Lake Hartwell Guides - Labor Day '22

[Tight Lines]

All --

Never been, but rented a house and a boat at Lake Hartwell on a whim for Labor Day. Too short of notice likely for guides, but if anyone has recommendations let me know.

Separately, if anyone has suggestions for fishing the lake that time of year (yes I know it will be a zoo) all advice welcome!

I have striper, bass, etc. rods...spinning, bait casting, heavy duty...have most tackle for everything from panfish to catfish...

Thanks!

 

[Liquid nails]

Your best bet for striper would be go down to the big water in front of the dam, locate fish 30-40’ deep and drop Ben Parker spoons on them. Staying on top of them is sometimes a challenge but they are a lot of smaller fish down there right at the thermocline right now with surface temps in the mid to upper 80’s.

And if you want to check with a guide I’d recommend Rick Cain. He may or may not have that day open but you can check with him and see. Good guy. Poor guy gets to fish every day of the year.

Good luck and post us some pics from the adventure.

 

[Tight Lines]

Your best bet for striper would be go down to the big water in front of the dam, locate fish 30-40’ deep and drop Ben Parker spoons on them. Staying on top of them is sometimes a challenge but they are a lot of smaller fish down there right at the thermocline right now with surface temps in the mid to upper 80’s.

And if you want to check with a guide I’d recommend Rick Cain. He may or may not have that day open but you can check with him and see. Good guy. Poor guy gets to fish every day of the year.

Good luck and post us some pics from the adventure.

Thank you! I don't know if the boat has a decent depth finder but the website says that it does...it has something like this (Lowrance Elite-5 is what it says):

 

[Tight Lines]

Your best bet for striper would be go down to the big water in front of the dam, locate fish 30-40’ deep and drop Ben Parker spoons on them. Staying on top of them is sometimes a challenge but they are a lot of smaller fish down there right at the thermocline right now with surface temps in the mid to upper 80’s.

And if you want to check with a guide I’d recommend Rick Cain. He may or may not have that day open but you can check with him and see. Good guy. Poor guy gets to fish every day of the year.

Good luck and post us some pics from the adventure.

Just booked Rick Cain for a morning...

 

[Tight Lines]

Your best bet for striper would be go down to the big water in front of the dam, locate fish 30-40’ deep and drop Ben Parker spoons on them. Staying on top of them is sometimes a challenge but they are a lot of smaller fish down there right at the thermocline right now with surface temps in the mid to upper 80’s.

And if you want to check with a guide I’d recommend Rick Cain. He may or may not have that day open but you can check with him and see. Good guy. Poor guy gets to fish every day of the year.

Good luck and post us some pics from the adventure.

Goodness those spoons are expensive...I just ordered 8 of them...holy cow...

 

[Liquid nails]

Excellent. Good deal. Rick actually makes some of those spoons now I think. You can ask him. Post pics. He will put you on some fish.

Now that you booked a trip with him I’ll tell you why I mentioned him. I’m with the Outdoor Dream Foundation out of Anderson SC. They take kids on fishing and hunting trips across the country at no cost to the kid/parents. The kids have terminal illness. Mostly cancer. I’ve been honored to take several kids striper fishing in the past 3-4 years. Rick donated his time back in April to take a family out at the annual Outdoor Dream Striper Tournament on Hartwell. There was 32 boats. After the food was cooked after we fished I got to meet Rick and say hello. See him on FB daily. Nice guy. He could have booked a guide trip and make a couple bucks that day but gave his time/money to take a kid that has its back against the wall fishing and forget about life circumstances for a day. I got lucky and got on a few big fish early with my kid Kaden from Cleveland GA. It was a epic day.

Good luck to you pal. Hope his kindness from that day pays off big for you on his boat.

 

[Tight Lines]

Excellent. Good deal. Rick actually makes some of those spoons now I think. You can ask him. Post pics. He will put you on some fish.

Now that you booked a trip with him I’ll tell you why I mentioned him. I’m with the Outdoor Dream Foundation out of Anderson SC. They take kids on fishing and hunting trips across the country at no cost to the kid/parents. The kids have terminal illness. Mostly cancer. I’ve been honored to take several kids striper fishing in the past 3-4 years. Rick donated his time back in April to take a family out at the annual Outdoor Dream Striper Tournament on Hartwell. There was 32 boats. After the food was cooked after we fished I got to meet Rick and say hello. See him on FB daily. Nice guy. He could have booked a guide trip and make a couple bucks that day but gave his time/money to take a kid that has its back against the wall fishing and forget about life circumstances for a day. I got lucky and got on a few big fish early with my kid Kaden from Cleveland GA. It was a epic day.

Good luck to you pal. Hope his kindness from that day pays off big for you on his boat.

I'll be sure to mention that. Very cool. My wife and Dad are cancer survivors so it's close to home. Thanks for the mention and the note, much appreciated. If I can donate to your cause, hit me on PM please...

 

[Liquid nails]

Glad to hear about your family. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

https://outdoordream.org/

Known the Jones family most of my life that operate the Outdoor Dream. In the movie “radio”, Coach Jones and Radio are the 2 that develop the special bond. Coach Jones and his son Brad operate the foundation. Great family that has a passion to help kids. They put a kid and his dad up in a hotel room about a month ago for them to be able to fish fri night and Saturday morning with me. Has connections to the best guides hands down in the county that give their time/effort/and money to these kids whether it be hunting or fishing. Hank Parker is always hosting the striper tournament. I feel like if I can’t take one of those kids every now and then on a trip then I have a problem. Cheers?

 

[Tight Lines]

Glad to hear about your family. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

https://outdoordream.org/

Known the Jones family most of my life that operate the Outdoor Dream. In the movie “radio”, Coach Jones and Radio are the 2 that develop the special bond. Coach Jones and his son Brad operate the foundation. Great family that has a passion to help kids. They put a kid and his dad up in a hotel room about a month ago for them to be able to fish fri night and Saturday morning with me. Has connections to the best guides hands down in the county that give their time/effort/and money to these kids whether it be hunting or fishing. Hank Parker is always hosting the striper tournament. I feel like if I can’t take one of those kids every now and then on a trip then I have a problem. Cheers?

I donated $100 in honor of Rick Cain...

 

[flattop]

Many years ago I fished with a guide named Charlie Brown. We loaded coolers every trip! Good Luck on your trip.

 

[Liquid nails]

I donated $100 in honor of Rick Cain...

Much appreciated pal. ??

 

[Tight Lines]

@Liquid nails those things are huge!

 

[Liquid nails]

I’d argue they not big enough. It’s crazy a 2lb stripe will try to eat those things. Sometimes you double up on them also. Just stay away from the trees. When the trees are biting it’s a bummer. Easy to catch a lot of fish quick with those if you hit a few in the head and they turn on. Need to be on the lake at first light in sight of the dam looking for them. Deep humps are a good place to begin. I haven’t spooned in a couple years. We had some fun 4-5 years ago doing that.

 

[Liquid nails]

Btw, any of those will work. They aren’t picky.