Gainesville Lake Fishing: Howell Heflin Pool on the Tombigbee
USACE Mobile District 6,400-acre Tombigbee River impoundment between Aliceville Lake above and Demopolis Lake below — completed 1978, quiet catfish + largemouth water on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
Gainesville Lake Alabama fishing covers 6,400 Tombigbee River acres at Sumter, Pickens, and Greene counties — USACE Mobile District Howell Heflin Lock & Dam pool, built 1978, worked for largemouth, crappie, blue catfish, and hybrid striper on the Ten-Tom Waterway.
1978 (USACE Mobile District — Howell Heflin Lock & Dam, formerly Gainesville L&D)
River System
Tombigbee River
Access
Public
01 · Overview
The Water
Gainesville Lake sits on the Tombigbee River in west-central Alabama, impounded by the Howell Heflin Lock & Dam — originally named Gainesville Lock & Dam, renamed for U.S. Senator Howell Heflin after his 1997 retirement. The Army Corps of Engineers began construction in December 1972 and completed the pool in 1978 as part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway navigation system. The lake spans 6,400 acres across Sumter, Pickens, and Greene counties, running roughly 36 miles of pool water between Aliceville Lake upstream and Demopolis Lake downstream. Like other Ten-Tom pools, Gainesville is a navigation-first reservoir — barge traffic defines the main channel, and the fishery lives on the old river oxbows, cypress cover, and tributary creek arms that branch off the navigation cut. Largemouth bass, crappie, blue and flathead catfish, and hybrid striper all hold here; the lake sees far less angling pressure than the Tennessee River chain, which is exactly why the locals who know it keep showing up.
“Gainesville Lake holds fish in patterns you can set your watch to. The bite isn't a secret — it's what most fishermen don't know about where the grass thins onto a hard ledge.”
Alabama Fishing Atlas Editorial
Fishing Gainesville Lake on video
Alabama's State Public Fishing Lakes Now Open — ADCNR
ADCNR
02 · Bite Windows
Solunar Forecast
Major and minor solunar windows shift daily with the moon’s transit. Fish the windows above, or check the Seasonal Playbook below for Gainesville Lake’s current pattern.
03 · The Calendar
Seasonal Playbook
March through May is the prime window on Gainesville Lake. Water climbs from the upper 50s through the 70s, pre-spawn largemouth stage on oxbow mouths and cypress-edge points at the mouths of tributary arms, and a jerkbait on ten-second pauses covers the staging fish. Crappie stack on cypress stumps and brush in 6-12 feet in the Sumter and Pickens creek arms — minnows and 1/16-ounce jigs catch fish on every brush pile. Late April into May, largemouth spawn in the quiet backwater bayous on the Greene County side. When USACE releases water through Tom Bevill Dam above, the upper end of Gainesville fires on current-fed hybrid striper and big blue catfish — swimbaits on the seam, cut shad on the bottom. Bluegill and shellcracker move onto shallow flats for the May full-moon spawn; cricket and red worm on 3-to-6-foot flats catch stringers.
June through August Gainesville sets up on cypress shade and current. When the Howell Heflin dam generates, the tailrace concentrates catfish, hybrid stripers, and the occasional big largemouth — a heavy jig on the dam rock, cut shad on the bottom, swimbait on the current seam. Slack water scatters fish. Shallow largemouth hang in the Greene County bayou system on laydowns, cypress shade, and lily pad mats — a green-pumpkin tube flipped to cypress, a frog on the mat edges, a buzzbait at dawn. Blue catfish on cut shad on the main Tombigbee channel oxbows pull through summer — the 15-to-30-foot channel bends produce the biggest cats of the year. Night fishing under the Howell Heflin bridge lights pulls big flatheads when the day-time bite collapses. First-light topwater on oxbow mouths is the bass answer before the heat builds.
