Those shocking and netting surveys have also given the biologist an idea of where the fish live and where you should fish to catch them. He's come up with six tips for finding them --and these should work on any lake you fish.

The first tip has to do with the time of day. Stripers and hybrids are more active in the early mornings and late afternoons.

Next, consider the topography of the lake floor. These fish hold on points and nearby flats.

Now you need to consider the water temperature. Find water from 55 to 65 degrees in which to fish.

The water's turbidity is also a concern. Stripers and hybrids feed better in water that's not muddy, so find clear water to fish.

Locating forage is next on Rabern's list. Find the blueback herring or shad, and the stripers and hybrids will be nearby.

Finally, consider the wind. In this case, wind is your friend. You want to be casting toward banks and points that have wind blowing onto -- or across -- them.

Armed with these tips, be on the lake at dawn and fish points near flats, at a depth where the water is between 55 to 65 degrees and clear. Make sure baitfish are in the area and, if the wind is blowing, get on the windy side of the lake. That should put you right in the middle of the linesider action!

LAKE RUSSELL
The smallest of the three reservoirs in the chain, at 26,650 acres, Russell is also the newest of the three -- and in some ways, the most unusual. Not only is it affected by the water running into its upper end from Hartwell Dam, it has a pump-back facility at its own powerhouse. After water is released through Russell Dam's generators, it is then pumped out of Clarks Hill and back into Russell for reuse. Thus the water level in Russell doesn't change much.

Georgia and South Carolina have agreed to try to make Russell a trophy striper lake. To do that, they stock no hybrids, and only one to two striped bass per acre are added each year. This should allow the stripers to grow faster and offer fishermen bigger fish.

But there are still a few hybrids in the lake. They can come downstream through the turbines and the overflow at the Hartwell Dam. A few might even survive coming through the pump-back from Clarks Hill. But in any case, these hybrids do not offer a significant fishery on Russell.

Lake Russell is a deep, clear impoundment that provides good habitat for stripers. Growth rates of a little better than two pounds per year have been documented, and already present in the reservoir are some stripers in the 20-pound range. These should continue to grow at a fast rate and produce some trophy fish.