Opelika, Lee County, Alabama
A roughly 5,860-acre Georgia Power reservoir on the Chattahoochee River east of Opelika, Alabama — also known as Bartlett's Ferry Reservoir, straddling the Alabama-Georgia line with a strong spring and fall wood-cover crappie bite.
Target species
Known techniques
Known cover
Lake Harding — also known locally as Bartlett's Ferry Reservoir — is a roughly 5,860-acre impoundment of the Chattahoochee River, dammed in 1926 and now operated by Georgia Power. It sits on the Alabama-Georgia line east of Opelika, Alabama, and a fishing license from either state is valid on the whole reservoir.
Harding is a wood-cover lake at heart — single limbs, brush piles, stumps, logs, and dock pilings make up the bulk of the productive crappie structure, more than open flats or grass.
Spring and fall bring the most consistent bite, with fish concentrating in the 8 to 12 foot range around that wood cover. Both black and white crappie are present, and spring in particular is considered the strongest window.
Live minnows and small jigs are the dominant baits, and long poles (9 feet or better) are a local staple — anglers dip minnows or jigs straight down into brush pockets near docks and logs without needing to cast, especially through the spawn. Vertical jigging around brush picks up as the water warms into summer.
Lake Harding rounds out Crappie Fanatics' coverage of the Chattahoochee border lakes — check the reports feed below for the latest conditions members are logging, and consider being one of the first to post a trip here.
Shows this water's general public location only, never a member's private waypoints or exact report coordinates. Depth and structure detail comes from member-contributed reports below, not a chart overlay: no free bathymetric survey data exists for most of these waters.
