Advertisement
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: 2.5 feet below 1071. Temp: 69 degrees. Clarity: The lake is turning over in many areas but not all. The south end of the lake still looks pretty good. The lake is turning toward the backs of the major creeks and above Vanns Tavern Ramp. It is turning over some in the mid section of lower lake, like the Six Mile area, but it’s still fishable. Colder weather should really accelerate the turnover. Expect the lake to not look as good and not fish as well for the next couple of weeks. Bass: Guide Jimbo Mathley, with Jimbo’s Lake Lanier Spotted Bass Guide Service, reports, “Many anglers make the common mistake of underestimating the viability of late fall and winter fishing. While the outside elements are not always favorable, the months of November and December on Lake Lanier can offer anglers some of the best fishing of the…
Read MoreLake Lanier Articles
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.…
Van Pugh South Park on Lake Lanier has transitioned from offering overnight camping options to a reservation-only day-use park that is open on Saturdays and Sundays. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this change is designed with your convenience in mind and aims to enhance visitor experiences at the Lake Lanier recreation site.…
One of the keys to being a good fisherman is being observant. North Hall High School senior Charlie White was fishing for bass off his grandparent’s dock on Lake Lanier when he noticed a change. “My grandparents have one of those green lights in the water off their pier, and I noticed that the bass…
Brooks Anderson, of Marietta, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23-lbs., 3-ozs. on Saturday, Feb. 19 to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Lanier. The tournament was the first event of the 2024 season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Anderson earned $4,584 for his victory. Anderson began his day…
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…
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
November is a great time to go bass fishing. Fish are feeding up for winter, they are on predictable patterns and boat traffic is way down. That last one may be the most important factor at Lanier. Magnum spots are feeding heavily, and you can fish all day without getting washed off the lake by…
If you have visions of big spotted bass smashing topwater plugs, and you’d like to make those visions a reality, head to Lake Lanier this month. The Lanier spots stack up on brushpiles on points and humps, and these mean and feisty bass will rocket to the top to smash topwater lures most days. And…
How’s this for a win-win? Lanier is world famous for its spotted bass fishery, and we got Georgia’s top pro angler to mark a map with 10 February locations to catch big spots. Lanier has always been a good spot lake; then blueback herring were introduced into the reservoir. Conditions were perfect for the spots…
Want to catch some magnum spots this month? Or maybe you prefer to catch lots of keeper-size spots, still with a chance of a big one. No matter which you prefer, head to Lanier right now. You can choose from a variety of patterns that can produce a huge spotted bass or great numbers of…
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…