You’ll Find These 14 Fish Swimming About in Lake Lanier

In 1956, the Chattahoochee River in Georgia was impounded for the purposes of flood control and water supply, primarily for the Atlanta metro area. The resulting man-made lake or reservoir, Lake Lanier, named for Sidney Lanier, a Civil War soldier and poet, features nearly 700 miles of shoreline and contains more than 38,000 surface acres, making it the largest body of water entirely within the state. (Clarks Hill Lake or Lake Strom Thurmond sits on the Georgia-South Carolina border, but it has nearly double the surface acres at 71,000.)

Since its creation, Lake Lanier has become a premier recreational area and tourist spot, welcoming about 10 million visitors annually. The shoreline is dotted with parks, campgrounds, resorts, beaches, marinas, a golf course, a water park, walking and hiking trails, and homes. That describes much of what can be seen from above, but beneath the lake’s surface is another world—one where the various species of fish traverse the lake’s underwater gardens, muddy bottoms, open water, and deep canyons (a slight exaggeration since the average depth is 60 feet; its deepest point is about 160 feet).

The fish that call this terrain home contribute to the health of this ecosystem. Let’s discover some of what lies beneath Lake Lanier.

1. Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis, more commonly known as striped bass, typically live in saltwater, but as anadromous fish, they migrate into freshwater to spawn. Easily identified by the seven or eight black horizontal stripes that run the length of its body, stripers can grow up to 5 feet and weigh as much as 80 pounds, although Lake Lanier’s population tend to weigh 5-25 pounds. They feed on insect larvae, crustaceans, and mayflies. As lake temperatures rise, they tend to swim deeper in the lake in search of cooler temperatures.

2. Spotted Bass

The spotted bass gets its name from the evenly arranged black spots in alternate rows along its body. This fish prefers Lake Lanier’s rocky banks and drop-offs. They typically weigh between 1-4 pounds, although they can weigh as much or more than 8 pounds. They spawn in spring when water temperatures are between 62-68 degrees Fahrenheit. Its scientific names are Micropterus punctulatus and Micropterus henshalli.

3. Largemouth Bass

The largemouth bass, or Micropterus salmoides, likes the moderately clear to turbid, quiet warm waters near logs, trees, brush and stumps. This can live 10-16 years and eat prey up to 35% of its body weight. They can weigh up to 20 pounds, but 1-6 pounds in typical for the largemouth bass in Lake Lanier. This type of bass is light to dark green and can grow more than 18 inches in three years.

4. Black Crappie

The black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) can be found lurking in shallow areas among bushes in Lake Lanier. You’ll recognize them by their silvery olive skin dotted with black spots irregularly spaced over its body. These fish weigh up to 5 pounds and are 7 to 12 inches long, although the ones in this reservoir typical weigh less than 2 pounds. Female crappies can lay between 5,000 and 6,000 eggs and live up to 10 years.

5. Rainbow Trout

Scientifically named Oncorhyncus mykiss, rainbow trout features a vibrant pink or red stripe down its sides, a white to silvery-colored belly, and lots of black spots on its back, dorsal, and slightly forked tail fins. They dine on insects, crustaceans, and other fish. Lake Lanier’s rainbow trout population rarely weighs more than 5 pounds, but they can grow to weigh as much as 32 pounds.

6. Walleye

Walleye, Sander vitreus, are nocturnal fish. These golden-brown fish with a white belly have large, glassy marble-like eyes and long, sharp teeth. It’s typical that they weigh between 1-2 pounds, but they can grown to weigh up to 15. Walleye can be seen swimming upstream of Lula Bridge and Lumpkin County Park between February and April. These fish swim 20 to 40 feet deep around brush piles of the lake, and they feed on other fish, leeches, crayfish, and insects.

