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Carters Lake
Located in the north Georgia mountains in Gilmer and Murray counties, Carters Lake is the deepest of Georgia's reservoirs. The spotted bass fishing at Carters is nationally known, and the lake also produces trophy striped bass, as well as a unique Georgia fishery for trophy walleye. Relatively small with 3,200 acres and 62 miles of shoreline, Carters Lake has an average depth of 200 feet and is also more than 450 feet deep in places. Carters is a Corps of Engineers impoundment that is unique that there are no private docks or houses along its shore. This lake is fed by the Coosawattee River.
Carters Lake Resources
Carters: Level: 0.3 feet above 1074. Temp: 80-85 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Louie Bartenfield, with Carters Lake Guide Service, reports, “July is always a tough month on Carters, but bass will bite. During the day, watch for surfacing fish and fish holding high in the water column around offshore brush or points. Walking and popper-style topwater baits are my favorite for these bass. When the fish go down, try drop-shot or shaky-head worms around the bottom cover. The night bite heats up in July. Target fish in 10 to 25 feet of water relating to steep drops on bluffs and points with soft plastics and football jigs. Find those sharp drops on your GPS mapping.” Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley, of Lake And Stream Guide Service, reports, “It’s time to fish deep. It’s that time of year when the water gets hot and the fish go down to find a…
Read MoreCarters Lake Fishing Articles
Twelve-year-old Chandler Watkins, of Ellijay, knocked the old Carters Lake white crappie record clear out of the water with a 3-lb., 4.9-oz. slab he caught on Feb. 28. The old record was a 2-lb. crappie caught in 2019 by Joshua Higgins. Chandler isn’t exactly a stranger when it comes to catching big fish. “We are…
Carters Lake is arguably Georgia’s prettiest reservoir, with undeveloped shorelines, steep hills surrounding the pristine water, rocky shorelines and clear, deep water. But more important for anglers than the beauty are the spotted bass swimming in Carters. As we transition into September, the Carters Lake bass feed more heavily as the water cools, and they…
Ellijay’s new hometown hero is 13-year-old Wyatt Stokes, who recently added his name to GON’s Georgia Lake & River Records listing with a Carters Lake flathead catfish that weighed 41-lbs., 12-ozs. “He was ecstatic. He couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t either, we were both excited,” said Jamie Stokes, Wyatt’s dad. The two were bank fishing…
Carters Lake anglers who fish during the fall and winter for trophy-sized stripers and fat spotted bass should strongly consider making an appearance at tomorrow night’s, Oct. 16, 2019, Gilmer County Board of Commissioner’s meeting at 6 p.m. in Ellijay. A shrinking budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could mean seasonal boat ramp…
As summer hits us Georgians in full force this month, you can bet anywhere you decide to fish it’s going to be hot, and I mean hot. About the only thing in the northern portion of our state that you can expect to be hotter than the sweltering daytime highs is the striper fishing. As…
Carters Lake Records
| Largemouth Bass | 13-lbs., 1-oz. | Jimmy Dixon | 04/11/87 |
| Spotted Bass | 7-lbs., 3-ozs. | Leonard Lawson | 12/05/92 |
| Hybrid Bass | 14-lbs., 6-ozs. | Hunter Bruce | 04/03/12 |
| Black Crappie | 2-lbs., 1-oz. | Brian Childs | 05/20/00 |
| Striped Bass | 36-lbs., 0-ozs. | Angela Hawes | 08/22/09 |
| Walleye | 8-lbs., 11-ozs. | Gary Hawkins | 03/09/03 |
| Bluegill | 1-lb., 11-ozs. | Jonathon Sutton | 04/12/98 |
| Rainbow Trout | 3-lbs., 12.48-ozs. | Mike Guthrie | 04/28/17 |
| Flathead Catfish | 41-lbs., 12-ozs. | Wyatt Stokes | 05/06/20 |
| Blue Catfish | 17-lbs., 4.64-ozs. | Gary Turner | 08/17/14 |
| White Crappie | 3-lbs., 4.9-ozs. | Chandler Watkins | 02/28/21 |