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West Point Lake
West Point is a great fishing lake, but it has undergone major changes in the past several decades. Once overly fertile because of Atlanta's upstream influence, environmental changes have reduced the flows of nutrients that once created pea-green waters and super largemouth bass fishing. The lake is clearer these days, and the less fertile waters are transitioning from largemouth to spotted bass. Bass fishing is still excellent, just more spotted bass are caught these days. Hybrid bass fishing is very good, especially during the famed spring run up the Chattahoochee River to Franklin. West Point is a man-made reservoir of 25,900 acres impounded by the West Point Dam, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
West Point Lake Resources
West Point: Level: 10 feet below 635. Temp: Upper 40s to low 50s. Clarity: Clear to light stain. Bass: Guide Keith Hudson reports, “Fair. The shallow bite for bass is only fair right now but could improve by late January, especially with a warm rain and an extended warming trend. Stained water, rising lake levels and water temps in the low 60s will turn things on quickly. Baits such as crawdad Shad Raps, Rat-L-Traps and ChatterBaits will produce on these shallower fish. Try to fish these baits in coves and pockets with small feeder creeks or around schools of baitfish. Keep a jig or shaky head handy to pitch around any wood cover. Fishing rip-rap can also produce good results this time of year. The rocks warm quickly and retain heat. Alternately, a snow or ice storm in January could shut the bite down completely. If the lake stays cold…
Read MoreWest Point Lake Articles
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at West Point Lake will accept real Christmas trees for recycling from Dec. 26, 2024, to Jan. 7, 2025. These donated trees will be used to create brushpiles in the lake to improve fish habitat. The trees may be dropped off in the parking lots of Yellowjacket Boat Ramp…
Divers went down at the dam at Clarks Hill to do repairs and came right back up. They said catfish as big as Volkswagens were down there and they would never go down there again. I heard that tale in the 1960s while in high school in Thomson. You can change it to pretty much any…
Shorter days and cooler water will drive West Point Lake spotted bass and largemouth to move shallow and ramp up their feeding activity. Take advantage of this fast fall fishing by hitting the right kinds of places with the right baits. Located on the Chattahoochee River at LaGrange, West Point has long been a good bass…
About 10,000 acres of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) land around West Point Lake is open to public hunting, but a $25 Corps permit is required. Hunting permits and maps for the 2024-2025 seasons are now available. These Corps hunting permits do not cover the West Point Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Hunters should carefully…
The day of striper fishing on West Point for Mike Steele, of Dallas, was pretty-danged boring until it wasn’t. It ended with him landing a 40-lb. striper that’s a new lake record. He has his buddy Mike Bartlett to thank, and Bartlett wasn’t even the net man. “My buddy and I had fished from daylight…
West Point Lake Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 14-lbs., 2-ozs. | Richard Little | 04/15/1988 |
| Spotted Bass | 6-lbs., 9-ozs. | Wendell Young | 02/07/1990 |
| White Crappie | 3-lbs., 14-ozs. | Willie Arnold | 02/15/1989 |
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 6-ozs. | Edward Cagle | 03/14/1996 |
| Hybrid Bass | 14-lbs., 12.75-ozs. | Dustin Pate | 03/13/2009 |
| Shoal Bass | 3-lbs., 7-ozs. | Danny Swafford | 08/02/1997 |
| Blue Catfish | 72-lbs. | Aivis Tumovs | 01/02/25 |
| Flathead Catfish | 48-lbs. | Mike Felter | 08/22/2020 |
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 2.4-ozs. | Toney Booker | 11/18/2017 |
| Channel Catfish | 16-lbs., 7.5-ozs. | Owen Knabe | 4/22/2018 |
| Striped Bass | 40-lbs. | Mike Steele | 3/24/2024 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 8-ozs. | Justin Tomlinson | 10/26/2024 |
| Longnose Gar | 23-lbs. | April Waldrop | 07/21/2023 |
West Point Most-Read Articles
Many of our lakes and rivers are loaded with large, trophy-sized trash fish that no one really cares about fishing for because they are supposedly not that good to eat. Carp and gar are at the top of that list, and even if their taste and table quotient is questionable, they sure are sporting. Just…
There’s a reason tournament partners Earl Kitchens, of Gray, and Wayne Ard, of Lizella, drive halfway across Georgia to fish West Point Lake. The crappie fishing can be that good. And, in late February and early March, when the first waves of egg-heavy females begin pushing into the shallows to spawn, the fishing gets that…
In July, the days are often long and hot, and the lakes can be crowded with pleasure boaters. Conditions can be tough for bass fishermen. To lower your frustration and catch some fish, head to West Point Lake. The spotted bass and largemouths there feed even on the hottest days, and summer bassin’ at West…
There’s no doubt that amongst the beautiful scenery of West Point Lake there’s a huge population of hungry, eager and hard-fighting linesides. And, as the weather continues to warm this month, the action should only get hotter, according West Point Lake angler and part-time guide Todd Pursley. Now that the crowded spring striper and hybrid…