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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: 5.5 feet below 635. Temp: Mid 60s. Clarity: Mostly clear. Bass: Guide Keith Hudson reports, “Good. If you want to catch some fish, April is usually the most consistent month of the year for all types of fishing. The weather is usually beautiful, and it is just a great time frame to be on the water. Largemouth bass can be caught on several different patterns this month, and all of them involve staying shallow for the most part. Topwater baits, such as Pop-Rs, Zara Spooks and buzzbaits can be extremely effective for shallow and aggressive prespawn and spawning fish. Try the backs of pockets in most of the major creeks. I normally prefer the pockets with little feeder creeks in the backs. The second pattern that works really well is to look for spawning shad. Try fishing rip-rap around bridges with spinnerbaits, small crankbaits and Zoom Super…
Read MoreWest Point Lake Articles
Glenn Goodson casts a long shadow. He is a tower of a man who teaches at Callaway Middle School. In addition to his duties as a math teacher, he is a coach for the school’s baseball and football teams. On the water, he is quite a professor as well. His extensive knowledge of bass and…
Donnie Hinkle was bass fishing on West Point Lake in October of 2003 when he witnessed something he’d never seen before; a school of gar began surfacing all around him. Donnie said he could hear their beaks slapping on the water’s surface and knew he had to catch one. He threw cast after cast with…
The Final 4 in the Skeeter Eliminator Series has been set. Tim Vanegmond and Butch Pitts won their Round 4 matchups earlier this month, sending home Walter Green and Jim Windham, respectively. At Lanier, Tim found a great topwater bite on the Little Hall bridge pilings. He threw a Red Fin in 80 feet of…
For catching plenty of crappie at Lake West Point, Yellowjacket Creek is all you need to know, says Jeff Key. Jeff, who travels regularly from his home in Milner to the lake, says he concentrates on one stretch of Yellowjacket no matter what the sea- son. The areas he fishes change little. From February through…
Fishing guide Bobby Wilson has often told me that crappie fishing was hot on West Point, even when most anglers aren’t targeting the species. See, crappie fishing is a popular activity in the late winter and early spring, when giant numbers of the fish are moving from deep to shallow to spawn. But when the…
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 |
| White Bass | 2-lbs., 6.08-ozs. | Shayne Goddard | 01/18/25 |
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…