across from our start point was a long, complex point that stuck out from the shoreline a good 200 meters. Our paper map didn't even suggest such a thing existed. We didn't see it until we zoomed in on the chart function. This point came out at a perpendicular from the shoreline, then turned 45* toward the mouth of the cut (and into the wind). I picked up my c-rig and went to work. I eased up to the tip of the point, made my first cast, and hooked up on a nice 3 lb LM (c-rig). This fish was holding on the crown in about 3' of water. As we worked our way around this structure, we hooked up 4 more times. A limit of Hartwell fish (albeit small) in about 15 minutes. We replayed this approach to 5 sections of the first creek we visited. We caught fish in every place (jigs, t-tig, and c-rig). The rest of the day we spent looking at and working offshore stuff. Hartwell has some of the most amazing points and humps. Saw two points that had double crowns (and caught fish on both of them). The wind picked up as the day progressed, so it was a bit of work to hold the boat in position to effectively work these spots over. Diligence paid off tho'. We got to see some amazing structure and caught numbers.
The day 4 forecast called for rain and t-storms. I don't mind the wet. I do mind the lightning. We decided to use this as a rest day and spent it visiting the area's spirit shops. Jerry had lined up a list of places from the GA state line up to Greenville, a couple dozen in all. Managed to find a few additions for the whisky collection. Also met some really cool people. The prize this day was in Easley, SC - a place called Donohue's. The owner (Mike) put on a show for us. He had no shortage of whisky-related stories. He also had the best assortment and prices. This place is a must-see if you're in the area; worth the trip if you're not.
Day 5 was dedicated to reinforcing (or denying) what we thought we had learned in the previous three days of fishing. We targeted points, cuts, and steep ledges in the upper Tugaloo arm. The previous day's warm temps managed to bring the WT up to the upper 50s. Took us a bit to figure out the fish had continued their move to the backs of creeks/coves. They were shallow and tight to rock, wood, and first breaks. C-rig, jig, and t-rig did the damage. We came across a few places where docks came into play. Any dock sitting on the last set of secondary points or along a transition lane leading to the back of a pocket held fish. At first the fish were smaller - keepers, just small. The better fish started showing up about mid morning. We had a good wind all day but for us, it didn't factor. Spinnerbait and crankbait drew zero strikes. The fish wanted it low and slow. This was our best day for quality, capped by a 4-lb stud Jerry caught on a jig.
Observations: 1) WTs rose steadily throughout the trip. Saw 52 at the state park on MON AM, mid 50s by the end of the day; saw 54 on TUES AM, upper 50s by end of the day; 56 on WED AM, 60 in a couple places by end of the day; 58 on FRI AM, lower 60s by the end of the day. 2) Lake was +1.3' above full pool. Main river and creek channels were clear - maybe 5-6' of viz. It got a little cloudy towards the backs of pockets/coves/creeks but you still had 2-3' of viz. 3) Didn't see a lot of bait but what we did see was key to finding fish. Most of it was in the main creek channels suspending at about 20-25'. As the water warmed the bait moved up shallower, mostly in small pods. 4) Many of the bites we had came after we'd already made a half dozen casts to a particular target. Points, rock piles, brush piles, laydowns all played out this way. Whenever we got bit, we stopped and worked the area over hard. Changing angles was key on rock piles, brush, and points. 5) Almost all of the reports we'd read before coming down said we could use any color plastic we wanted so long as it was GP. That played out in spades for us. I intentionally threw greens w/ colored fleck or laminates. Not so much as a sniff. As soon as I switched back to GP, I got bit (hard and often). 6) The bites in the cooler water were a bit weird. Sometimes the fish would kinda sneak up on the bait and hold it. Just sit there. No tick, no line jump, nothing. I missed a lot of bites thinking I was hung up in grass or on a limb, only to have the fish pump the bait hard before letting go. As the water warmed the bites became more aggressive, esp w/ the spotted bass. We had some freight train jobs on WED and FRI. 7) This lake is too big to take on in its whole for a newcomer. The smartest thing we did was to focus our time on a smaller, more manageable section. This gave us the freedom to take in, digest more details that would eventually help us unlock the riddle each day. My best guess is it would take a dozen or more focused trips (like this one) to get to a point where you would feel like you understood the entire lake. Even then, you still would've only seen a small fraction of what this lake has to offer. Keying in on high pay-off targets (points and pockets on had channel swings) paid off big time. This had little to do w/ Hartwell. This was something I've learned fishing right here in VA. 8) Wind blowing across a point or ledge was better than wind blowing directly in on it. 9) The steeper edges of points were better than the edges w/ shallow tapers. 