Waters · Lakes · GA · Tue, Sep 15
Lake Lanier water level today 1064.99 ft, falling
Bite index 5/10 — Picky — save your energy for the evening.
Work for it.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
Today's bite windows
Sunrise 7:19 AM · sunset 7:42 PM · tomorrow's first major 4:25 AM–6:25 AM · windows on every water
Conditions right now
What this means
Lake Lanier level over the last 8 days
1064.99 ft down 0.04 ft in 24 hours
That sits 3% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 1064.98 and 1065.33 ft. Over the week it is down0.25ft.
The week ahead
| Wed | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 6 | Biting | |
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
| Sat | 6 | Biting | |
| Sun | 6 | Biting | |
| Mon | 5 | Picky | |
| Tue | 6 | Biting |
Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.
Lake Lanier depth and lake size
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers computes this from the dam's official design elevations, not from a bed survey we could draw a contour map from. Buford Dam and Lake Lanier is the project's formal name.
Measured from the top of conservation pool at 1071 ft down to the deepest surveyed point at 919 ft. Depths quoted against a flood pool or an older survey come out higher.
Depth data from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, SAM District. Bathymetry changes slowly — treat it as structure, not as today's water.
Lake Lanier boat ramps and public fishing access
Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division lists 57 public access points on Lake Lanier. These are the 8 closest to our gauge — the farthest one the agency lists sits 27 mi away.
- Sawnee Campground 1.0 miLaunch lanes: 1Ramp surface: PavedCourtesy dock: YesAccessible parking: YesFee: YesBank fishing: Yes
- Lanier Park 1.2 miLaunch lanes: 2Ramp surface: PavedCourtesy dock: YesFee: Yes
- Little Ridge Park 2.2 miRamp surface: PavedRestrooms: YesAccessible parking: YesFee: Yes
- Tidwell Park 2.3 miLaunch lanes: 3Ramp surface: PavedCourtesy dock: YesAccessible parking: YesFee: YesBank fishing: Yes
- Habersham Marina 2.6 miLaunch lanes: 2Courtesy dock: YesRestrooms: YesAccessible parking: YesFee: Yes
- Mary Alice Park 2.7 miLaunch lanes: 3Ramp surface: PavedCourtesy dock: YesFee: YesBank fishing: Yes
- Harbor Landing Marina 2.9 miCourtesy dock: YesRestrooms: Yes
- Lanier Harbor 3.0 miRamp surface: Paved
Access data from Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division. Distances are straight-line from our gauge, not driving distance.
Before you go
A Georgia fishing license covers this water — $15 a year for residents. Georgia DNR sets the rules and is the one that counts.
What it costs, and who is exempt →Nearby waters today
- 5 Picky Lake Allatoona GA · 60 km
- 5 Picky Carters Lake GA · 74 km
- 4 Picky Chatuge Lake NC · 99 km
- 5 Picky Lake Ray Roberts TX · 1202 km
- 4 Picky Lake Mohave AZ · 2780 km
Questions people ask about Lake Lanier
Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Lake Lanier.
- Is it worth fishing Lake Lanier today?
- 5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 3:37 AM–5:37 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Lake Lanier?
- Today's major windows run 3:37 AM–5:37 AM and 4:01 PM–6:01 PM, with minor windows at 11:25 AM–12:25 PM and 9:31 PM–10:31 PM. Sunrise is 7:19 AM and sunset 7:42 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Lake Lanier?
- No gauge on Lake Lanier measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 77°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KCNI (Canton, Cherokee County Airport). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
- What is the water level at Lake Lanier right now?
- 1064.99 ft, read at 8:15 AM from USGS station 02334400. Over 24 hours it is down 0.04 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Lake Lanier?
- Falling. The lake is down 0.04 ft in 24 hours and down 0.25 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 1064.98 and 1065.33 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
- Is Lake Lanier full right now?
- At 1064.99 ft the lake is 6.01 ft below its top of conservation pool of 1071 ft, as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, SAM District defines it. That is a comparison of two elevations, not a percentage of capacity — a reservoir at half its depth holds far less than half its water, so the two are not the same thing.
- Can you eat the fish you catch in Lake Lanier?
- That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where Georgia keeps this with its environmental agency rather than the health department, and publishes it per water and species. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.
- Do you need a licence to fish Lake Lanier?
- Yes. A Georgia fishing license covers this water, required from age 16. Georgia DNR sets the rules and is the one that counts.
- What size fish can you keep in Georgia?
- It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: largemouth bass, spotted bass, shoal bass, striped bass, white bass and hybrid. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.
Largemouth bass limits · Spotted bass limits · Shoal bass limits · Striped bass, white bass and hybrid limits · Check a length against the rules
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 8:58 AM
- NOAA KCNI Canton, Cherokee County Airport 8:15 AM
- NOAA FFC gridded forecast 2:26 AM
- USGS 02334400 LAKE SIDNEY LANIER NEAR BUFORD, GA 8:15 AM
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.