Description: This 11 ,860-acre COE reservoir on the Etowah River is 41 miles north of Atlanta on 1-75. There are numerous COE facilities and a Georgia State Park located around the lake to provide angler with ramps, parking, and camping areas. The lake receives heavy use by boaters, skiers, and anglers due to its close proximity to Atlanta. Fishing early and late daylight hours, and at night, are effective ways to avoid the crowds.
Crappie anglers can expect another good year at Allatoona as numbers remain high, and the crappie continue to show good growth. Excellent spawns of crappie in recent years are now paying off for anglers. The average crappie should be a little better than 8 inches and weigh just under Ilb., though many larger crappie will be caught. Most crappie'anglers focus their efforts during the spring when the fish move up the creeks and rivers into shallower water to spawn. Early spring is an excellent time to catch a trophy "slab" as the females will be heavy with eggs and in excellent condition prior to the spawn. Later in the summer, crappie will concentrate in deeper waters, where anglers can catch them by targeting brush piles located on humps and channel ledges.
Spotted bass numbers remained high in 2000. Largemouth bass
numbers were also good in 2000, although they make up less than 50% of the total catch of black bass. During the spring and fall, anglers should look for largemouth in the backs of pockets around
heavy cover such as log jams, shallow docks, and blow down trees. During the warmer months largemouth will spend the days in deeper water on points and ledges, but will move shallow at night and early moming to feed. Spotted bass tend to hold a little deeper than largemouth and can be finicky in their willingness to bite. Experienced anglers rely on light line and smaller lures to trick spotted bass into biting. Steep rocky banks and brush piles in 10-25 feet of water are favored places for spotted bass throughout the year.
Striper and hybrid populations in the lake are doing well, feeding on the abundant gizzard and threadfin shad. Striped bass up to 40 lbs have been taken from Allatoona, though the average striper will weigh 4-5 lbs and the average hybrid will be slightly smaller. Anglers seeking these hard fighters can use their depthfinders to locate large schools of shad in open water areas. Stripers and hybrids typically school under the shad. Another tell-tale sign is to look for birds feeding on shad at the surface of the water. Bucktail jigs or trolled live shad are the most popular methods for catching stripers and hybrids. During the summer months, stripers and hybrids will
seek out cooler water so anglers should search up the rivers or in deeper water areas near the dam. White bass are also abundant in the reservoir and anglers often target them in the rivers up lake during their spring spawning run.
Bluegill, redbreast sunfish, and redear sunfish are available to the bream angler. Numbers of bream are relatively low, but as is
often the case, this leads to the chance of catching some truly trophysized bream. Channel and flathead catfish are also available in Allatoona. While channel catfish are more abundant, flatheads tend to grow to much larger sizes. Any rocky point along the Etowah River arm is likely to hold pan-sized channel cats, and a fresh chicken liver fished on the bottom is a sure ticket to a good fish dinner.
Carp are numerous, widely distributed, and grow to large sizes. Most carp fishing is concentrated in the Acworth Dam area. Carp are very strong fighters and will give a worthwhile battle. Gar are also numerous in Allatoona. Though they are not generally considered good-eating fish, gar are very strong fighters and can be great fun to catch. Gar can be caught using a number of techniques ranging from live shad fished below a bobber to sight fishing with minnow type plugs during the spring and early summer when they gang up in shallow water to spawn.
