Waters · Lakes · NC · Mon, Aug 24

How's the bite at Fontana Lake today? Picky — fish it after dark.

Work for it.

Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.

5/10
Picky

Today's bite windows

12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
Minor
2:49 AM–3:49 AM
Moonset
Major
9:56 AM–11:56 AM
Moon underfoot
Minor
5:56 PM–6:56 PM
Moonrise
Major
10:20 PM–12:20 AM
Moon overhead

Sunrise 7:01 AM · sunset 8:12 PM · tomorrow's first major 10:44 AM–12:44 PM · windows on every water

Solunar · computed updated 4:37 AM

Conditions right now

Water level
1700.49ft
-0.2 ft in 24h
NOAA NWPS FONN7 updated 4:00 AM
Pressure
30.14inHg
rising · +2.03 hPa/12h
NOAA K24A updated 4:15 AM
Wind
0mph N
NOAA K24A updated 4:15 AM
Moon
88% waxing
Solunar · computed updated 4:37 AM

What this means

Largemouth bass, Crappie, Catfish
This gauge reports level but no water temperature, so depth calls stay open. Read the windows and the pressure trend instead.

Fontana Lake water level today

1700.49 ft down 0.20 ft in 24 hours

That sits 7% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 1700.39 and 1701.83 ft. Over the week it is down1.08ft.

08-16 1700.39–1701.83 ft 08-24
NOAA NWPS FONN7 updated 4:00 AM

The week ahead

Tue 6 Biting
Wed 6 Biting
Thu 6 Biting
Fri 6 Biting
Sat 6 Biting
Sun 6 Biting
Mon 6 Biting

Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.

Before you go

A NC fishing license covers this water. The state agency sets the rules and is the one that counts.

Nearby waters today

Questions people ask about Fontana Lake

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 Fontana Lake.

Is it worth fishing Fontana Lake today?
5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 9:56 AM–11:56 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
What time should you fish Fontana Lake?
Today's major windows run 9:56 AM–11:56 AM and 10:20 PM–12:20 AM, with minor windows at 2:49 AM–3:49 AM and 5:56 PM–6:56 PM. Sunrise is 7:01 AM and sunset 8:12 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
What is the water temperature at Fontana Lake?
No gauge on Fontana Lake measures water temperature. US reservoir gauges report height, not temperature — so rather than estimate it, this page leaves it out and leans on the windows and the pressure trend instead.
What is the water level at Fontana Lake right now?
1700.49 ft, read at 4:00 AM from NOAA NWPS station FONN7. Over 24 hours it is down 0.20 ft.
Can you eat the fish you catch in Fontana Lake?
That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where an interactive map covers statewide and per-water advisories, including PFOS on the middle and lower Cape Fear. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.

NCDHHS fish consumption advisory

What size fish can you keep in North Carolina?
It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: red drum (channel bass, puppy drum), spotted seatrout (speckled trout), black drum, sheepshead. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.

Red drum (channel bass, puppy drum) limits · Spotted seatrout (speckled trout) limits · Black drum limits · Sheepshead limits · Check a length against the rules

Where these numbers come from

The Little Tennessee River above Fontana Dam, read by the Tennessee Valley Authority and republished by NOAA. Full summer pool is about 1,710 ft; this is TVA’s tallest dam east of the Rockies. No temperature sensor at the gauge.

No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.