West Point Reservoir

Fishing in West Point Lake

Spotted bass in the one to three pound range are abundant on West Point Lake, so anglers that enjoy catching one to three pound spotted bass should enjoy fishing lake.  West Point Lake also has some really big largemouth bass, too, so be ready!

West Point Reservoir is a 25,864-acre mainstream Chattahoochee River impoundment located on the border of Alabama and Georgia, just north of Interstate 85 and an hour southwest of Atlanta. West Point Dam is owned and operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Even though most of the reservoir is in Georgia, Alabama fishing license holders may fish anywhere except the portion of the reservoir that is upstream of the Highway 109 bridge on the Chattahoochee River arm.  This is possible due to reciprocal agreements between the conservation agencies in Georgia and Alabama regarding portions of the Chattahoochee River where the two states border.  Special regulations apply.

A spring 2012 weekend survey of anglers revealed catch rates for largemouth bass and spotted bass higher than 0.8 fish per hour.  More than 80% of the bass harvested by anglers were spotted bass, and the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division encourages the harvest of smaller spotted bass. 

West Point Lake is a fairly deep (mean depth of 23 feet), rocky reservoir with little submerged structure other than rocky points and humps, so any site with underwater woody debris tends to concentrate fish, especially largemouth bass. Spring 2012 sampling indicated that largemouth bass were not as abundant as spotted bass, but of the 105 largemouth bass collected, eight fish weighed more than five pounds with the largest weighing 8.5 pounds. 

Spotted bass were collected twice as frequently as largemouth bass, with most of the fish sampled measuring 12 to 15 inches long.  The largest spotted bass collected was two and three-quarters pounds.  Most largemouth bass and spotted bass of all sizes were plump and healthy.

As with other Chattahoochee River impoundments, the crappie population consists of black crappie. In 2012, anglers reported catch rates of 0.45 crappie per hour, which was about half the rate of angler catch rates from other Chattahoochee River impoundments in previous surveys. Spring 2012 sampling indicated that all sizes of crappie exhibited slow growth and low condition factors. Most successful crappie anglers during the creel survey reported catching fish in the Wehadkee Creek section of the reservoir.

Bream were abundant but small in the spring 2012 sample. Most of the bluegill population sampled were between 5 and 7 inches long. West Point also supports an abundant population of channel catfish.

When fishing the receiprocal waters of West Point Reservoir, refer to Regulation 220-2-.122 in the regulation book for more information.

Contact the Fisheries Section's District IV office for specific questions about West Point Lake.