Lake Hartwell Striper Guide Fishing

Up-Close Outfitters is the premier guide service on Lake Hartwell. With 200 plus days on the water not many guide services can compete with our fishing experience. We run new 21 foot Champion bass boats with a full line of Shimano and Quantum reels and rods. We never cut corners when it comes to fishing. Lake Hartwell is known for its Striper fishing. Numbers of 20 plus are common with 30 pounders being weighed in weekly. We pride ourselves in your satisfaction and seek to provide an educational and unforgettable experience.

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Lake Hartwell Striper

Tight Lines,

Capt. Frank Askew
Up-Close Outfitters
828-273-0286

Guided Fishing Trip to Lake Fontana for Smallmouth Bass

May 29, 2010 / Sunny and hot / water temp 74 / air temp 85 / no wind / Memorial day weekend (BOATS)

Fished with client out of Waynesville today. Ran to Chambers Creek looking for fish feeding on surface. Wind was blowing early and sun was shining. No fish seen busting so tried a drop-shot the hump at the mouth of the creek. Water is really high so hump crested at 15 feet down. Next ran to Stecoah and Panther Creeks looking for fish on the main points and humps. Ran up little Tenn. and fished several points with no luck. Fish had moved off of points and relocated to shady banks. Started catching a few fish on these banks with a finesse worm and drop shot. Ran down by railroad to chunk rock by Almond boat ramp and managed a few more. Hit several secondary points with only on producing (3 fish on same point that has been holding all year near mile marker 79). Boats + hot + no wind = hard fishing on Fontana. Never managed a fish over 2 pounds. My client Sandy really worked hard even though the fishing was tough. Managed about 6 fish.

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Lake Fontana Near the Smokey National Park Fishing Report

May 28 / Water temp 73 / scattered storms / cloudy / 78 degrees / wind 15 kts

Post-Spawn fishing is predominate now on Fontana lake. Fish are scattered but still eating. The bigger females are close to the summer haunts with smaller fish spread out between spawning areas and points. We focused on ledges and points near spawning areas leading to deep water (relative on Fontana due to the steep banks). Managed about 7 fish on small spinner baits, buzz-baits, and shaky heads and drop shots. Found fish on bluffs near shallow points, secondary points (on channel swings), and on main lake points and humps. A few smaller fish remained in the very back of spawning creeks to feed on small bass fry (1/2 inch in length). With the clouds and storms just passing ran to the mouth of Chambers to find Smallmouth busting the surface and chasing small fish on the surface. Threw small baby flukes to busting fish close to boat and popper R to fish outside of casting range. The baby fluke worked every time. Caught about 8 more with the surface action.

Tip: When fishing suspended bass in middle of lake, position boat between schools and try to get in front of moving fish. Throw fluke at busting fish and keep lure moving. Small bass will often grab the tail so keep the fluke moving till you feel constant pressure then set the hook. We add a treble to the shank of the hook and let it ride beneath the bait.

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Lake Hartwell Striper Guide Fishing Report

5-27-2010 / Water temp 77 degrees / Temp 85 degrees / no wind / Stable High Pressure

Started up Tug between T 13 – T 16 Markers. Marked good bait and managed between 8-10 Stripers on down rods between 25 and 40 feet down. Most were on top of trees just off main river channel at mouth of Beaver Dam Creek. Most around 8 pounds with a few at 13 or 14 and one or two approaching 20. Later moved down by dam and caught one more Striper in 80 foot of water over trees and near channel. Worked the dam with no results. Went back up Tug and managed a few more. Most the fish were schooling. Clients seemed real happy with day.

Guided Stripers On Lake Hartwell Sc

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Lake Hartwell SC Striper Fishing Report

5-26-2010 / water temp – 75 / calm winds / sunny / stable pressure / temp – 80 degrees

Stripers are beginning to school. Found lots of bait between markers T13 and T16 up the Tug. Trolled live Blue Backs until 10 with only one to show. Fish finally showed up around 10 in full force. We managed 30 plus fish between 5 and 15 pounds. Striped Bass were positioned on the edge of the main river channel in 85 foot of water over trees. Trees were topping out at 40 feet and arcs were marked between 35 and 25 feet down. Most bites came on down lines with a few on top. Bite happened as fast as you could drop a line. Had 5 or 6 double headers. Left by 11:00 out of bait and a sore arm. Did manage to dive in after a run away rod with a striper at the end of the line.

Stripers showing up on Humminbird LCD

Hartwell Striper Guided Fishing

Tip: As always once you find a good amount of bait sit on it…. It took almost 4 hours until these fish decided to bite.

