Unless the inflow from today’s rain can match the outflow from Lake Hartwell’s dam, the funk ain’t leaving the lake today. Power generation began at 5 a.m. and is scheduled to continue until 10 p.m. It was a similar outflow of 17,000 cubic feet per second that dropped the lake level three inches yesterday.
The funk? Let Bill Lowen explain it: “The lake is just not fishing the way I think it should be because the water is falling so much. It’s kind of got the fish in a funk.”
Added Lowen, “It absolutely has to do with falling water. It has fallen close to a foot since we’ve been here. Anytime it’s falling, it puts ’em in a funk, I don’t care what body of water you’re on. If this thing would stable out, I think you’d see fish just crash to the bank.”
Lowen is making the best of the funk. He’s got 13 pounds at 11:15, which has him in third place. But he’s got the foundation for a big bag, with a 5-pounder and a 4-pounder in the boat.