“Live-bait fishing is the primary focus during May and throughout the summer,” he said. “Topwater schooling action is heart-stopping exciting, especially when there are some 10- to 20-pound stripers ripping baitfish to shreds on the water’s surface. But that action is sometimes sporadic and unpredictable, so most guides at Lake Hartwell see it as a backup plan, sort of a Plan B. That’s a ‘B’ as in ‘bonus.’ There’s plenty of places we can consistently find stripers and hybrids during this time of the year using live bait.

“We seldom see a lot of shad-ripping topwater schooling during May as we might during the hot months,” Hamilton said. “But we’ll certainly take advantage of the topwater opportunity when presented.”

Hamilton said the first consideration for consistent success is the water temperature transition occurring at this time of the year. He said that will have a big effect on determining which portion of the lake the fish will congregate.

Hamilton said that it’s necessary to understand the layout of the lake to better understand where the stripers will typically be located.

At normal pool elevation, Lake Hartwell Lake comprises nearly 56,000 acres of water with a shoreline of 962 miles.

He explained that the lake is impounded by the Hartwell Dam located on the Savannah River seven miles below the junction of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers. These are the two major arms of the lake and the waters in the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers, and the creeks flowing into them, are the prime fishing areas during May.

“There’s a lot of water here, so you’ve got to narrow your search area,” Hamilton said. “Fortunately, that’s what occurs during May and into the summer. The fish patterns dictate the areas we can most successfully fish.

“As the water begins to warm, the fish begin their migration down the rivers and creeks toward the main river on Lake Hartwell,” Hamilton said. “The impact of the warming will really begin in late April and into May. As this occurs, we will begin to find both stripers and hybrids in the tributaries more than the main lake. But as the water continues to warm, the fish will leave the rivers and creeks in favor of the main lake. Here, during hot weather they will often orient to the underwater trees.”

During the spring portion of the year, the favored structures are underwater features that are sometimes relatively clean and void of trees and brush.

“One of my favorite areas is to fish the clean humps that rise up from the deep water in the larger creeks and rivers,” Hamilton said. “Another excellent place I focus on is the end of long, sloping points. Both are typically great places for stripers and hybrids to congregate.

“During the spring, I like the middle sector of the lake best. I’ll fish uplake and in the lower end of the lake at times. But I like the mid-sector because there’s a great diversity of humps, points, drops and ledges both in the creeks and along the main river channel. The fish seem to hold in this part of the lake in big numbers during this time of the year.”