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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

Lake Lanier Bass Bite Behind Schedule, Topwater Still King

By Jake Rowe | June 19, 2025

Due to cooler water temperatures than normal, Lake Lanier is behind schedule still with regard to the typical summer bite, according to Jimbo Mathley, of Jimbo’s Spotted Bass Guide Service. In fact, he’s seeing some things in mid-June that he’s never seen before. “I’m actually seeing herring and other baitfish spawning,” Jimbo told GON. “I can’t remember when I’ve seen that at this point in June.” According to Jimbo, flexibility is key right now to catching Lake Lanier bass. With the lake still behind, rising temperatures and rainfall, folks aiming to land spotted bass and largemouth on Lanier need to be willing to move around. That means trying different depths and locations. The fish aren’t as aggressive as they normally are this time of year, but topwater is still the move. Below are the topwater baits you should lean on, per Jimbo. As a general rule of thumb, for now,…

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Lake Lanier Articles

Overboard Rod Found Half-Mile Away, 19-lb. Striper Still Attached!

With a 36-lb. striper already in the boat, all was going right for Team Skin Deep during a striper tournament at Lanier March 26, 2005. Bryan Jenkins, his wife Anita, and their 17-year-old son Brandon needed a striper to fill out the team’s two-fish limit in North Georgia Fishing’s Big Money Striper Tournament. Victory, however,…

Lake Lanier Crappie With Randy Dover

Randy Dover is in a different boat almost every time you pass him on Lake Lanier. Due to his local reputation for knowing the best docks for crappie, you might think his constant selling and buying of boats is his way of throwing other crappie anglers off his trail. Take one look at Randy and…

Lanier Bass Mapped For April

It would be hard to pick a bad lake to fish in April. This is one of the best months of the year. Though the angling choices are many this month, Lanier should be at the top of any bass fisherman’s list. Lanier has varied structure that is easy to fish in April, both largemouth and…

500 Striped Bass Tagged At Lake Lanier

A total of 500 striped bass in Lake Lanier have received an orange tag affixed by WRD Fisheries biologists. The tags are worth $5 if you return them to WRD. Beginning in mid February, WRD Fisheries Biologist Reggie Weaver and other Fisheries personnel began catching striped bass with electro-fishing gear for a year-long tagging study.…

Lanier Spotted Bass Blast Jerkbaits In February

A few warm days in February can be the finest days in the world on any Georgia reservoir. February can also bring some wicked cold fronts that seem to give all the fish lockjaw and convince you that winter will never end. These two extremes can have drastic effects on fish behavior, location, and activity…

Lake Lanier Record Fish

Largemouth Bass17-lbs., 9-ozs.Emory Dunahoo12/19/65
Spotted Bass8-lbs., 0.5-ozs.Patrick Bankston05/20/85
Striped Bass47-lbs., 12-ozs.Ward Schanhals04/03/10
Hybrid Bass12-lbs.Fred Duncan12/22/92
White Bass5-lbs., 1-oz.*J.M. Hobbins06/16/71
Shoal Bass5-lbs., 5-ozs.Peter T. Thliveros12/01/94
White Crappie3-lbs., 2-ozs.Bill Fretwell04/17/91
Black Crappie3-lbs., 5-ozs.Chris Williams10/06/06
Walleye8-lbs., 9-ozs.Buddy Wade 01/20/13
Bluegill1-lb., 2-ozs.Mrs. Pat Johnson06/03/79
Yellow Perch1-lb., 8-ozs.Jeff Howard02/02/90
Shellcracker1-lb., 9.44-ozs.Michael Madryga12/12/21
Rainbow Trout9-lbs., 6-ozs.Brooke Wheeler03/02/19
Brown Trout6-lbs.Tim Wyatt04/24/04
Flathead Catfish
51-lbs., 10-ozs.
Rodney Stephens
08/14/16
Channel Catfish22-lbs., 8-ozs.Robert Hancock09/28/11
Longnose Gar30-lbs., 13-ozs.Gerald Kennedy09/04/13
Common Carp22-lbs., 0.2-ozs.Taylor Cronan04/26/25
Blue Catfish19-lbs., 5.5-ozs.Tyler Kesselring07/27/24

For Subscribers: Lanier Map-Of-The-Month Bass Articles

Big February Spotted Bass On Lake Lanier

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…

Electronic Edge For Lake Lanier Winter Ditch-Pattern Bass

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…

Lake Lanier Spotted Bass On The Fall Feed

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…

Emmanuel College Pair Wins State College Title On Lanier

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…

Lake Lanier August Spotted Bass From Top To Bottom

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,…