South end

Fishing the dam end of Lake Lanier

Buford Dam up through Flowery Branch and Bald Ridge. The deepest, clearest water on the lake.

Right now

What’s happening here

With the lake eight feet down and the dam generating, there is real current moving through the lower lake, and bait stacks where that current meets structure. Shad have pushed back into Shoal Creek, Big Creek and Flowery Branch and stripers have followed them in. Work the creek mouths early, watch for birds, and move when the birds move. Spotted bass are holding on the long main-lake points and brush between 20 and 40 feet.

Updated each morning. Conditions across the whole lake are on the fishing page, and the live level is on lake alerts.

The water

Where this arm runs

From Buford Dam north to roughly Browns Bridge, taking in Shoal Creek, Big Creek, Flat Creek, Flowery Branch and Bald Ridge Creek. This is the deep end — the old Chattahoochee channel runs more than a hundred feet down near the dam, and the water clears up fast as you come south.

Through the year

How this water fishes, season by season

  • Spring

    Spots get aggressive on rock and dock structure first down here — the south end warms before the rest of the lake, so this is where the season starts.

  • Summer

    Stripers suspend in open water near the thermocline, roughly 30 to 40 feet, and the bite is over by about nine in the morning.

  • Autumn

    Shad move shallow, stripers and spots school on main-lake points and in the pockets, and there is genuine topwater action. The best season here for anyone new to the lake.

  • Winter

    Fish go deep and hold near the channel and the basins. Vertical jigging and deep downlines. The dam end stays fishable when the arms are muddy.

Getting on the water

Ramps in this part of the lake

  • Buford Dam Park · Buford
  • Van Pugh South Park · Flowery Branch
  • Van Pugh North Park · Flowery Branch
  • Old Federal Day Use Park · Flowery Branch
  • Burton Mill Park · Flowery Branch
  • Bald Ridge Creek Park · Cumming

This is the one part of the lake where low water helps you. Deep, steep banks mean the ramps here are the last to become unusable — when the north arms are stranding trailers, the dam end is still launching.

All 31 ramps on the lake

Guides

People who fish this lake for a living

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The rest of the lake