Bartletts Ferry Lake (Lake Harding)

A 5,850-acre hydropower reservoir on the Chattahoochee River owned and operated by Georgia Power Company, Bartletts Ferry offers good angling for a several different species. The lake is especially known for good night-fishing for bass in the summer. Originally constructed by the Columbus Electric and Power Company, the generating plant at Bartletts Ferry began producing electricity in 1926. Georgia Power acquired the lake and generating plant in 1930 and has operated it ever since. Bartletts Ferry is also known as Lake Harding, named for an executive who worked for the original owners of the lake. Most Georgians call the lake Bartletts Ferry, a mispronunciation of a man named Bartley who once ran a ferry across the Chattahoochee in the area where the lake now stands. Bartletts Ferry is a relatively deep and rocky lake and basically follows the path of the river channel. Houses line the lakeshore and docks and piers provide plenty of cover. Any cover left at impoundment has long since rotted away, making the docks and other shoreline cover the best thing going for both the fish and the angler. Bartletts Ferry is known more for the good average size of its bass than for the chances of catching a real lunker. Both largemouth and spotted bass are found in the reservoir, with largemouth being the most abundant. Although good numbers of 3- to 5-pound largemouths are available, anything approaching 10 pounds is a real trophy. Catching a shoal bass far up the lake’s tributaries is possible, but shoalies are not a significant part of the fishery. Key species: largemouth bass, spotted bass, white bass, striped bass, crappie, channel catfish.