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Lake Hartwell Striped bass and Largemouth guide Fishing Report

Water temp 72 / wind calm / stable pressure / 77 degrees / 5-22-2010 & 5-23-2010

Bass
Bass seem to be making their way to their summer haunts. Found decent #s relating to the first 1/3 of coves. This coincided with the shad. Shad are on top of the surface early in the morning and late in the evening. They are cruising the channels and the bass are positioned to ambush them. Small points and humps close to cove channels are holding good size bass. With the water approaching 80 degrees start looking towards staging areas before bass go to summer haunts. These include submerged trees near the main river channel, main lake points, and steep banks on the outside of coves. Main lake points are going to be on fire in the next few weeks so keep checking. We managed our better bass on Popper R’s and a Zoom Trick Worm in Green Pumpkin Seed with 1/8 Tuscen bullet weights. Several nice bass approaching the 4 pound mark were taken. Lots of smaller bass were caught on a 3/8 oz jig and trailer and a drop shot. The drop shot produced most of the fish, but all were small, around deep banks and the dam. Actually caught 3 catfish on the jig with one at about 10 pounds that had me fooled with images of 8 pounders.

Stripers
Ran stripers in the early morning and a few hours in the day. A few fish are relating to the main lake points but the bait is not holding. Found most of the fish in secondary pockets near bait. Caught a few fish over trees topping out at 40 feet 1/2 way between Portsman and where the Tug. meet. This time of year you won’t necessary mark fish but the stripes will hold just inside the tree tops. Most the fish seemed to be hitting down rods whereas the past few week the flat lines have been producing. Cut bait has also been producing near main lake humps and points. We managed 5 or 6 in a few hours on Sat. and Sun.

Lake Hartwell Sc Guided Largemouth Bass Fishing

Lake Hartwell Largemouth Bass Guided Fishing

Tip:
Ran the Stripers on Sat night for a few hours. Pulled a Hydro Glow 3 and 1/2 foot light 40 foot behind boat. Focused on main lake points trolling .8 miles an hour. We then dropped live shad around light once Blueback gathered around the light. Took a while for the bait to gather but did manage a few bites and one fish once bait showed up. Only fished 40 minutes once everything came together. This pattern works great for mid-summer stripers when you need to escape the heat.

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SC Lake Jocassee Trout Fishing Report W/ Up-Close Outfitters

Water temp 70 / Foggy turning to mostly sun / mid 70s / stable pressure / 5-18-2010

Trout
Threadfin are relating very heavily to the towers now. These fish are attracted to the light the pumps give off. The morning bite is very good here due to the availability of baitfish. As the morning goes on the bait disperses to deeper water, as thus the trout follow. We arrived around 8:00 with 4 others trolling. The shad were spilling out from behind the security tube and traveling N along the edge of the first drop off, just off the rock cliffs, in 25 foot of water. With such heavy bait we decided to throw finesse on 1/16 jig head, drop shots with gulp minnow and a jigging spoons. Caught a few stockers on the drop shot. Around 6-8 different schools were on the surface being pushed along the NW bank. As soon as the sun broke they moved out and went deep. Went trolling to keep up with the moving shad and picked up 4 keepers around 16-20 inches just off the left tower at 45 foot of water. Bite lasted till 10:30. Continued up the West then North shore hitting points with trees to produce one more.

Bass
Bass are still spawning. Post-spawn fish are becoming more and more evident. Threw an 8 inch Catch 22 Swimbait most of the day looking for a giant. Did toss a shaky head and series 5 Strike king crank bait, to make sure the bass were where they should be. Found decent #s of fish in secondary coves off of White Water River. Found excellent numbers of quality bass relating to the back of wooden docks. There are only a few docks on the whole lake that are permanent and these docks are only wood for the first 15 feet. Every wooden dock had at least 8-10 bass over 2 pounds around it. Fished for 3 hours with the Catch 22 with no takers, except for a few taken on the shaky Head.

Tip: When trolling spoons tie a 5-7 inch # 72 or #38 Sutton spoon 5 foot in front of a smaller bait size spoon. The larger one acts as a teaser and builds up the curiosity. BE SURE TO USE BALL BEARING SWIVELS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE IN-LINE SPOON. The smaller spoon in the back gets hit every time. We almost run these exclusively now.

SC Trout Fishing Guide Frank Askew

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Lake Fontana near Bryson City Fishing Report (May 13 & 14)

Water temp 71 degrees / on off clouds / 80 degrees / large front stalled from tenn. to Ky.

We have been on vacation lately but are back on track now. Fished for two days all up the rivers around mile marker 80. Lots of small inch and 1/2 size threadfin are suspending near the surface on the main river channel. Fish are in post spawn so are a bit scatted now but feeding aggressively to recuperate. We focused on two patterns over the two days and caught the bass really well. We focused on largemouth but did mix in a few smallmouths.

Pattern 1:
With the shad cursing the river channels the bass were positioned on main lake points and secondary points. In determining this we managed to zero in a bit more to focus on small secondary points with fine chunk rock that slowly tapered. Anywhere a channel would swing into that points the bass would be stacked up. This enabled a deep water highway for the shad to easily cruise. A tree or two would defiantly help. On lake Fontana, especially up the river, the tapering points are numbered so when we found this we always managed at least a few bass. All our fish came on a 1/8 oz shaky head. Managed most our fish on this pattern. Most the smallmouth came on the end of the points in around 15 foot of water. (20+ fish)

Small chunk rock point on river channel swing.

