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Badin Lake Fishing Report

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

Badin Lake: a 5,350-acre Yadkin River reservoir beside the Uwharrie National Forest, surveyed by NCWRC for crappie, largemouth and striped bass.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
69 / 69 F
Wind
NE 9 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.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Badin Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 9 mph, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 69. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

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 67 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

North Carolina requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $32.00 for residents. What a North Carolina licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with NCWRC before you keep anything. The season dates for North Carolina, read off the agency, are on the North Carolina 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 temp69 F
High / Low69 / 39 F
WindNE 9-14 mph
Pressure1023.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain4% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:33 / 18:35
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 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Badin Lake this week

The best day on Badin Lake this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM
Minor period
4:17 AM-5:17 AM
Sun
07:33 to 18:35
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 9 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Badin Lake: 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.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

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.

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.

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 Badin 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
Largemouth bass
Striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
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 Badin Lake 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 73 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 72 F, wind to 7 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 75 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

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

Regulations

North Carolina license. Badin's special crappie limits were removed in 2020 (NCWRC fact sheet, August 2022); statewide limits apply, see the NCWRC Regulations Digest.

Access

Cove Boat Ramp (Uwharrie National Forest, open all year); Kings Mountain Point day-use area with four accessible piers, 7 am–9 pm (pier closure notice posted).

About this water

A 5,350-acre reservoir on the Yadkin River, built in 1917 by ALCOA, in Stanly and Montgomery counties, North Carolina.

Fishing Badin Lake: the full guide

A 1917 hydropower lake

The Forest Service describes Badin Lake as a 5,350-acre impoundment of the Yadkin River built in 1917 by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) to power the aluminum plant at Badin; its eastern shore borders the Uwharrie National Forest. NCWRC places it between Tuckertown and Falls reservoirs on the Yadkin-Pee Dee chain, in Stanly and Montgomery counties.

Species NCWRC surveys

NCWRC lists largemouth bass, striped bass, white bass, white perch, black crappie, bluegill, flathead catfish and blue catfish as species of interest. Its November 2021 trap-net survey caught black crappie at nearly double the lake's usual rate, with fast growth (about 9 inches by age 1), 35% of fish over 10 inches and the largest at 1.5 pounds.

Crappie rules and spotted-looking bass

NCWRC removed Badin's crappie size and creel restrictions in 2020 to encourage harvest of 6- to 8-inch fish. NCWRC also says that spotted bass are native only to the mountain drainages of southwestern North Carolina and were introduced to the Cape Fear basin, W. Kerr Scott Reservoir and the Yadkin above High Rock Lake; anywhere else, a fish that looks like a spotted bass is an Alabama bass, an invasive species.

Forest Service access

Cove Boat Ramp is open all year for motorized and non-motorized craft. Kings Mountain Point, a day-use peninsula, has four accessible fishing piers and is open 7 am to 9 pm year-round; the Forest Service has posted a fishing pier closure notice there (page archived August 2025), so check before going.

Common questions

Spotted bass or Alabama bass at Badin?

Badin lies below High Rock Lake, outside the areas where NCWRC says true spotted bass occur, so spotted-looking bass there would be Alabama bass, which NCWRC treats as invasive.

How is the crappie fishing?

NCWRC's 2021 survey found crappie abundance near double the lake's average, fast growth and 35% of fish over 10 inches.

Where can I launch on Badin Lake?

The Forest Service's Cove Boat Ramp is open all year; Kings Mountain Point has piers for bank anglers.

Is fishing good at Badin Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Lake Norman47 miLake Wylie56 miJordan Lake64 miLake Hickory77 miLake Wateree80 miPhilpott Lake94 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 35.4170, -80.1123 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.