10) Points and ledges had to have something on them - rocks, stumps, laydowns, brush. Naked points and ledges yielded very little. 11) The lake is very well marked in the main river channel. Once you get outside of that, you're rolling the dice once you get into the backs of creeks and deeper pockets. There is flooded timber everywhere. Some of it comes up near the surface. If you were motoring in a channel, you were safe to run at WOT. The longer points w/ humps on the end (complex points) are often marked w/ a sign that reads "shoal." Watched a lot of fishermen run past these, skirting them wide to avoid the shallow water. A little time looking at your chart function shows something special. Do not ignore these signs. 12) The vast majority of the docks are floaters. Fish were holding on them but getting to the fish was a challenge if you didn't know how to skip or pitch. Narrower gaps were better than wider gaps in the pontoons. 13) The riprap on this lake goes down a good bit into the water. Even at normal pool, you have 2-3' of depth you need to work before you hit the outer edge. That outer edge was key to a number of our bites. 14) The time I've invested the past few years on SML, learning how to fish structure more efficiently, paid huge dividends on this trip. Gaining a degree of comfort in clear water was also important. Clean water used to concern me. Now I select for it. Funny what a little TOW will do for your soul.
There was one [small] negative thing: the boat ramp at Lake Hartwell State Park. It's a superb ramp, complete w/ curbs to keep you from going off of the edges or end. The challenge w/ this ramp was it makes a 45* turn about 1/4 of the way down. If you didn't get that turn just right, you were in a really bad way. It took a few tries on the first couple days to the alignment right. Otherwise, the park and all of the CoE facilities we saw on the lake were superb. Some of the best campgrounds and parks I've seen (anywhere).
Aside from seeing an amazing lake, the biggest take-away from his trip is the importance of TOW. We invested 4 full days of fishing. The lessons we took away from our first day played heavily into our success on the second, and the second on the third, and so on. Being there to witness firsthand what and how the fish were doing made all the difference in finding fish quickly, and then finding better fish.
I have tons of notes, so if you're headed this way, gimme a shout. Happy to help out. Our FoM national championship will be on Hartwell in 2023. I hope this trip was the first of many scouting efforts leading up to that.
peace,
B
From what we could gather, the initial wave of spawners came up w/ the early MAR warm spell. Weather and water conditions were warm and stable enough for a long enough period to allow the fish to do the deed. Then the same hard cold snap that hit us later in MAR hit Hartwell. WTs dropped 10-12* as air temps dipped into the low 20s for several days. I was confident the fish had not left their spawning areas completely, just pulled back a bit. Now, Hartwell is a massive complex of turns, steep drops, shallow flats, and offshore humps. It's a lot like Kerr in its layout (only half again as big). Long stretches of red clay are dotted w/ scattered natural chunk rock. We targeted areas where the contour lines were tight, places where the fish could easily elevate in the water column to feed, then return to stable WTs and conditions. No shortage of such places on Hartwell. I mean there are thousands of them. Rather than attempt to try to eat the whole elephant in one sitting, we limited our initial outings to the upper Tugaloo arm. Our map study gave us plenty of good water to work. Once we got on the water and were able to see more detail via my map chip, we knew we'd made a good choice.
Our plan for the first day was to cover water quickly w/ medium divers, spinnerbaits, and chatterbaits to find active fish. We'd slow down once we got bit. We started on the last set of secondary points in the bigger feeder creeks and worked our way back into spawning pockets. We struggled to find any signs of fish for about an hour. Then it hit me - we should be in the water where the wind is coming in on or across the structure. We bounced across the creek and stopped at a plain, do-nothing point. Two casts in we hook up on our first fish. We had a couple other bites w/ failed hook-ups in the same area. From there we bounced around a series of larger creeks and deeper coves, targeting windward points and adjacent transition lanes. Our second stop produced our first SC spotted bass - a chucky 2.5-3 lb'er. Then another. Then we slowed down and worked the area over w/ jigs and a c-rig. And it was game on. It took us about 2 hours to figure out the right structure, depth, wind direction, and presentation. We hit about a dozen places on that first day, each time selecting for a similar set-up. Every one of those areas produced fish, including a few quality fish.
