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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: 1.9 feet below 1071. Temp: 81-86 degrees. Clarity: Clear. Bass: Guide Jimbo Mathley, with Jimbo’s Lake Lanier Spotted Bass Guide Service, reports, “A traditional September on Lake Lanier offers anglers many choices of approach. This September on Lake Lanier should be no different. The lake has been around full pool most of the year, and we may go into September down 3 feet, barring a major storm hitting our area. The water temperatures have been normal to lower than normal for late summer, so the traditional late-summer patterns should be in play. Often during these kinds of conditions, you can find fish very deep, as well as very shallow, and some in between. Let’s look at the options for fishing Lanier this September and how to approach catching bass in this key transitional month in these different locations. Understand that the primary concern of both gamefish and baitfish…
Read MoreLake Lanier Articles
As another striped bass emerged from the depths of Lake Lanier after a well-fought tug-of-war, I soon realized what I’d been missing not making a trip to seek these big fish before. After only spending a half-day on the water with striper guide Shane Watson of Cumming, I knew I’d have to come back soon…
The Lanier Striper Club has joined forces with the North Georgia Striper Club in an effort to boost participation in a SEEDS striper-fishing day on Lake Lanier. In last month’s issue of GON, we reported that a striper day for a dozen kids would be possible. Now, with help from the Lanier Striper Club, it…
Fish Like To Be Spoon Fed. That’s the company slogan and belief of a pair of entrepreneurial crappie anglers who have come up with an innovative, downsized way to catch crappie. Keith and Jessica Pace of Gainesville are the crappie anglers behind the internet company Crappie Micro Spoons and Jigs, which markets tiny spoons for…
The Final 4 in the Skeeter Eliminator Series has been set. Tim Vanegmond and Butch Pitts won their Round 4 matchups earlier this month, sending home Walter Green and Jim Windham, respectively. At Lanier, Tim found a great topwater bite on the Little Hall bridge pilings. He threw a Red Fin in 80 feet of…
Larry Cross, of Buford, was feeling down right puny on the Friday I met him. Nauseous, headache, feverish, he had all the symptoms that would eventually put him in the bed for the entire weekend. “Man, I’m ready to go fishing,” was one of the first things he said when I met him at his…
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 | 19-lbs., 9.6-ozs. | Charlie White | 03/17/24 |
| 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,…