7. White Bass

Morone chrysops or the white bass is a silvery fish with several faint horizontal stripes on its sides. It prefers cooler temperatures, and moves upstream into tributaries, especially headwaters, and onto wind-swept sand and gravel areas during its spawning season. This fish can weigh up to 5, although Lake Lanier’s white bass tend to weigh ½-2 pounds typically. The Georgia state record for white bass was caught in Lake Lanier on June 16, 1971, by J. M. Hobbins. It weighed 5 pounds, 1 ounce.

8. Channel Catfish

Ictalurus punctatus, or the channel catfish, lives in the streams, rivers, eddies, and shallower waters found around the state of Georgia. Their bodies are olive and brown to dark blue in color, their tails feature a deep fork, and they typically weigh 5-10 pounds. This fish is most active in the evening or early night. They respond to smell bait such as hotdogs and liver.

9. Bluegill

As the smallest species of sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus or the bluegill is a deep-bodied, slab-sided fish with a small mouth with a black spot on its soft dorsal fin and a flexible black ear flap. They can weigh up to 4 pounds, but it is typical for them to weigh 1 pound or less. They congregate around vegetation and sunken trees of shallow backwater bays, lakes and ponds.

10. Longnose Gar

The longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus, got its name because of its long, thin snout filled with needle-like teeth to capture its prey, often shrimp, crayfish, and insects, although this fish is considered an opportunistic eater. This fish typically weighs up to 25 pounds, but the record in Lake Lanier is for a 30-pound, 13-ounce longnose gar caught on September 4, 2013. They like weedy areas in either deep or shallow waters.

11. Yellow Perch

The yellow perch is, as its name suggests, yellow. It also has 6-8 dark vertical bands from its back to belly and bright orange fins. Perca flavescens typically weighs less than a 1 pound, although they can grow to weigh as much as 5 pounds. These fish prefer cooler water temperatures and environments, where they feed on small fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, and snails.

12. Flathead Catfish

Pylodictis olivaris, the flathead catfish features a flattened head and a yellowish body mottled with brown and green. This fish can exceed 100 pounds, but typically it weights less than 30. The Lake Lanier record, however, belongs to a 51-pound, 10-ounce flathead catfish caught by Rodney Stephens in 2016. They live in deep murky pools with some current and rocky, rubble-bottom areas with holes, where they prey on live fish.

13. Carp

The common carp, Cyprinus carpio, is found in a wide variety of habitats, but it prefers warm standing or slow-moving water. This bottom-feeder uses its sucker-like mouth to dine on crayfish, insects, worms, small crustaceans, and corn. They are slate to gold in color and there is a dark spot at the base of each scale. Typically, this oily freshwater fish weighs 5-25 pounds but can weigh as much as 58 pounds.

14. Blue Catfish

While Lake Lanier has several species of catfish lurking beneath the surface, there is a new one that fairly recently joined their ranks. This non-native catfish was discovered in the lake in 2019 by the state’s Department of Natural Resources. No one is quite sure how it arrived, either. The blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is silvery blue in color, has a humped back and small eyes, and features a forked tail. Lake Lanier’s blue catfish weigh 1-20 pounds, although anglers only expect their size to grow given how new the species is in the lake. This fish can grow to weigh more than 100 pounds. In August 2024, Tyler Kesselring caught and released his nearly 20-pound prize. It tipped the scales at 19 pounds, 5.5 ounces, beating the previous record, which was set the previous year and weighed about 15 pounds.

An Aquatic Nuisance of Note

A species of freshwater snail has invaded Georgia’s waterways. The Chinese (Cipangopaludina chinensis) mystery snail is listed, by Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, as an aquatic nuisance species (ANS). These snails are wreaking havoc on native snail species and pose a threat to human health because they can carry intestinal parasites, including rat lungworm and two human-intestinal trematodes, flattened oval or worm-like parasites. Although these snails are consumed by people, escargot they are not! The dark brown shells have several whorls and can reach sizes approaching two inches long.

If you find this snail in Lake Lanier, report it. You can do so either by obtaining a specimen, preferably alive in a secure container, and contacting the regional office of the Wildlife Resources Division or by reporting it online. Take lots of photos.

Summary of Fish Found in Lake Lanier