Georgia Reservoir Fishing Information

Map link is located towards the bottom of this page

Program Overview

Underwater woody debris such as logs, brush, and stumps are all natural fish attractors.  Fish use these areas for protection, as places to ambush prey, and sometimes as spawning areas.  As a reservoir ages much of this woody debris is lost through the natural process of decay or sedimentation.  As a result, fish habitat is lost over time.  This loss of habitat can cause a reduction in the total number of fish a lake can support.  In addition, fish become increasingly spread out over the lake as they seek other, and sometimes less discernable structure on which to reside.  This can make fishing difficult and requires anglers to cover larger areas of water in their efforts to entice a bite.

To counteract these natural processes man-made fish habitat is often created to replace that which is lost naturally over time.  Such habitat improvements often come in the form of fish attractors.  Fish attractors can be of various shapes and sizes, and made from a number of materials, but all serve the same purpose of providing underwater habitat for fish.

PVC cube fish attractors

The Lake Blue Ridge Fish Attractor Program was initiated in 2006 as a joint project between the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Fannin County High School, and local anglers.  Through this cooperative partnership fish attractors are being placed at various locations within Lake Blue Ridge.  The fish attractors are constructed from PVC pipe.  The advantage of using non-biodegradable materials such as PVC is that the fish attractors last much longer than those composed of wood.  They are also more lure friendly compared to brush piles that can easily be snagged.

Deployment around fish attractor buoy

The fish attractors have been marked with a white and orange buoy.  Anglers can expect smallmouth and largemouth bass, white bass, walleye, sunfish, and catfish to potentially hold in and around the attractors at various times of the year.

 Do fish attractors work? Do fish use them? What types and sizes of fish will congregate there?

WRD Fisheries staff have been able to shoot underwater video footage of fish using these attractors. Two short video clips are available at the links below. Windows Media Player (or other compatible viewer) is required to view the clip. The files are in .ASF (Advanced Streaming Format). The first file is  960 KB in size and contains an approximately 17-second video clip. The second clip is 2.89 MB in size and is approximately 50 seconds in length. When you click on one of the links below a video will begin in a pop-up window using Windows Media Player. Pop-ups should be enabled in your browser to view the video.

Underwater video #1 of fish using a Blue Ridge fish attractor (17 seconds/960kb) [1]

Underwater video #2 of fish using a Blue Ridge fish attractor (50 seconds/2.89 MB) [2]

The online fish attractor location map will be updated to reflect the creation of any new fish attractor locations in the future.  For more information about this program contact the GADNR Calhoun Fisheries Office (706-624-1161).

Lake Blue Ridge Fish Attractor Map

A map has been produced that shows fish attractors in this reservoir. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader [3] to view and print this map. The link below is for the full-color map.  

    Lake Blue Ridge Fish Attract Map [4]