For day 2, we went a bit further up into the Tugaloo arm to visit some of the hard swings the main river channels makes. There are some pretty impressive pieces of structure that butt right up against those swings. I suspected these would be high pay-off locations. There were large flats close by - the kind of places a fish would move to for warmth, food, and maybe even a spawn bed. The sun was out when we launched and the wind settled down some. The area we started in had a gentle breeze blowing in on it. I picked up my spinnerbait and started working the shallow water area of the point. Didn't take long to hook up on a solid keeper LM. Had a couple of his friends follow him to the boat. We continued to work this long transition lane w/ spinners and cranks without a sniff. Then we came upon a stretch w/ clusters of dark, broken rock. I picked up a jig and skipped up shallow. Made a couple of hops before I felt that unmistakable 'tick'. I reeled down and saw my line tracking hard to deeper water. Set the hook on a nice spot, maybe 3 lbs. As I looked down this stretch of shoreline I could see a dozen or so places where the dark rock clusters stuck out from the red clay. We kept working this area w/ c-rigs, jigs, and t-rigs. Every rock pile produced a bite. Was a matter of failed execution that kept us from boated more of those. We did manage to boat a half dozen or so on this pattern. We were able to recreate this bite in a dozen or so places. Moving baits in the wind, slower presentations when we saw rock or brush.
On day 3, the wind picked up some and the clouds came in. We motored down the Tugaloo arm about 10-12 miles into an area w/ long feeder creeks and several off-shore humps. We didn't hesitate to target places where the wind was coming in on or across the structure. Only took us 10 minutes to find the first fish - a small keeper spot caught on a DT-10. A bit later I went up shallow to retrieve my snagged crankbait. As I crossed the first break (in 3-5' of water) I noticed fish holding tight to the deck. As I made way back out I saw the same thing on an adjacent part of the shallow ledge. Immediately across from our start point was a long, complex point that stuck out from the shoreline a good 200 meters. Our paper map didn't even suggest such a thing existed. We didn't see it until we zoomed in on the chart function. This point came out at a perpendicular from the shoreline, then turned 45* toward the mouth of the cut (and into the wind). I picked up my c-rig and went to work. I eased up to the tip of the point, made my first cast, and hooked up on a nice 3 lb LM (c-rig). This fish was holding on the crown in about 3' of water. As we worked our way around this structure, we hooked up 4 more times. A limit of Hartwell fish (albeit small) in about 15 minutes. We replayed this approach to 5 sections of the first creek we visited. We caught fish in every place (jigs, t-tig, and c-rig). The rest of the day we spent looking at and working offshore stuff. Hartwell has some of the most amazing points and humps. Saw two points that had double crowns (and caught fish on both of them). The wind picked up as the day progressed, so it was a bit of work to hold the boat in position to effectively work these spots over. Diligence paid off tho'. We got to see some amazing structure and caught numbers.
The day 4 forecast called for rain and t-storms. I don't mind the wet. I do mind the lightning. We decided to use this as a rest day and spent it visiting the area's spirit shops. Jerry had lined up a list of places from the GA state line up to Greenville, a couple dozen in all. Managed to find a few additions for the whisky collection. Also met some really cool people. The prize this day was in Easley, SC - a place called Donohue's. The owner (Mike) put on a show for us. He had no shortage of whisky-related stories. He also had the best assortment and prices. This place is a must-see if you're in the area; worth the trip if you're not.
Day 5 was dedicated to reinforcing (or denying) what we thought we had learned in the previous three days of fishing. We targeted points, cuts, and steep ledges in the upper Tugaloo arm. The previous day's warm temps managed to bring the WT up to the upper 50s. Took us a bit to figure out the fish had continued their move to the backs of creeks/coves. They were shallow and tight to rock, wood, and first breaks. C-rig, jig, and t-rig did the damage. We came across a few places where docks came into play. Any dock sitting on the last set of secondary points or along a transition lane leading to the back of a pocket held fish. At first the fish were smaller - keepers, just small. The better fish started showing up about mid morning. We had a good wind all day but for us, it didn't factor. Spinnerbait and crankbait drew zero strikes. The fish wanted it low and slow. This was our best day for quality, capped by a 4-lb stud Jerry caught on a jig.
