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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

Hiring Freeze Lifted For Corps Park Rangers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District has received 16 hiring freeze exemptions to bring on additional Park Rangers to support public recreation sites across the region. The exemptions include six positions at Lake Lanier, two at Walter F. George (Lake Eufaula), two at the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rive Lakes, and six…

Greenbrier High Wins Georgia Bass Fishing State Championship

State championships in Georgia high school sports bring pride and prestige to local communities and towns. The 2025 Georgia bass fishing state championship crown will reside in the city of Evans in Columbia County, as a team from Greenbrier High School took the win. The 2025 GHSA Bass Fishing State Championship, presented by Alfa Insurance,…

Lake Lanier Carp Record Broken By Young Lady Angler

Taylor Cronan, 10, of Pendergrass, is the new Lake Lanier record holder for the common carp. She caught a 22-lb., 0.2-oz. fish on April 26 and had it weighed on certified scales and verified by a WRD biologist. She was fishing from the bank in the Gainesville area with her dad, mom, sister and a…

Lumpkin High Junior Wins Lake Lanier BFL Bass Tourney

Cooper McDonald, a 17-year-old junior at Lumpkin County High School, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21-lbs., 14-ozs. Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine at Lake Lanier. The March 1 tournament was the first event of the season for the 2025 BFL Bulldog Division. Cooper earned $3,963 for…

Lanier Blue Catfish Sets The Record Bar A Little Higher

For Buford’s Tyler Kesselring, it was a fishing tournament outcome that he wasn’t necessarily expecting. Fishing in the Lake Lanier Catfish Challenge, he went to the scales at 2 a.m. with a winning weight of 40 pounds. In his catch was a new Lake Lanier record blue catfish that tipped the scales at 19-lbs., 5.5-ozs.…

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

Lanier Spawning Spots

Big Lanier spotted bass are up shallow for the spawn in April, and now is the best time of the year to catch them shallow around rocks, docks and wood. Some bass will be postspawn in April, but many will still be moving in during prespawn and bedding in April. Lake Lanier is a 38,000-acre…

Lake Lanier Spotted Bass Awesome Autumn Numbers

Lake Lanier is one of the premier lakes in the country for catching numbers of quality spotted bass, and November is one of the best months of the year to fish Lanier. Spots are starting their move to the ditches, and they can be caught on brushpiles, bluff banks and in the ditches this month.…

Lanier Bass Mapped For December

Lake Lanier is known for its magnum spots and a great winter ditch bite. It’s true that in December lots of Lanier bass are moving into the ditches, but they can also be caught on rocky points near the coves, on boat docks, and there are many fish still on main-lake brushpiles. There is a…

Lanier Bass In The Winter Ditches

Most bass anglers have heard about the good winter “ditch bite” at Lake Lanier for spotted bass.  But exactly what is a ditch bite? How do you find good ditches, and how do you catch bass on this pattern? Three local expert fishermen on Lanier—Jim Farmer, Jimmy “Lanier Jim” Harmon and Jim “Jimbo” Mathley—shared their…

Big Lanier Spots Move Shallow Early

Some of the biggest spots in Lake Lanier are already moving to staging areas on rocky points near spawning areas in early February. You can catch a personal best spot right now by fishing crankbaits on these points. Lanier has developed a well-deserved reputation for producing magnum spots over the past few years. Five-pounders are…