Patten 2:
Found our better size fish zeroing in on small clouds of bass fry. These clouds are ¼ inch size bass fry suspending around wood cover. Unfortunately they were very scattered because to the abundance wood due to the high water. With the clear water it is essential to keep a sharp eye out for dark brown clouds before you get to close. We pitched a green ½ oz Booyah jig with super zoom chunk into the middle of the fry to disperse the baby bass. The heavy football jig would then create a reaction bite from the bass below. The bass were positioned directly under the fry. We managed 4-5 bass on this technique out of about 10 bass clouds, all around 2 pounds. I really think these fry clouds will become more available as the water warms more.

Tip: The night walleye bit should be real strong right now. Put lights out anywhere up the rivers (Nantahala, Little Tenn.) Wait for the shad then jig ice jigs or spoons. A live threadfin will also work. Watch the graph and jig the arcs.

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Lake Jocassee Spawn Bass Fishing Report (may 2)

Winds calm / water temp: 64 degrees / air 78 degrees / cloudy and spots of rain / large front approaching

Fished up devils fork creek for the entire day. Did not have any clients so got to fish on my own. Focused on the area between Bad Creek and where Howards Creek comes in, at the far back of Devils Fork. Got there about 10:00 with a slight rain. Started where the arm is constricted and the river channel is the closest to the bank. Picked up a white and gray buzz-bait and immediately caught a 2 pound small mouth. In 20 minutes running the back along the river channel caught 10-15 bass all on the buzz. It quite raining and I rounded a point and headed to the back of a small secondary cove. Missed several around thick veg with no hookups. Once made it toward the back started seeing some real nice fish cursing the clear water. Saw one that was every bit of 6 pounds guarding a nest. I tinkered with her for a good 40 minutes. She did bite it once but immediately spit it out when my white tube was over a branch and I was shaking it in her face. I fished for a good 1:30 minutes for these bedding fish with not luck. I went on fishing other creeks hoping to get a pattern on the bedding fish. I tried 12 inch worms, shaky heads, floating worms, buzz baits, and creature baits. I moved to another section of creeks and saw good bait balls in the middle section of the creeks. I tied on small spinner bait and cranked down the middle of the cove and threw at structure. No Luck… I did take note on the location of the 6 pounder and went back an hour later. I eased in made a 35 yard cast and was immediately bit. I swung but missed… Went back to focus on the post-spawners on the points near deep water. Switched to 1/8 shaky head with a pumpkin zoom finesse worm. Stayed on the front 1/3 of the creeks. Started catching them again. By the end of the day ended up with about 30 + fish with biggest about 4 pounds. Never did get a Buzz bite going again.

Jocassee Bass for the Fryer

If I had it to do over again I would start off early with a spro shad swim-bait, a buzz-bait, and a small spinner bait on the points, then switch to a small plastics in the mid-day. I would also fish a 1/4 oz green jig more to try to filter the small ones out. I would put the trolling motor on high between the outside of the points to look for spawners. Here I would take a mental not of the larger ones I see. ( The water on Jocassee is extremely clear) I would come back later and throw a creature bait or large senko to the fish from at least 30 yards in order to not spook it. The first cast would be essential.

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Capt. Frank Askew
Up-Close Outfitters
828-273-0286
info@mappingandguides.com

Pisgah National Forest Guided Turkey Hunt

April 30 / Clear / temp 55 degrees / calm winds

Drove out the night before just outside of Asheville and put a bird on the roust not 400 yards from the truck. Meet up with client the next morning at 5:30. He jumped in the car with me and we headed to the National Forest. I let the bird gobble on his own to get a bead on him and make sure he did not move trees. We stayed a good 150 yards away from this one. We did not want to spook him being so late in the year. We climbed a small ridge to get at his same level and started calling. I started with a fly down using a wing and sharp cutting just after first light. A few soft yelps fallowed about 10 minutes later to get his attention. I followed with a good bit of clucking and soft yelps about 15 minutes later. We could hear a hen in the distance, actually between the Gob and us, so I sounded off some sharp cuts to get him thinking. 5 minutes later he gobbled again this time 1/2 the distance, I looked over and said, “It’s a done deal”. 35 minutes went by with nothing. I knew he was close so I purred a bit and mixed in some soft yelps to draw him closer. 1:15 minutes into the hunt two Gobblers showed up and came straight to the decoys in FULL STRUT. Spencer took aim and bagged his first turkey.

Guided National Forest Turkey

Note: Spencer, out of Spruce Pine, took his first deer with Up-Close Outfitters earlier this year, a nice 18 inch 7 pt.

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Capt. Frank Askew
828-273-0286
e-mail info@mappinganguides.com