Observations: 1) WTs rose steadily throughout the trip. Saw 52 at the state park on MON AM, mid 50s by the end of the day; saw 54 on TUES AM, upper 50s by end of the day; 56 on WED AM, 60 in a couple places by end of the day; 58 on FRI AM, lower 60s by the end of the day. 2) Lake was +1.3' above full pool. Main river and creek channels were clear - maybe 5-6' of viz. It got a little cloudy towards the backs of pockets/coves/creeks but you still had 2-3' of viz. 3) Didn't see a lot of bait but what we did see was key to finding fish. Most of it was in the main creek channels suspending at about 20-25'. As the water warmed the bait moved up shallower, mostly in small pods. 4) Many of the bites we had came after we'd already made a half dozen casts to a particular target. Points, rock piles, brush piles, laydowns all played out this way. Whenever we got bit, we stopped and worked the area over hard. Changing angles was key on rock piles, brush, and points. 5) Almost all of the reports we'd read before coming down said we could use any color plastic we wanted so long as it was GP. That played out in spades for us. I intentionally threw greens w/ colored fleck or laminates. Not so much as a sniff. As soon as I switched back to GP, I got bit (hard and often). 6) The bites in the cooler water were a bit weird. Sometimes the fish would kinda sneak up on the bait and hold it. Just sit there. No tick, no line jump, nothing. I missed a lot of bites thinking I was hung up in grass or on a limb, only to have the fish pump the bait hard before letting go. As the water warmed the bites became more aggressive, esp w/ the spotted bass. We had some freight train jobs on WED and FRI. 7) This lake is too big to take on in its whole for a newcomer. The smartest thing we did was to focus our time on a smaller, more manageable section. This gave us the freedom to take in, digest more details that would eventually help us unlock the riddle each day. My best guess is it would take a dozen or more focused trips (like this one) to get to a point where you would feel like you understood the entire lake. Even then, you still would've only seen a small fraction of what this lake has to offer. Keying in on high pay-off targets (points and pockets on had channel swings) paid off big time. This had little to do w/ Hartwell. This was something I've learned fishing right here in VA. 8) Wind blowing across a point or ledge was better than wind blowing directly in on it. 9) The steeper edges of points were better than the edges w/ shallow tapers. 10) Points and ledges had to have something on them - rocks, stumps, laydowns, brush. Naked points and ledges yielded very little. 11) The lake is very well marked in the main river channel. Once you get outside of that, you're rolling the dice once you get into the backs of creeks and deeper pockets. There is flooded timber everywhere. Some of it comes up near the surface. If you were motoring in a channel, you were safe to run at WOT. The longer points w/ humps on the end (complex points) are often marked w/ a sign that reads "shoal." Watched a lot of fishermen run past these, skirting them wide to avoid the shallow water. A little time looking at your chart function shows something special. Do not ignore these signs. 12) The vast majority of the docks are floaters. Fish were holding on them but getting to the fish was a challenge if you didn't know how to skip or pitch. Narrower gaps were better than wider gaps in the pontoons. 13) The riprap on this lake goes down a good bit into the water. Even at normal pool, you have 2-3' of depth you need to work before you hit the outer edge. That outer edge was key to a number of our bites. 14) The time I've invested the past few years on SML, learning how to fish structure more efficiently, paid huge dividends on this trip. Gaining a degree of comfort in clear water was also important. Clean water used to concern me. Now I select for it. Funny what a little TOW will do for your soul.
There was one [small] negative thing: the boat ramp at Lake Hartwell State Park. It's a superb ramp, complete w/ curbs to keep you from going off of the edges or end. The challenge w/ this ramp was it makes a 45* turn about 1/4 of the way down. If you didn't get that turn just right, you were in a really bad way. It took a few tries on the first couple days to the alignment right. Otherwise, the park and all of the CoE facilities we saw on the lake were superb. Some of the best campgrounds and parks I've seen (anywhere).
Aside from seeing an amazing lake, the biggest take-away from his trip is the importance of TOW. We invested 4 full days of fishing. The lessons we took away from our first day played heavily into our success on the second, and the second on the third, and so on. Being there to witness firsthand what and how the fish were doing made all the difference in finding fish quickly, and then finding better fish.
I have tons of notes, so if you're headed this way, gimme a shout. Happy to help out. Our FoM national championship will be on Hartwell in 2023. I hope this trip was the first of many scouting efforts leading up to that.
peace,
B