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Lake Lanier
Lake Lanier is a very popular reservoir in north Georgia for anglers and recreational boaters. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee and Chattahoochee rivers. The lake encompasses 38,000 acres, or 59 square miles of water, and 692 miles of shoreline at normal level, which is at full summer pool of 1,071 feet above sea level. Lake Lanier boasts some of the best striped bass and spotted bass fishing in the country.
Lake Lanier Resources
Lanier: Level: 1.2 feet above 1071. Temp: High 70s. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Jimbo Mathley, with Jimbo’s Lake Lanier Spotted Bass Guide Service, reports, “June on Lanier is a topwater bonanza! It is hard to beat the topwater bite in June on Lake Lanier. Spotted bass chasing a topwater bait in wolfpacks from brushpiles is unmatched excitement and fun. In this month’s installment, we will review the different options to take advantage of the incredible offshore topwater fishing on Lake Lanier in June. In June, most of the spotted bass have completed the spawn and have transitioned into replenish mode. Keep that in mind in terms of the timing of your pursuit of this bite. Postspawn, many fish will be relating to key features at the mouths of the major creeks, as well as main-lake areas and can be found on key structure, such as long, running points and humps.…
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Thanks to a host of volunteers, the annual SEEDS Striper Fishing Event took place on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Lake Lanier. This fourth-annual kids striper-fishing event is just one more way the Georgia Outdoor Network continues to support youth-mentoring programs that are designed to teach kids to hunt and fish. “Each year the young men…
Gainesville anglers David Nichol and Bobby Anderson won the HD Marine and Wendy’s 2010 Camp Sunshine tournament at Lake Lanier on Sept. 25-26. The fund-raising event drew 123 teams. “It was just a slow, deep grind on a Fish Head (Spin), letting it get deep,” said David. David and Bobby, who fished main-lake areas below…
Been having midsummer dreams of hard-fighting bass and wishing you could catch some? The heat is bad in August, but spotted bass on Lanier get on patterns that are predictable, and you can catch big fish with the right techniques. Plan an August trip to Lanier to get in on some surprisingly hot action. Lake…
The sound and aroma of crappie fillets sizzling in hot oil is enough to make just about anyone salivate. But, when someone mentions Lake Lanier, it often brings to mind huge striped bass and plentiful spotted bass, not crappie. However, under the countless docks on the lake, there are tons of black and white crappie…
Almost a quarter century ago, Roger Snipes caught a 46-lb. Lake Lanier striped bass that became one of the longest-standing, most sought-after lake records in Georgia. Imagine the hours of striper fishing that have been put in at Lanier since Roger’s catch. On April 3, the Lanier striper record finally fell — and to a…
Lake Lanier Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 17-lbs., 9-ozs. | Emory Dunahoo | 12/19/65 |
| Spotted Bass | 8-lbs., 0.5-ozs. | Patrick Bankston | 05/20/85 |
| Striped Bass | 47-lbs., 12-ozs. | Ward Schanhals | 04/03/10 |
| Hybrid Bass | 12-lbs. | Fred Duncan | 12/22/92 |
| White Bass | 5-lbs., 1-oz.* | J.M. Hobbins | 06/16/71 |
| Shoal Bass | 5-lbs., 5-ozs. | Peter T. Thliveros | 12/01/94 |
| White Crappie | 3-lbs., 2-ozs. | Bill Fretwell | 04/17/91 |
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 5-ozs. | Chris Williams | 10/06/06 |
| Walleye | 8-lbs., 9-ozs. | Buddy Wade | 01/20/13 |
| Bluegill | 1-lb., 2-ozs. | Mrs. Pat Johnson | 06/03/79 |
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 8-ozs. | Jeff Howard | 02/02/90 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 9.44-ozs. | Michael Madryga | 12/12/21 |
| Rainbow Trout | 9-lbs., 6-ozs. | Brooke Wheeler | 03/02/19 |
| Brown Trout | 6-lbs. | Tim Wyatt | 04/24/04 |
| Flathead Catfish | 51-lbs., 10-ozs. | Rodney Stephens | 08/14/16 |
| Channel Catfish | 22-lbs., 8-ozs. | Robert Hancock | 09/28/11 |
| Longnose Gar | 30-lbs., 13-ozs. | Gerald Kennedy | 09/04/13 |
| Common Carp | 22-lbs., 0.2-ozs. | Taylor Cronan | 04/26/25 |
| Blue Catfish | 19-lbs., 5.5-ozs. | Tyler Kesselring | 07/27/24 |
For Subscribers: Lanier Map-Of-The-Month Bass Articles
Anglers are learning to go to the ditches at Lake Lanier during the winter months for numbers of spotted bass, but you can also fish rocky points for kicker-size fish to feel the fight of a magnum Lanier spot. The ditch bite is in full swing this month, and you can catch a lot of…
Everyone has heard about the good winter ditch bite at Lake Lanier, but how do you locate those fish and catch them? James Harmon, known as “Lanier Jim,” or LJ for short, has spent years learning to read electronics and using them to catch Lanier bass, and his tips will help you. In 2012, I…
Big spotted bass are feeding from the surface down to 35 feet deep at Lake Lanier this month. You can catch October bass all month long on a variety of baits by fishing humps and points that have wood cover. Lake Lanier’s 40,000 acres on the upper Chattahoochee River northeast of Atlanta is ranked in…
Parker Guy teamed up with Tyler Campbell to represent Emmanuel College in the Georgia Bass Nation state championship that was held on Lake Lanier Oct. 8. They won with five bass weighing 17.58 pounds and had big fish with a 4.49-lb. spotted bass. Their weight beat out 17 other college teams, and the win earned them…
Editor’s Note: George Stewart “Stew” Medlin passed away on Sept. 20, 2023. In addition to being a fishing guide, Stew was the longtime bar manager at Gino’s NY Pizza Bar in Atlanta, where the bar has been renamed Stew’s Watering Hole in his honor. Stew’s Obituary Lake Lanier is famous for its big spotted bass,…