"It is believed that with the abundant natural prey base in Lake Greenwood, bass may be less inclined to take angler-presented artificial baits," Hayes said.

Anglers who know the lake's moods enjoy very good success at Lake Greenwood, and they know that they enjoy a better than average chance of landing a really big bass by investing angling days at Lake Greenwood.

Because Greenwood produces big fish and because its fertile waters aren't overly clear, anglers are wise to upsize their offerings and to go after "reaction" strikes. An alternative approach for getting a Greenwood "hawg" to take a bait is to go out under the stars, either with a big dark-colored worm or with a nighttime spinnerbait, complete with a single, oversized Colorado blade.

LAKE THURMOND
The final reservoir in the Savannah River chain, Lake Thurmond is also the largest at 70,535 acres. It's a little more fertile than its upstream neighbors and probably offers the best largemouth fishing year in and year out.

This spring should offer very fast action on Lake Thurmond. However, many fish will be small. While Lake Thurmond is an old lake, it is going though a mini new-lake boom of sorts. During several years of consistently low water through the late 1990s and early 2000s, extensive woody and herbaceous vegetation grew along the edge of the lake. Lake Thurmond has been back to normal pool for the past two years, with a tremendous amount of high-quality spawning and nursery habitat in its shallow water, according to Hayes.

"Though we have no current data, it would be safe to assume that over the past couple of years very strong year-classes of shoreline spawning species, such as largemouth bass, should have developed," Hayes said. "Many of these fish should now be 2 years of age and average 11 to 12 inches."

Biologists with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, which shares Savannah lakes management duties with the SCDNR, believe Lake Thurmond actually has too many small bass in it right now and that high numbers may be limiting growth potential. A creel survey conducted in 2001 revealed that more than 60 percent of all bass caught from Lake Thurmond are released, and biologists would like to see anglers take home more fish in the 12- to 15-inch range.

In Georgia, bass must be at least 12 inches long for anglers to keep them. In South Carolina, there is no minimum size. Anglers keeping bass must be aware of both states' laws and of where they are fishing and running because it is illegal to possess any bass that are less than 12 inches long on the Georgia side of the lake, no matter where they were caught. The lakewide limit is 10 fish, and a reciprocal licensing agreement allows anglers licensed by either state to fish anywhere on the lake.