Photo: Thomson200, public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons
Lake Blue Ridge is a clear, 3,290-acre Tennessee Valley Authority lake on the Toccoa River just outside the town of Blue Ridge. It stretches about 11 miles through the Chattahoochee National Forest, and most of its 65 miles of shoreline is undeveloped. Besides boating and swimming, it offers some of north Georgia’s most varied fishing, from walleye and bass to rainbow trout that DNR now stocks right into the lake.
- Size3,290 acres; about 11 miles long
- OperatorTennessee Valley Authority
- Best betsWalleye, largemouth and Alabama bass, rainbow trout, bream
- CampingMorganton Point (U.S. Forest Service)
Boating, Camping and Ramps
Blue Ridge Dam, finished in 1930 and bought by TVA in 1939, holds back the lake; below it the Toccoa River is a popular trout stream and float. The lake level drops in winter for flood storage.
Morganton Point Recreation Area is the only developed campground on the lake, with tent and RV sites, a swim beach, showers, trails and a boat ramp. It is open year-round; reservations are required through Recreation.gov, and day use and launching each cost $5 (campground 706-374-1645). Other ramps include Lakewood Landing on Old U.S. 76 (sunrise to sunset; no swimming at the dock or ramp), the Lake Blue Ridge Recreation Area off Aska Road, the Blue Ridge Dam area and the privately run Lake Blue Ridge Marina.
2026 Fishing Outlook
Summarized from Georgia DNR fisheries biologists’ 2026 forecast for Lake Blue Ridge, based on their sampling.
| Species | Outlook | Where and how |
|---|---|---|
| Walleye | A DNR success story: stocking since 2017 has catch rates well above the historical average. Most are 2 to 4 pounds, some females 6 to 7. | Deep river ledges in the Toccoa arm in late winter, the river mouth during the spawn, 30 to 50-plus feet on main-lake points and humps in summer, 20 to 30 feet in fall. Fish slowly at dawn, dusk or night with cranks, jigs, spoons, or jigs tipped with nightcrawlers or minnows. |
| Largemouth bass | Near historic levels. Average about 1.25 pounds, 3- to 4-pounders common, and a few over 8 pounds every year. | Big woody cover in the upper Toccoa arm, backs of coves, tributary mouths and log jams in wind-blown upper-lake coves. Big ribbon-tail worms and lizards (May and June), pig-and-jig, evening topwater, crayfish or minnows. |
| Alabama bass | Illegally stocked in the 1990s and now outnumber largemouth 3 to 1. Average about a pound, with more 3- to 4-pounders as the population matures. | Rocky main-lake points early spring, pea-gravel coves in April, 20 to 40 feet in summer, points and wood in fall, 50 to 60 feet near herring on bluffs in winter. Finesse worms, topwater at dawn, Carolina rigs, football jigs, drop shots, spoons, float-and-fly. |
| Rainbow trout | New: more than 30,000 stocked in the main lake from the dam to Morganton Point over the last two years. Stocked at about 11 inches, they should reach 16 to 18 by summer. | From the bank early in the year at the Blue Ridge Dam area, the marina, Lakewood Landing and Morganton Point; May to October in the 1.5 miles above the dam where TVA’s oxygen diffuser runs. Spinners, small cranks, worms; spoons or live herring deep. |
| Smallmouth bass | Once the lake’s most common bass, now under 1% after Alabama bass took over. Stockings from 2016 to 2023 haven’t brought them back; catches are rare. | Long rocky points in the Toccoa arm in spring, deep brush and humps in summer, wind-blown points in fall, creek mouths in winter. |
| Bream | Quality over quantity: bluegill average about 6 inches with thick 7- to 8-inch “bull-gills,” and more big redbreast lately. | Downed trees in shallow coves, tributary mouths and sand flats; deeper beds at 15 to 20 feet; the Toccoa arm during the May to July spawn; the old road bed off Blue Ridge Marina. Small spinners, micro-jigs, crickets or worms. |
| Catfish, white bass and perch | Channel cats 1 to 2 pounds (more 3 to 5 lately) and a few flatheads over 20. White bass are scarce but big (15 to 18 inches) after restocking. A few jumbo yellow perch, 12 to 15 inches. | Catfish in deep holes, river ledges and rocky cracks in the Toccoa arm and along the dam. White bass on Toccoa-arm points and shoals in March. Perch on brush and channel ledges in deeper Toccoa-arm coves. |
Don’t Move Fish
Blue Ridge shows what illegal stocking does: Alabama bass wiped out the smallmouth fishery, and blueback herring crushed the white bass and stopped walleye from reproducing. Never move bass, herring or any fish from one lake to another.
Lake Blue Ridge
Lake Blue RidgeContact: Tennessee Valley Authority, 800-882-5263. Morganton Point campground, 706-374-1645. Georgia DNR fisheries, Armuchee, 706-295-6102.
More nearby: Lake Nottely, Lake Chatuge, Carters Lake and all Georgia lakes.
Sources we checked
Facts in this guide were checked against the agencies and operators that run these places:
- Georgia DNR fishing forecast: Lake Blue Ridge (2026)
- U.S. Forest Service: Morganton Point Recreation Area
- Recreation.gov: Lakewood Landing boat launch
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.