Photo: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Lake Blackshear is a shallow, 8,500-acre lake on the Flint River near Cordele, run by Crisp County Power. Cypress-lined creeks, docks and grass beds make it a classic south Georgia lake, and it is the only reservoir in southwest Georgia where you can expect both black and white crappie, along with good bass, hybrids, white bass and bream.
- Size8,500 acres
- OperatorCrisp County Power Commission
- Best betsLargemouth, crappie, bream, hybrids, white bass, channel cats
- DNR contactAlbany office, 229-430-4256
Getting on the Water
Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park on the lake has ramps, a beach, campground and the Lake Blackshear Resort, and county and private ramps and marinas are spread around the shore. The tailrace below the dam fishes well for bass, hybrids, white bass and stripers when Crisp County Power is generating.
Hydrilla has recently shown up in Blackshear. Clean all plant fragments off your boat and trailer, check your live well, and never dump leftover bait into the lake.
2026 Fishing Outlook
Summarized from Georgia DNR fisheries biologists’ 2026 forecast for Lake Blackshear, based on their sampling.
| Species | Outlook | Where and how |
|---|---|---|
| Largemouth bass | Average 12 to 15 inches with fair numbers of 16 to 20; best March to June. Fish over 8 pounds turn up in the tailrace. | Cypress-filled shallows in Limestone Creek, Gum Creek, Collins Branch, upper Swift Creek and Spring Creek in spring; grass beds and docks; 10- to 20-foot flats by the river channel in cool months; the tailrace in summer. Topwater and spinnerbaits early, then Texas, Carolina and trick worms and crankbaits. |
| Crappie | Both black and white crappie, usually 9 to 12 inches. | Shallow backwaters, docks and cypress in March and April (mouth of Collins Branch, Spring Creek, Gum Creek, Boy Scout Slough, Cedar Creek); the Swift Creek bridges and above the state park; the creek channel above the U.S. 280 bridge in winter; minnows 12 to 25 feet deep on flats and bridge pilings in cool months; shoot jigs under docks over 8 to 20 feet in summer. |
| Hybrid bass | Stocked yearly; good numbers of 1- to 3-pound fish, a few 5 to 6. Best late September through April. | Open water near shad, mostly below the U.S. 280 bridge: sunken islands near the dam, Swift Creek, and between Cedar Creek and Collins Branch. Watch for diving gulls. Live threadfin shad, topwater, crankbaits and trolled white jigs; the tailrace in spring and summer. |
| White bass | Average 8 to 10 inches, with good numbers of 1- to 2-pounders in fall surveys. Easy to catch and good eating. | Boy Scout Slough, Gum Creek and Swift Creek, and schools lake-wide from late March to early November; the tailrace from March to June. Small cranks, topwater, spoons, jigs, spinners and live shad. |
| Striped bass | Few fish, about 15 inches on average, because there is little cool-water habitat. Release the big ones. | The tailrace in April and May; Smoak Bridge, Gum Creek and Boy Scout Slough; Swift Creek east of Ga. 300 and the lower lake from late November to early March. Live threadfin, topwater or trolled jigs. |
| Catfish | Channels average 1 to 2 pounds, flatheads 5 to 10; blues to 11 pounds in fall surveys. | Channels on flats and ledges next to channels; flatheads where river and creek channels meet, at night. Worms or blood-and-cheese baits for channels; live bream, shad or suckers for flatheads. |
| Bream | Bluegill average 6 to 8 inches, shellcrackers 7 to 9. Shellcracker beds in early May; bluegill in full swing by June through mid-September. | Shaded, sandy-bottomed spawning beds in spring and early summer; weed edges, pockets and sandy flats in summer. Red wigglers for redear, crickets for bluegill. |
Lake Blackshear
Lake BlackshearContact: Crisp County Power Commission (lake information). Georgia DNR fisheries, Albany, 229-430-4256.
More nearby: Georgia Veterans State Park, Lake Chehaw, Walter F. George Lake and all Georgia lakes.
Not the Lake You Meant?
Lake Blackshear is near Cordele. The town of Blackshear is about 130 miles east in southeast Georgia.
Sources we checked
Facts in this guide were checked against the agencies and operators that run these places:
Spot something out of date? Email Contact@n-georgia.com and we’ll check it against the official source. Read how we research our guides.