Where Are The Fish?

[Tugaloo]

I am planning to be on Hartwell on the 18th & 19th & I'm planning to do some fishing, but what I WANT is to do some catching! Let me describe some spots that I think I'm going to try. You tell me if these sound like possibilities. I will be fishing daylight hours. Primarily mornings. First, near the boat landing, there is a bridge where I-85 crosses the lake. My Hot Spot map says that the deepest part here, down in the old river basin is 60 feet. Second, there is an area marked as being submerged trees up a side branch off the main body of the lake. The water here is 20 feet deep. I tried it there with minnows last November & got skunked. Third, there are several points where the water drops off, generally from the bank out to 40 feet deep & I thought I could drift across some of those points tightlining. I will have my old Fish ID II going, looking for stumps, brush piles, etc. But on several trips now, I haven't managed to find anything along those lines. It may be that the the Fish ID II isn't sensitive enough. And then again, it could be "operator error." I can also try trolling or drifting up some of the coves or right down the middle of that side branch I mentioned earlier. The Hot Spot map shows 40 feet in the middle.

The most recent lake report that I have seen, from Georgia Outdoor News (Jan 24) says that crappie are holding in brushpiles in the 15-25 foot range. That's all, & I don't know where a single brush pile is! The water is 0.2 above full stage, 50 degrees & clear. What do you guys suggest?


Tugaloo

[Jerry Blake]

If there is any way you an afford a guide (assuming there is a good crappie guide on that lake) it would be well worth it for you to go out for half a day and learn where and how to fish that lake at this time of year.

Wouldn't hurt to invest in a handheld GPS too and ask the guide if it's OK to mark a few spots to fish later on your own - I suggest it to my clients if they have their own boat.

[Tugaloo]

I am thinking about hiring a guide later on, but I probably won't have time or money to do that by this trip. What is a ball-park kind of figure for what a guide would generally charge for 1/2 day?

[FalconSmitty]

maybe this will help.
hartwell guide
The mouths of creeks and sloughs are good places. The crappie just south of you here in west central GA are hanging there because that is where the shad are. Watch the gulls. they lead to the fish. Hartwell has stripers so they will be there too. If ya catch a stripe move on because the crappie become the prey if they get to close so they leave or hide till the stripes leave. If I am catching stripes lately I get no crappie out of otherwise productive waters. The water warms a few degrees by afternoon so the fish sometimes hit the flats or the bank but not always. Creeks this time of year in the south warm up the farther up the creek and shallower you go. I found some monday in 4' deep water by accident. I was fishing deep water docks got hung and drifted close to the bank and boom one hit my minnow up next to the bank. Good luck tug.

I am thinking about hiring a guide later on, but I probably won't have time or money to do that by this trip. What is a ball-park kind of figure for what a guide would generally charge for 1/2 day?