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Lake Chatuge Fishing Report

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

Lake Chatuge: a 7,050-acre TVA reservoir across the Georgia–North Carolina line, where Georgia WRD stocks hybrid striped bass and walleye on a blueback herring forage base.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
68 / 68 F
Wind
SE 4 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.

Lake Chatuge offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 68. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:10 AM-12:10 PM and 10:38 PM-12:38 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.

WalleyeGood

Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

CrappieFair

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

Tomorrow: Similar at 68 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.

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.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp68 F
High / Low68 / 42 F
WindSE 4-4 mph
Pressure1022.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:47 / 18:50
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 Chatuge this week

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

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:10 AM-12:10 PM and 10:38 PM-12:38 AM
Minor period
4:32 AM-5:32 AM
Sun
07:47 to 18:50
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Chatuge: 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.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

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.

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. Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

When to come: the Lake Chatuge 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
Hybrid striped bass
Crappie
Walleye
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 Chatuge 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 71 F, wind to 7 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 72 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

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 73 F, wind to 7 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 or North Carolina license on the water, from a boat not anchored or tied to shore, piers or docks (agreement published in the Georgia regulations, updated 2026-08-27). Senior and youth exemptions of either state are honored on the lake. Shore anglers and all other rules follow the state whose water you are in: see the Georgia and NCWRC regulations for bass, hybrid and walleye limits.

Access

Towns County Park and the Highway 76 corridor (Georgia); shoreline day use at the former USFS Lake Chatuge Campground on FS Road 704. WRD publishes fish-attractor GPS data for the lake.

About this water

A 7,050-acre TVA reservoir on the Hiwassee River, Towns County, Georgia, and Clay County, North Carolina.

Fishing Lake Chatuge: the full guide

Two states, one lake

Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division describes Lake Chatuge as a 7,050-acre Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir on the North Carolina border. A Georgia–North Carolina agreement lets holders of either state's fishing license fish the lake with hook and line from a boat, as long as the boat is not anchored to the shore or to a pier or dock connected to the shore. Off the boat, and for everything else, each state's own laws apply to its part of the lake.

Hybrids

WRD maintains the hybrid striped bass fishery by annual stocking and notes that Chatuge produced a world-record hybrid of 25 lb 8 oz in 1995, a record since broken. In its forecast, a strong 2022 year class of 20- to 24-inch hybrids dominated the population. Hybrids feed mainly on blueback herring: on rocky shorelines in spring, in deep water near the dam in summer, and back at the surface over open water near the dam and the river channel once the surface drops below 75°F in October.

Bass, walleye and crappie

WRD's spring sampling puts Alabama bass, which are not native, at roughly half of the lake's predatory sunfish, and the agency encourages anglers to keep their limit. Largemouth abundance has been rising and is above average. North Carolina re-established walleye, and Georgia WRD has taken over the stocking; most fish run 15 to 21 inches, and they make spawning runs up the Hiwassee River in late winter when the water reaches 50°F. For crappie, WRD points to the headwaters from Towns County Park to the Highway 76 bridge, including Bell Creek.

Shore access

WRD notes about a mile of shoreline fishing at the Forest Service's former Lake Chatuge Campground, closed to camping but open for day use, on FS Road 704 off Sunnyside Road (GA 288), west of Hiawassee past the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds.

Common questions

Which license works on Lake Chatuge?

A valid Georgia or North Carolina fishing license covers hook-and-line fishing anywhere on the lake from a boat that is not anchored or tied to the shore, a pier or a dock. From the bank, you need the license of the state you are standing in.

When do Chatuge hybrids school?

WRD describes surface feeding on herring in spring near rocky shorelines and again from October, when the surface cools below 75°F, over open water near the dam and the main river channel. In late summer hybrids can sit 60 to 80 feet deep near the dam.

Are there walleye?

Yes. North Carolina re-established them and Georgia WRD now stocks them; WRD reports most fish between 15 and 21 inches, with spawning runs up the Hiwassee River in late winter.

Is fishing good at Lake Chatuge 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

Chatuge Lake3 miLake Burton14 miLake Nottely15 miNantahala River21 miChattooga River26 miBlue Ridge Lake30 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 34.9430, -83.7620 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 6, 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 6, 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.