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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

Ambush Alleys For Bartletts Ferry Bass

If you like fishing shallow for bass in June, Bartletts Ferry Lake is a good choice. It has grassbeds, docks, blowdowns, brushpiles, rocks, and seawalls that all attract bass this month. And the bass are hungry and feeding heavily in all those areas, so they are generally easy to catch. Bartletts Ferry is a relatively…

Lake And River Records Update

More fish have qualified recently for GON‘s Lake & River Records list. GON compiles record fish weights for 36 Georgia lakes and rivers. The complete list was most recently published in the March 2005 issue. The lists continue to change, with new entries ranging from a striped bass at Bartletts Ferry to a new walleye…

Spring Break Fishing Trip

My itch to begin fishing usually begins with the first warm day in February. The temperature rises close to 60 or so, and I can’t help but think that the fish are as eager to get started feeding as I am to get out there and take advantage of them. Combine this urge with the…

Bartletts Ferry’s September Bass

Bartletts Ferry is one of the best lakes around for fishing deep structure in September. The lake is full of shallow points that border deep water, a prime place to find fall bass. If you like probing points for bass, Bartletts is the place. Also known as Lake Harding, Bartletts Ferry is an old lake on the Chattahoochee River along the Georgia/Alabama line with…

Bartletts Ferry March Bass

The third fish was our best bass of the day. Jim Stutts, a 15-year veteran on Bartletts Ferry, and I were dragging jig ’n pigs off rocks on a main-lake point on the south side of the mouth of Halawakee Creek. A white house with black trim sat on the point, behind a 2-level dock.…

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