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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
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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Tired of rocking and rolling over boat wakes while probing deep brush as you hope a bass will bite at Lake Lanier? There is an alternative way to fish, one that puts you on smaller water with fewer boats, and it produces quality fish. The Chattahoochee River up near the Lula Bridge is one such…
What’s this? A bass article on Lake Lanier that focuses on largemouths? Virtually every bit of press having to do with bass fishing on Lanier over the last couple of years has focused on the growing spotted bass population in this famous body of water north of Atlanta, and with good reason. A number of…
Russ Toole holds the current Lake Lanier shellcracker record with a 1-lb., 5-oz. fish he caught on June 13, 2002.
Big spotted bass are going to hit topwater at Lake Lanier in May. It’s really just a matter of whether they want it fast or slow, on the surface or a foot or two underneath. Figure that out, and you’re on your way to a healthy sack of fish. To learn more about this dynamite…
As far as H.D. Marine bass-fishing tournaments go, a record was broken on Sunday, April 14, 2002. The team of Claude Sims and Clinton Elkins, both from Dawsonville, weighed five Lanier bass that went 27.58 pounds. That shatters the old record by nearly 5 pounds. “They had four largemouths and one spot,” said tournament director…
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,…