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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
Chatuge: Level: 1.2 feet above 1925. Temp: 75-77 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Eric Welch, of Welch’s Guide Service, reports, “Fishing has been good. The topwater bite is picking up. On cloudy days, I like throwing a natural color, like bone or olive; on sunny days, I like pearl or chrome. My choice of baits are: Berkley 110 Cane Walker, Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr., Lucky Craft Gunfish and an Ima Stix. Areas that I’m going to be working these baits on are long points, main-lake flats and main-lake humps—areas that have access to deep water. Lake Chatuge fishes a lot like Lake Lanier, so you need to always keep a couple of topwater baits on the deck of your boat. There are a lot of offshore humps, brush and ditches where I will throw a shaky head, drop shot and Texas rig. Yes, if you’re using forward-facing sonar, the minnow baits…
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If you read Caz Anderson’s recent Lake Chatuge Map-of-the-Month article and also followed the BASS Angler of the Year tournament on-line or in person on Sept. 20-23, you saw Caz was spot-on for patterns and baits. The pros put their own special talents to finding bass and catching them, but they used the types of…
The same reasons Lake Chatuge is a good choice for the prestigious BASS Angler of the Year Championship this month makes it a good choice for Georgia anglers in September. The deep, clear lake is ringed with mountains and is very scenic. Even better, its shallows have a good population of quality largemouth, while big…
February is a great time to catch some big spots, but where should you go? Lanier, Carters and Allatoona probably come to mind as great spotted bass destinations, but there may be a better choice up on the North Carolina line. Lake Chatuge has a great population of big spots—and largemouth—and now is a good…
As the host team, there were expectations for Brad Rutherford and Matthew Peeler of Young Harris College to fish well on the mountain reservoir in the backyard of their college campus. The pair didn’t fold to the pressure, placing second at the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship tournament on Lake Chatuge Aug. 1-3. Brad…
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…
Lake Chatuge Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 16-lbs., 11-ozs. | David Presely | 03/27/1976 |
| Smallmouth | 7-lbs., 2-ozs. | Jack Hall | 03/28/1973 |
| Spotted Bass | 6-lbs., 13.8-ozs. | James Dean | 10/11/03 |
| Hybrid Bass | 25-lbs., 8-ozs. | David C. Hobby | 05/01/1995 |
| Walleye | 9-lbs., 4-ozs. | Carol Owenby | 04/07/1991 |
| Black Crappie | 2-lbs., 3-ozs. | Dillon Phillips | 03/31/24 |
| Rainbow Trout | 2-lbs., 8.5-ozs. | Walker Ross | 06/23/2012 |
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 2.24-ozs. | Mark McClure | 04/19/2021 |
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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
Level: 0.4 feet above 840. Temp: 83. Clarity: Relatively clear. Spotted Bass: Bill Payne, with Bill Payne Guide Service, said the hotter days have helped the water temps rise fairly rapidly over the last week. “The air temps at night have not gotten very low, and this is causing the water temp to stay up,” says Bill. During Bill’s guiding, he has been seeing a fair amount of baitfish. They are mainly in the upper part of the water column. “We’re seeing plenty of baitfish during the evening hours up until dark,” said Bill. The fish still haven’t made it deep yet, according to Bill. They are in the 5- to 15-foot range. “The topwater bite has been best for me during the middle of the day, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. You can catch some in the evenings, but not as many as that midday bite,” said Bill.…
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Authorities have found and recovered 17-year-old Jackson Croft, of Woodstock, from 22 feet of water after a search that lasted about 24 hours. According to the DNR’s Public Affairs Officer Mark McKinnon, they located his body on sonar around 3:38 p.m. and sent a remotely operated vessel to confirm their discovery. Jackson was recovered just…
Jonathan Ray considers Lake Lanier his home lake, but the Ball Ground resident likes to venture to Lake Allatoona several times each year. He plans to go to the Stamp Creek section of the lake a lot more in the future. All Jonathan did was what all bass fishermen dream of but what few accomplish.…
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…
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…
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…
Allatoona Lake Records
| Largemouth Bass | 16-lbs., 9-ozs. | Greg Rymer | 08/31/82 | ||
| Spotted Bass | 7-lbs., 11-ozs. | George Clark | 11/18/74 | ||
| Hybrid Bass | 13-lbs., 9.5-ozs. | Danny Alsobrook | 02/07/90 | ||
| Striped Bass | 42-lbs. | Clint Hight | 02/15/02 | ||
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 7.36-ozs. | Corey Harmon | 03/05/22 | ||
| White Bass | 3-lbs., 2-ozs. | Darrell Baxter | 05/15/94 | ||
| Flathead Catfish | 35-lbs., 10.88-ozs. | Sandy Sanders | 06/20/08 | ||
| Blue Catfish | 52-lbs., 1-oz. | Aaron Churchwell | 10/27/20 | ||
| Tiger Trout | 2-lbs., 12.8-ozs. | Bob Geresti | 02/01/18 | ||
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 1.44-ozs. | David Brewer | 12/02/23 | ||
| White Crappie | 3-lbs., 4.24-ozs. | Cody Hopkins | 02/10/22 | ||
| Longnose Gar | 27-lbs., 4-ozs. | Caleb McClure | 06/24/23 | ||
| Shellcracker | 2-lbs., 5-ozs. | Dan Huizinga | 04/20/24 | ||
| Redbreast | 10-ozs. | Dan Huizinga | 08/03/24 |