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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: 2.5 feet below 1925. Temp: 81-83 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Eric Welch, of Welch’s Guide Service, reports “Fishing has been good. TVA has started lowering the lake, and with the cooler nights and mornings, the water temp is starting to cool down. I have been seeing a lot of fishing breaking in the mornings, and I have been catching them on an ima Skimmer and a Berkley Cane Walker. When fishing Chatuge, always keep a topwater bait on the front deck that you can throw a long ways because you will see fish breaking throughout the day. I’m marking a lot of fish offshore on brush and ditches, and I’m targeting them on a drop shot with a 6.5-inch Roboworm and a shaky head with a 5-inch finesse worm. You can also catch fish in these areas with a jig-head minnow. If using forward-facing sonar, you can tell…
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Lake Chatuge spotted bass are moving from spring spawning areas toward their summer holes. Also in late May and throughout June, the herring are finishing up spawning. The presence of these baitfish can stimulate feeding frenzies. You can intercept the spotted bass as they move out and have great catches if you hit it right.…
A high-school senior from Ellijay drowned when he tumbled overboard while duck hunting on Lake Chatuge just across the Georgia-North Carolina border on Nov. 18. Authorities said 18-year-old Trenton Daniel Johnson, a student at Gilmer High School, was attempting to retrieve a downed duck when he toppled headfirst into the water. His hunting partner, Carson…
A black crappie that weighed 2 pounds on the dot has set a new record for Lake Chatuge. Howard Stimis, of Hiwassee, was fishing on Chatuge April 6 when the big slab bit a 2-inch Hot Grub made by Crappie County Bait & Tackle that Howard purchased at Hammond’s Fishing Center near Lake Lanier. “I…
Lake Chatuge spotted bass are feeding heavily in January, eating shad and herring. They follow the same wintertime patterns as Lanier spots, and you can catch them on ditches and rocks. There is also a good largemouth bite at Chatuge after a heavy rain stains the rivers and creeks. Chatuge is a good choice…
Fishermen can honor our veterans and those on active duty while enjoying a day fishing on Lake Chatuge for big money and prizes. The Lake Chatuge ‘Reelin’ It In For Vets’ fishing tournament will be held Nov. 2. The team event entry fee is $200 per team, which includes tournament entry, Big Fish pot and…
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
Allatoona: Level: Full at 840. Temp: 81-88 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Tournament angler Matt Driver reports, “Fishing continues to be good. September can be a bit tricky sometimes. When water temperatures begin to cool, we see algae blooms that could slow fishing for a few weeks. It mostly depends on temperature, rain and current, which Allatoona doesn’t have much of. Not much changes at the beginning of the month. It is just a continuation of August with schooling fish and a productive topwater bite. As we move later in the month, we will see the temperature slowly cool off due to the shortening of the days. The spinnerbait, jerkbait and crankbait bites will pick up. We don’t see a major pattern change until somewhere around October. September continues to be a good month for the river pattern up the Etowah. A buzzbait and a jig on wood are always productive,…
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For about 18 years, Pat Ratanajantra has fished Lake Allatoona. These days, his reputation on the lake is for being an excellent jigging-spoon fisherman for linesides — white bass, hybrids and stripers. And unlike most fishermen, a jigging spoon is Pat’s go-to bait year round. “Most people associate jigging spoons with wintertime and vertical jigging…
Mark Massey and Steven Phillips are both one win away from a guaranteed check for $1,000. Both anglers won their first-round matches in The Eliminator Series and look forward to round two, which will take place in the early fall. The Eliminator Series is GON’s head-to-head elimination bass tournament where the winner takes home $2,500…
Like many Georgians, I have been fishing as long as I can remember. Heck, my grandfather was king of the pay-lake catfishermen as far as I knew. I have been blessed with good friends and an experimental streak of my own, allowing me to discover the joys of catching everything from redbreasts to redfish with…
On a windy Wednesday evening in mid-September, we were nestled under the Kellogg Creek bridge at Lake Allatoona. We had planned to fish the following Saturday, but Hurricane Ivan was due to arrive on Thursday and the lake was likely to be unfishable by Saturday. Lyndon Kolb, Cy Grajcar, Gary Holt and I had come…
The day on Lake Allatoona was perfectly suited for duck hunting. A storm had dumped two inches of rain across much of the state for the previous day and a half, and the low, slate-gray clouds overhead continued to open intermittently during the trip. The weatherman had predicted temperatures in the 40s, but I must…
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 |