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Lake Blue Ridge
Lake Blue Ridge is a 3,300-acre TVA reservoir located in Fannin County, in the northern portion of Georgia. The lake is fed primarily by the Toccoa River. Blue Ridge was created by the completion of Blue Ridge Dam in 1930. The lake level fluctuates by about 20 feet from winter drawdown to full pool in a typical year. The Toccoa tailrace below Blue Ridge offers very good trout fishing, although much of the riverbank is private in this stretch.
Lake Blue Ridge Resources
Blue Ridge: Level: 9.2 feet low 1686. Temp: 57-64 degrees. Clarity: From clear to stained. Bass: Eric Welch, of Welch’s Guide Service, reports, “Fishing has been good. Water temps are coming up, along with the water level, and the spawn is just around the corner. This time of year, I will normally start my mornings out fishing the main body of the lake looking for areas where the spotted and smallmouth bass will spawn, focusing on long, rocky points and pebble-rock banklines. I’m looking and fishing depths from 6 to 18 feet deep. My prespawn baits are a 3.5-inch tube, Ned rig, jig and a small Carolina rig with a 5-inch lizard. I will also throw a small jerkbait, swimbait and squarebill crankbait. Once the sun gets up good and you can see good in the water, I will start running pockets where largemouth will spawn. They normally will be in…
Read MoreLake Blue Ridge Fishing Articles
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has pulled the plug on Lake Blue Ridge. A long-term drawdown will drop the lake to more than 60 feet below summer pool for at least six months. The purpose of the drawdown is to repair and improve the dam, but anglers can use this low-water period to scout the…
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is set to start its long-term, deep-water drawdown of Lake Blue Ridge on July 15. Once the drawdown begins, it will take approximately four months to get the lake to the lowest level needed for work to repair the penstock, a gate that controls water flow from the lake, and…
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is set to pull the plug on Lake Blue Ridge during the late summer of 2010. Plans call for the lake to be drawn down to more than 60 feet below full pool. TVA officials recently announced the final project plans for the deep-water drawdown necessary to repair and reinforce…
Good, consistent smallmouth bass action is one of Lake Blue Ridge’s claims to fame, and, despite the introduction of spotted bass to the lake in the early 1990s, the smallies have held on well. Luckily for bass fishermen, this month should provide some of the hottest topwater action of the year during the dawn…
September bass fishing in Georgia is tough. The bass are still on summer patterns, the water is as hot as it gets, and the oxygen levels are at their lowest point. And it is still uncomfortable fishing most days. It just makes sense to head to the cool north Georgia mountains and Lake Blue Ridge…
Blue Ridge Lake Records
| Largemouth Bass | 11-lbs., 10.7-ozs. | Nathan Lewis | 02/01/05 |
| Smallmouth Bass | 6-lbs., 14-ozs. | Jim Ezell | 05/15/98 |
| Spotted Bass | 6-lbs., 4-ozs. | Kevin Hoek | 03/04/17 |
| White Bass | 3-lbs., 6.72-ozs. | Jesse McKeral | 03/22/08 |
| Flathead Catfish | 44-lbs. | Leon Reavis | 07/06/70 |
| Muskellunge | 38-lbs.* | Rube Golden | 06/57 |
| Walleye | 9-lbs., 4-ozs. | Greg Bergman | 01/07/01 |
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 14.4-ozs. | Scott Sliter | 02/13/07 |
| Brown Trout | 9-lbs., 4.8-ozs. | Nathan Lewis | 12/07/16 |
| Rainbow Trout | 5-lbs., 2.08-ozs. | Nathan Stuart | 05/03/07 |