September through November shad migrate out of the main Tombigbee into the tributary arms and oxbows, and every species follows. Largemouth chase shad on cypress-edge points, laydowns, and secondary creek-mouth structure — a lipless crankbait ripped through sparse grass, a ChatterBait in shad color, a walking bait on calm mornings over oxbow mouths. Crappie reload on brush and timber in 8-14 feet in the tributary arms; long-line small jigs across the cover to find the school, then fish vertical once marked. Hybrid stripers stack again in the Tom Bevill tailrace at the upper end on cooler 60-65°F water. Blue cats stay on cut shad along the main channel all fall. By mid-November the grass thins, the cooler water pushes baitfish deeper, and a slow-rolled spinnerbait becomes the late-fall largemouth answer on main-channel oxbow cypress edges, while the dam forebay stacks catfish on the first truly cold fronts.
December through February Gainesville empties out and the locals who know it work the deep water. Largemouth group on the Howell Heflin dam forebay and the deepest main-channel oxbow cypress — a suspending jerkbait on long pauses on sunny afternoons above 48°F, a hair jig vertical on the dam rock, an Alabama rig on the main-channel ledges when surface drops into the 40s. Crappie stack on deep brush in 15-22 feet in the tributary arms. Hybrid stripers run the Tom Bevill tailrace when generators pull current. Blue and flathead catfish on cut shad along the main Tombigbee channel oxbows stay reliable all winter — drift-rig the 20-to-40-foot channel bends for the biggest cats of the year. Current matters more than calendar dates on Gainesville — when Tom Bevill above or Howell Heflin below releases water, the bite turns on.
12-month calendar
Tap any month to expand pattern notes. Legend: B = Bass · C = Crappie · S = Striper · Cf = Catfish.
Tournament pros have been decoding Gainesville Lake for five decades. Every tip on this card is cited to the original weigh-in recap or angler interview — no paraphrased fluff, no invented quotes.
2025 · summer
USACE Mobile District — Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway record
Howell Heflin Lock & Dam fact sheet
The Howell Heflin Lock and Dam, formerly known as Gainesville Lock and Dam, was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning in December 1972 and was completed in 1978, impounding the Gainesville Lake reservoir, which covers approximately 6,400 acres.
The pattern: Treat Gainesville as a 36-mile oxbow fishery. The main navigation cut runs through the middle; the actual productive water is the original Tombigbee River course that USACE cut off when they built the canal. Pull up Ten-Tom navigation charts, mark every oxbow, and fish them ignoring the barge lane. Two tailraces (Tom Bevill above, Howell Heflin below) anchor the fishing calendar — when either releases water, fish stack tight.
2023 · summer
Reed Montgomery — Reeds Guide Service
Tombigbee chain summer ledge pattern
The July pattern on Demopolis, Aliceville and Gainesville is the same: find an old river ledge where erosion has created a 6-to-8-foot hump and where stumps still hold in the firm bottom.
The pattern: Mid-summer Gainesville is a structure-and-stump game. Find the old Tombigbee ledges where 6-to-8-foot humps sit above the flat, crank them with a Rapala DT-6 or DT-10, Carolina-rig a 10-inch worm on a 4-foot leader, or throw a Lucky Craft Sammy walk-the-dog at first light over the stump field. Same play works on all three Tombigbee pools.
2024 · fall
ADCNR Outdoor Alabama — Gainesville Reservoir
Gainesville Reservoir fishery profile
Gainesville Reservoir offers bass, catfish, crappie and hybrid striper fishing on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway's 6,400-acre pool between the Tom Bevill Lock & Dam and the Howell Heflin Lock & Dam.
The pattern: Fall shad migration is the single best window. Shad move out of the main channel into the oxbows; largemouth, crappie, and hybrids all follow. October lipless crankbait on cypress-edge busts produces more fish per hour than any other Gainesville pattern.
