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Lake Chatuge

Lake Chatuge is a TVA reservoir on the Hiwassee River that was created by the construction of Chatuge Dam, which was completed in 1942. The dam is located in western North Carolina, and the lake extends southeast into Georgia around the city of Hiawassee.

Lake Chatuge Resources

Lake Chatuge Fishing Report – April 2024

By GON Staff | March 27, 2024

Chatuge: Level: 5.6 feet below 1925. Temp: 56-57 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Eric Welch, of Welch’s Guide Service, reports, “Fishing has been good. With the warmer weather, the water temps are rising, and the fish are trying to move up for the spawn. This is my favorite time of the year to fish. I will start my mornings out around mid lake, fishing long, clay points and pebble-rock banklines. The baits I fish the most in these areas are a 3.5-inch tube and a Ned rig. I’m targeting 6 to 18 feet of water, just casting and slow dragging with the occasional pop of the lure. There are so many banks that the spotted bass spawn on. Sometimes you will find a stretch that may have up to 10 fish on a 70-yard area. Sometimes it makes it hard to leave these areas, but once the sun gets up good, I’ve…

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Lake Chatuge Fishing Articles

Lake Chatuge To Host BASS College Fishing National Championships

School is out for the summer for the majority of college students across the country, but for 136 collegiate bass anglers, the biggest test of the year still lies ahead of them. Sixty-eight two-angler teams representing 49 colleges and universities are doing their homework in preparation for the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship to be…

A Power Fishing Pattern For Chatuge Bass

Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains you’ll find a little piece of heaven on earth. Sounds like the intro line to some brochure doesn’t it? Well it is as true a statement as I have ever made. Although the winding roads that snake through the mountains of north Georgia seem to be leading…

Spotted Bass Torpedoing Topwater At Lake Chatuge

At 6:20 a.m. Sean Capes and I were on a long point halfway back in Woods Creek on Lake Chatuge throwing topwater. Sean was giving a Sammy 100 a workout, and I was walking the dog with a Super Spook. When the bait was halfway back to the boat, the water erupted around Sean’s Sammy…

The Dingy Side Of Chatuge Spots

If Dwight Dilbeck could fish on one lure at Chatuge in March, the lure would be a crankbait — and the crankbait would be a Shad Rap. In March the spotted bass will move up from deep-water brushpiles to chase shad and blueback herring on the banks, and when they do, the Shad Rap becomes…

Lake Chatuge Record Spotted Bass

This Georgia lake record will be hard to top. James Dean, of Canton, now holds the Lake Chatuge spotted bass record with a 6.82-lb. spot that he caught Oct. 11, 2003 during a bass tournament. The previous record was 5-lbs., 1-oz.

Lake Chatuge Record Fish

Largemouth Bass16-lbs., 11-ozs.David Presely03/27/1976
Smallmouth7-lbs., 2-ozs.Jack Hall03/28/1973
Spotted Bass6-lbs., 13.8-ozs.James Dean10/11/03
Hybrid Bass25-lbs., 8-ozs.David C. Hobby05/01/1995
Walleye9-lbs., 4-ozs.Carol Owenby04/07/1991
Black Crappie2-lbs., 0-ozs.Howard Stimis04/06/2023
Rainbow Trout2-lbs., 8.5-ozs.Walker Ross06/23/2012
Yellow Perch1-lb., 2.24-ozs.Mark McClure04/19/2021

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Lake Allatoona

Lake Allatoona is a 12,010-acre reservoir in the north Atlanta suburbs located primarily in Bartow and Cherokee counties. The major tributaries are the Etowah and Little rivers and Allatoona and Stamp creeks, although numerous other creeks flow into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment. Allatoona is known as a good lake for catching numbers of spotted bass, and it's also known for good striped bass and hybrid bass. Allatoona is a very busy lake for recreational boaters during the summer, when many bass anglers opt to fish at night.

Allatoona Links

Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – April 2024

By GON Staff | March 27, 2024

Allatoona: Level: 1.2 feet below 840. Temp: 58-63 degrees. Clarity: Stain of all levels. Bass: Tournament angler Matt Driver reports, “April on Allatoona is on fire!  Bass are in all phases of the spawn. This is the month when you pick your favorite way to fish, and that’s how you can catch them. Most fish are shallow, but they can be caught in depths up to 20 feet deep. Pebble/rock points and red-clay banks are great areas to start. Jig-head worms and Carolina rigs are great techniques this time of year. A good rule of thumb is to fish them slow, not with a lot of shaking but just dragging. Natural colors are my go-to. Spinnerbaits, swimbaits and jerkbaits are also great right now. These baits are retrieved quickly. The fish you are targeting with these baits are chasing active baitfish, so covering water is key. The topwater bite starts…

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Lake Allatoona Fishing Articles

Lake Allatoona Spawn Season Bass

Spotted bass, largemouth and shad are all spawning this month on Allatoona, and anglers can catch bass by keying on the different spawning areas for each species. If you want to have fun and catch a bunch of fish, target spots. If quality fish are your goal, look for bedding largemouth. And when the shad…

Lake Allatoona Water Safety Efforts Lead To National Award

An estimated 4,000 people drown to death each year in the United States. Of those deaths, more than 50% could have been prevented if those victims had been wearing a life jacket. That’s where Travis England steps in. England, a public affairs specialist at Lake Lanier and a former park ranger at Lake Allatoona, coordinated…

Popular Country DJ, James “Moby” Carney, Dies

James “Moby” Carney, a popular country music radio DJ with strong ties to the Georgia outdoor community, died Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, at age 69. Moby had battled stage 4 stomach cancer. The GON Community got to know Moby not just from his morning show on Kicks 101.5 from 1991 to 2012, but also through…

5-Foot Allatoona Gar Almost Breaks State Record

The record for longnose gar on Lake Allatoona was smashed last week by angler Caleb McClure. The huge fish was just shy of 5 feet long and weighed 27.25 pounds. Caleb caught the gar while fishing with his friend Trent Hall. “We were fishing right next to Sweetwater Campground in an area that we knew…

Allatoona Gar Record Set By Youth

Little more than a month after Seth Shoults, of Cartersville, set two Etowah River catfish records in one night, he guided his nephew into the Lake Allatoona waterbody record books. On the evening of April 21, Seth established the new blue catfish and channel catfish waterbody records on the Etowah River. He caught a 7-lb.…

Allatoona Lake Records

Largemouth Bass16-lbs., 9-ozs.Greg Rymer08/31/82
Spotted Bass7-lbs., 11-ozs.George Clark11/18/74
Hybrid Bass13-lbs., 9.5-ozs.Danny Alsobrook02/07/90
Striped Bass42-lbs.Clint Hight02/15/02
Black Crappie3-lbs., 7.36-ozs.Corey Harmon03/05/22
White Bass3-lbs., 2-ozs.Darrell Baxter05/15/94
Flathead Catfish35-lbs., 10.88-ozs.Sandy Sanders06/20/08
Blue Catfish52-lbs., 1-oz.Aaron Churchwell10/27/20
Tiger Trout2-lbs., 12.8-ozs.Bob Geresti02/01/18
Yellow Perch1-lb., 1.44-ozs.David Brewer12/02/23
White Crappie3-lbs., 4.24-ozs.Cody Hopkins02/10/22
Longnose Gar27-lbs., 4-ozs.Caleb McClure06/24/23
Shellcracker1-lb., 9-ozs.Dan Huizinga05/04/23