Clarks Hill Lake Georgia

Clarks Hill Lake Fly Fishing: Georgia and South Carolina’s Striper and Bass Powerhouse

Clarks Hill Lake — called Lake Strom Thurmond on the South Carolina side, which tells you everything you need to know about how state politics works and nothing about how good the fishing is — is the largest Corps of Engineers lake east of the Mississippi River, covering 78,000 acres of Savannah River impoundment on the Georgia-South Carolina border. Clarks Hill Lake fly fishing is built on one of the most productive striped bass fisheries in the Southeast, a largemouth bass population that has generated tournament results for decades, and a hybrid striped bass stocking program that adds a third aggressive, fly-friendly species to an already compelling menu. This lake is too big, too productive, and too close to the major population centers of Augusta and Columbia to stay off the fly fishing radar much longer. Get familiar with it now.

Striped bass are the marquee fly rod target on Clarks Hill Lake, and the reservoir’s landlocked striper population has the deep, cold main channel water and the abundant shad forage to sustain fish of legitimate size. Clarks Hill striper fly fishing peaks in the fall, when cooling surface temperatures push stripers out of their summer thermal refuges in the deep channel and onto the shad schools that are stacking in the mid-depth water of the lake’s main arms. October and November surface striper activity on Clarks Hill — birds working, shad showering, stripers crashing from below in open water — is the fly fishing event that defines the lake’s season. A 9-weight, a large white Deceiver, and the discipline to position ahead of breaking fish rather than driving through the school will produce stripers in the 5 to 15-pound range with the kind of consistency that makes Clarks Hill a fall destination worth marking on the calendar.

Spring striper fishing on Clarks Hill centers on the Savannah River arm — the upper end of the reservoir where the river current still influences the water and baitfish concentrate in the channel transitions. Stripers staging in the Savannah River arm from March through May, moving toward spawning areas and intercepting the early shad push, provide sink-tip streamer opportunities that are less visually dramatic than fall surface feeding but equally productive in terms of fish size and numbers.

Largemouth bass fly fishing on Clarks Hill is a creek arm operation, and the lake has no shortage of creek arm real estate to work with. The Little River arm on the Georgia side, the Raysville Creek arm, and the numerous smaller tributaries feeding the main lake’s eastern Georgia shoreline all provide classic largemouth habitat — flooded timber, submerged vegetation, gradual depth transitions — that responds to surface presentations from late February through November. Clarks Hill largemouth grow large on the lake’s abundant forage base and have produced their share of double-digit fish over the years.

Hybrid striped bass — wipers — round out Clarks Hill Lake fly fishing with a species that combines the striper’s open-water baitfish orientation with the kind of aggressive surface feeding behavior that makes them a natural fly rod target. Wipers on Clarks Hill chase shad schools to the surface in the main lake’s open water in both spring and fall, often mixing with the pure striper population in surface feeding frenzies that are visually indistinguishable until you’re fighting the fish.

Clarks Hill Lake is big water with significant recreational boat traffic from both Georgia and South Carolina. Early morning weekday fishing, particularly in the fall, is the formula that produces the best fly fishing experience.

Target Species: Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Crappie, White Bass, Catfish Best Seasons: October–November (fall striper surface) | March–May (spring stripers, largemouth spawn) | Year-round viable Fly Patterns: Large white Deceivers, poppers, Clousers, weedless streamers, shad imitations Notable Areas: Savannah River arm, Little River arm, Raysville Creek, Petersburg area, Soap Creek, main lake open water humps