05 · Hire Local
Fishing Guides
On video
Fishing Gainesville Lake on video
On the water
Alabama's State Public Fishing Lakes Now Open — ADCNR
Source: YouTube, ADCNR
06 · Planning the Trip
Stay & Eat
Where to Stay on Gainesville Lake
Lodging near the ramps. Some links below are affiliate partnerships (Booking.com, VRBO) — they cost you nothing extra and help keep the Atlas free. Full disclosure →
Voyager Inn Motel
hotel
150 Mobile Rd NW, Aliceville, AL 35442
Independent motel in Aliceville — closest lodging to the upper Gainesville pool and Tom Bevill Dam tailrace. Budget traveler pick.
Demopolis chain hotel ~40 minutes south of the Howell Heflin Dam — the closest full-service chain lodging for anglers fishing the lower Gainesville pool.
Corps of Engineers campground on the Pickens County side of Gainesville Lake — RV hookups, tent sites, boat ramp, picnic. Primary Gainesville Lake camping base.
USACE Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway visitor center — antebellum-style building above the Pickensville Lock, paddlewheel snagboat U.S. Snagboat Montgomery on display. Mandatory Ten-Tom family stop.
University of Alabama's 320-acre National Historic Landmark with 29 Mississippian-era platform mounds (1120-1450 CE) — 45 minutes east of Gainesville Lake.
10 black bass daily aggregate (Alabama statewide) · 12-inch minimum on largemouth and smallmouth (Alabama statewide)
Crappie
30 per day · 9-inch minimum (Alabama statewide)
Striped/White Bass
Statewide temperate-bass limits apply
Gainesville Lake is a USACE Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway navigation pool. Follow posted no-wake zones near Howell Heflin Lock & Dam and the Tom Bevill Lock approach. Commercial barge traffic has right-of-way — stay off the navigation channel centerline.
Alabama fishing license required for all anglers 16 and older (residents and non-residents). Always verify current rules before your trip.
Gainesville Lake is on the Tombigbee River in west-central Alabama, spanning Sumter, Pickens, and Greene counties. It is the USACE pool impounded by Howell Heflin Lock & Dam and sits between Aliceville Lake upstream and Demopolis Lake downstream. The lake runs about 36 miles along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway navigation system.
Gainesville Lake holds largemouth bass, crappie, blue and flathead catfish, hybrid striped bass, bluegill, and redear sunfish. The old Tombigbee River oxbows and cypress-lined tributary arms hold bass and crappie; the main navigation channel and dam tailraces produce the biggest catfish and hybrids.
The Army Corps of Engineers began construction of Gainesville Lock & Dam (now Howell Heflin) in December 1972 and completed the pool in 1978. The dam was renamed for Alabama Senator Howell Heflin after his 1997 retirement from the Senate.
Yes. Pickensville Boat Ramp, the Howell Heflin Lock Recreation Area, and the Cochrane Cutoff access are the three main public ramps on Gainesville Lake — all USACE-maintained, all free. Pickensville also has a USACE campground and the Tom Bevill Visitor Center on-site.
Yes — all anglers 16 and older need an Alabama fishing license regardless of residency. Purchase online at ADCNR's Outdoor Alabama portal or at local tackle shops.
Fishing regulations, water conditions, and seasonal patterns change. Alabama Fishing Atlas provides informational content only. Verify all regulations with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources before fishing, keeping any fish, or launching watercraft. We are not liable for decisions made based on information published here. Full disclaimer →
Citation
Data sources
—USACE Mobile District — Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (https://www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Recreation/Tennessee-Tombigbee-Waterway-Tenn-Tom/)
—Wikipedia — Howell Heflin Lock and Dam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howell_Heflin_Lock_and_Dam): formerly Gainesville L&D, 6,400-acre pool, built 1972-1978
—Grokipedia — Howell Heflin Lock and Dam: construction dates + pool acreage
—USACE — Tom Bevill Visitor Center Pickensville (https://www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Recreation/Tennessee-Tombigbee-Waterway-Tenn-Tom/Tom-Bevill-Visitor-Center/)
—Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) — Outdoor Alabama (https://www.outdooralabama.com/)
