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Blue Ridge Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Blue Ridge Lake: a TVA mountain reservoir in Fannin County with stocked walleye and, in Georgia DNR's words, the state's only remaining smallmouth fishery.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
69 / 70 F
Wind
S 3 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Blue Ridge Lake feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings clear skies, wind S around 3 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 70. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:12 AM-12:12 PM and 10:40 PM-12:40 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Largemouth bassGood

In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Tomorrow: Similar at 70 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Georgia requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $15.00 for residents. What a Georgia licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with GA DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Georgia, read off the agency, are on the Georgia seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp69 F
High / Low70 / 36 F
WindS 3-4 mph
Pressure1021.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:49 / 18:52
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Blue Ridge Lake this week

The best day on Blue Ridge Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:12 AM-12:12 PM and 10:40 PM-12:40 AM
Minor period
4:34 AM-5:34 AM
Sun
07:49 to 18:52
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 5 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Blue Ridge Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

When to come: the Blue Ridge Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Largemouth bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Blue Ridge Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 72 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 72 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Georgia requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Georgia fishing license. Statewide daily limits (eRegulations edition, updated 27 Aug 2026): walleye 8; black bass 10 in total, no more than 5 of them smallmouth or other listed species. Check Georgia's length limits in the full regulations.

Access

Check TVA lake levels and the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest for ramp status before launching.

About this water

A TVA reservoir in Fannin County, Georgia, managed by Georgia DNR for smallmouth bass and stocked walleye. No gauge on this page.

Fishing Blue Ridge Lake: the full guide

Smallmouth under threat

Georgia DNR calls Lake Blue Ridge the state's only remaining smallmouth bass fishery since Lake Chatuge, once the best, was lost to illegally stocked Alabama bass, and it warns that Alabama bass now threaten Blue Ridge as well. DNR's fishing forecast lists Alabama bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleye and bluegill as the best bets.

Walleye

Georgia restarted walleye stocking in 2002, and Blue Ridge is one of eleven lakes that now receive walleye every year, along with Chatuge in the Tennessee Valley. DNR's walleye guide rates February to April as the best season and notes that a boat is needed to reach spawning walleye on Blue Ridge. The statewide limit is 8 walleye a day.

Before you launch

Blue Ridge is a TVA reservoir, so its level follows TVA's operating schedule: check TVA's posted lake levels before towing to a ramp.

Common questions

Does Georgia really have walleye?

Yes: Georgia DNR stocks walleye every year in eleven lakes, including Blue Ridge, under a program restarted in 2002.

Why does Blue Ridge matter for smallmouth?

Georgia DNR calls it the state's only remaining smallmouth bass fishery, now threatened by illegally stocked Alabama bass.

Is fishing good at Blue Ridge Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Toccoa River2 miLake Nottely15 miHiwassee River25 miCarters Lake28 miLake Chatuge30 miChatuge Lake30 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 34.8670, -84.2830 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.