Fishing

Whether you're fishing for trout, bass, or catfish, Johns Creek is an angler's dream, with 13 miles of the Chattahoochee River, and one of the best fishing lakes in the U.S. – Lake Lanier – just 20 miles away.

Chattahoochee River

The "Hooch" offers some of the best trout water in the south, with 5,000 trout per mile of the river from the south end of Buford Dam, passing along the city of Johns Creek, and ending just north of Atlanta.

The cold waters released by the dam from the bottom of Lake Lanier support brown and rainbow trout, along with bass, catfish and other species, stocked by the state's Department of Natural Resources

Public access is available through five park units of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area located in or immediately adjacent to Johns Creek (see map).

Lake Lanier 

Just 20 miles north of Johns Creek in the foothills of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake Lanier offers 692 miles of shoreline and 38,000 surface acres of year-round recreation to over 7.5 million visitors annually.

It also offers some of the best bass fishing in the U.S., which is why it's often the site for professional bass tournaments. 

Created in the 1950s by the construction of Buford Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Lanier is a multi-purpose lake that provides for flood protection, power production, water supply, navigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife management.

The Corps also controls water levels on both the lake and downstream on the Chattahoochee, through releases from Buford Dam.

Note of caution: Whether fishing on Lake Lanier, or downstream on the Chattahoochee, everyone is urged to use extreme caution.

Call the Corps ahead of time at 770-945-1466 (toll free 1-855-DAM-FLOW), or listen to 1610 AM on the radio to find out Buford Dam's water release schedule.