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Lake Blackshear Fishing Report

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

The Flint River wearing a lake costume: Blackshear’s cypress and current grow south Georgia bass, crappie and hybrid stripes.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
948 cfs
Air / High
76 / 76 F
Wind
ENE 11 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 02349605, 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.

Lake Blackshear offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. The main inflow is running 948 cfs, falling. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 11 mph, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 76. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:11 AM-12:11 PM and 10:39 PM-12:39 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar at 74 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

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 →

Chasing largemouth bass 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 from FLINT RIVER AT GA 26, NEAR MONTEZUMA, GA (inflow).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 02349605.

1,0561,5151,973948 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp76 F
High / Low76 / 43 F
WindENE 11-16 mph
Pressure1020.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:45 / 18:54
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 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 Lake Blackshear this week

The best day on Lake Blackshear this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 — good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:11 AM-12:11 PM and 10:39 PM-12:39 AM
Minor period
4:33 AM-5:33 AM
Sun
07:45 to 18:54
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 12 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Lake Blackshear 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
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 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 Lake Blackshear today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 75 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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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 license. Standard state limits for bass and crappie: check GADNR for current rules and any tailrace-specific notices.

Access

Georgia Veterans State Park ramps, Cannonville Landing, Collins Landing and US 280 causeway accesses.

About this water

An 8,515-acre power-generation reservoir on the Flint River between Crisp and Sumter counties, Georgia, dammed in 1930.

Fishing Lake Blackshear: the full guide

A river that pauses

Blackshear stretches the Flint River into 8,500 acres of cypress-lined south Georgia water between Cordele and Americus: shallow, fertile, tannin-tinged and always moving a little, because the Crisp County dam that made it in 1930 still generates power. The current keeps oxygen up and fish honest: largemouth in the cypress and grass, crappie in numbers that fill wintertime docks, hybrids and white bass where the river runs, and catfish everywhere.

Bass among the knees

The bass program is a cypress-tree education: pitch jigs and Texas-rigged creatures to the trunks and knee clusters on the river-side edges, work frogs over the pad fields in the coves, and follow the shad to the creek mouths (Swift, Gum, Collins) in fall. Current breaks matter like on any river: the upstream sides of islands and bars hold feeders when generation moves water. Winter fish pull to the channel ledges: a slow crankbait along 10-14 feet finds them.

Crappie and the river runners

Blackshear crappie made the lake’s name: winter and early spring, long-line jigs or spider-rig minnows over the channel edges and planted brush in 8-15 feet, then work the cypress shade all summer. Hybrids and white bass stack below the US 280 bridge current seams and chase shad schools on the main lake at dawn: keep a spoon rigged. The dam tailrace (fish from Crisp County’s designated areas) turns on when turbines run.

Cordele-country logistics

Georgia Veterans State Park anchors the west shore: ramps, campground, lodge and the safest big-water access. Other launches dot US 280 and the east side (Cannonville, Collins Landing). Summer weekends bring heavy pleasure traffic mid-lake: fish the river arms early or the cypress lines the wake boats avoid. Watch for standing timber off the marked channels: the lake keeps its river bones.

Common questions

What is Blackshear’s best season?

February through April: crappie stacking, bass moving to the cypress to spawn, and hybrids running the river. October is the quiet second peak.

Does the current really matter on a lake?

Yes: generation schedules move bait and position fish on current seams. When water moves, fish the river-side structure first.

Is it family-friendly?

Georgia Veterans State Park makes it one of south Georgia’s easiest fishing weekends: ramp, campground, golf and calm morning water in one gate.

Is fishing good at Lake Blackshear 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

Lake Tobesofkee61 miFlint River62 miLake Harding85 miLake Sinclair94 miLake Seminole95 miWest Point Lake100 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 02349605 — FLINT RIVER AT GA 26, NEAR MONTEZUMA, GA (inflow)
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 31.9503, -83.9380 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.