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Bartletts Ferry

Bartletts Ferry, also known as Lake Harding, is a 5,850-acre reservoir on the Chattahoochee River north of Columbus and south of Lake West Point. The lake was built in 1926 and now owned by Georgia Power. Bartletts offers good fishing for spotted bass.

Bartletts Ferry Resources

Bartletts Ferry Records

Current Lake Level

Freshwater Fishing Forum

Bartletts Ferry Fishing Report – March 2025

By GON Staff | February 26, 2025

Bartletts Ferry: Level: 0.7 feet below 521. Temp: 47-51 degrees. Clarity: Stained. Bass: Tournament angler Tyler Morgan, with Summerland Outdoors, was fishing with Adam Byrd and won the first Backwaters Bass Tournament of the year the last Sunday in February with 15.6 pounds. Those fish are moving into pockets and coves to spawn. Tyler starts in the mouths of the pockets fishing quickly to halfway back with a bladed jig, then fishes all wood cover toward the backs of the pockets. Skip a weightless Senko to all wood you can see. Docks, blowdowns and stumps are all good as shallow as 2 feet deep. Always keep a buzzbait ready, Adam caught a 2.5-pounder in 50-degree water in the Backwaters tournament. Tyler says he has a lot of confidence in getting a big buzzbait bite as soon as the water gets above 60 degrees. Fish pockets on the lower lake and…

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Archived Fishing Reports

Bartletts Ferry Fishing Articles

Bass Found Deep On Bartletts Ferry For Fishers Of Men Tourney

It was awesome to get our Fishers of Men Georgia South Division season started on Jan. 29. After rescheduling from the prior weekend as a result of COVID and a potential winter storm, it was good to get the season going. We had a great Friday night with Brent Janney being the speaker. I had…

Bartletts Ferry Bass Mapped For October

Bartletts Ferry is often overlooked by fishermen heading to bigger lakes, but it is full of hungry spotted bass and largemouth. In October, expect to find these bass feeding in grassbeds, on seawalls and on bluff banks. You can catch them on topwater, jigs, crankbaits and other baits you like to throw. Located on the…

Slab Tops 3 Pounds To Set Bartletts Ferry Crappie Record

Mickey Peacock has been chasing crappie across Georgia for more than 50 years, and he finally got his giant slab—a black crappie that on certified scales weighed 3.09 pounds. The 71-year-old angler from Lizella caught the huge crappie on April 17 while fishing Bartletts Ferry. Bartletts Ferry, also known as Lake Harding, is a 5,850-acre…

Rock Banks, Bluffs For Bartletts Ferry Bass

You can catch spots and largemouth all month at Bartletts Ferry—also known as Lake Harding—on a few simple-to-fish patterns. Anglers can run deep rocky banks and steep bluffs that drop fast into deep water to catch bass on a variety of baits from the dam to Blanton Creek up the river. Bartletts Ferry is an…

Bartletts Ferry Fishing Report – November 2019

Bartletts Ferry: Level: 7.6 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Mostly clear, with more color up the lake. Bass: Tournament director and competitor Dennis Hudson reports, “Now that the temperatures are falling, the bass are starting to get more active, and the fishing is improving. Most fish are being caught close to the…

Bartletts Ferry Records

Striped Bass36-lbs., 5-ozs.Matt Faircloth04/21/05
Hybrid Bass9-lbs., 12.8-ozs.Chris Brackett04/26/05
Black Crappie3-lbs., 1.44-ozs.Mickey Peacock04/17/20
Yellow Perch10.88-ozs.Joey Pippin05/07/07
Shoal Bass8-lbs., 5-ozs.Matt McWhorter12/23/21
Shellcracker2-lbs., 1.28-ozs.Courtney Cannon08/05/24