North Alabama Fishing Lakes
26 lakes in North Alabama, drawn from the Atlas lake directory.
Lake Guntersville
69,000 acres of Tennessee River bass water — Alabama's biggest lake and the state's most tournament-tested fishery.
Weiss Lake
30,200 acres of Coosa River impoundment on the Alabama-Georgia line — papermouths, spotted bass on the rocks, and strippers in the tailrace.
Pickwick Lake
43,100 acres of Tennessee River reservoir where smallmouth bass run big, walleye stack below Wilson Dam, and the state line crosses mid-channel.
Wheeler Lake
67,100 acres of Tennessee River impoundment — nationally ranked crappie water, big grass flats, and two dam tailraces that fish year-round.
Neely Henry Lake
11,200 acres of narrow, river-run Coosa reservoir below Weiss Dam — Gadsden-anchored, ABT-tested, home water for Wes Logan's first Bassmaster Elite win.
Lewis Smith Lake
21,200 acres of Alabama's deepest reservoir — Alabama Power's clear-water canyon on the Sipsey Fork, built for spotted bass, trophy stripers, and finesse anglers who can read 60 feet of water.
Wilson Lake
15,500 acres of current-fed Tennessee River water held between Wheeler Dam and the oldest dam in the TVA system — the nation's hottest smallmouth pool.
Bankhead Lake
9,200 acres of Black Warrior River impoundment — USACE dam, Alabama Power generators, bluff banks, bridge pylons, and a working-river fishery that stays underlooked year-round.
Inland Lake
1,557 acres on the Blackburn Fork of the Little Warrior River, 9 miles SSW of Oneonta — a Birmingham Water Works drinking-water lake open to the public with two ramps, a $5 launch fee, and a quiet local-angler bite.
Sportsman Lake
A shallow lake inside Cullman County's Sportsman Lake Park — train ride around the shoreline, pedal boats and mini-golf, splash pad and playground, and a kid-friendly bream and catfish bite from the pier and bank.
Sipsey Fork Trout Tailwater
Twelve miles of cold tailwater on the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior, stocked monthly by ADCNR with Dale Hollow rainbows — the state's one and only trout fishery, fished on fly rod and light spinning tackle.
Wheeler Dam Tailrace
Tennessee River tailwater at mile 274.9 below TVA's Wheeler Dam — year-round smallmouth, winter sauger concentrations, and a spring white-bass run fed by 542,000-cfs spillway capacity.
Wilson Dam Tailrace
Tennessee River tailwater at mile 259.4 below the oldest TVA-administered dam — national-class smallmouth, wintering sauger and walleye, and the spring tournament water that Bassmaster's own anglers name out loud.
Guntersville Dam Tailrace
Tennessee River tailwater at mile 349 below TVA's 1939 Guntersville Dam — autumn and winter sauger, early-spring white bass, stacked winter striped bass, and summer catfish on 478,000-cfs spillway capacity.
Upper Bear Creek Reservoir
A 14-mile TVA flood-control reservoir in the hills of Franklin, Winston, and Marion counties — clean Appalachian-plateau water, smallmouth and largemouth to double-digits, and the put-in for one of Alabama's best paddle trips.
Little Bear Creek Reservoir
A TVA flood-control impoundment on Little Bear Creek, closed in 1976 and sitting entirely in Franklin County — clear, infertile water, a protective slot limit that makes this fishery work, and the Bear Creek system's most cabin-friendly lake.
Big Bear Creek Reservoir
A TVA flood-control impoundment on Bear Creek in Franklin and Marion counties, closed in 1969, thirty miles southwest of Muscle Shoals — the third of four Bear Creek Lakes, fed by the 26-mile floatway from Upper Bear Dam, and home to two BCDA campgrounds.
Cedar Creek Reservoir
A TVA flood-control impoundment on Cedar Creek in Franklin County — ninety-six-foot earthen dam completed in 1979, nine miles of rock-cut shoreline, and the scenic big-water pool of the Bear Creek system anchored by Slickrock Campground. Not to be confused with the much larger Texas reservoir of the same name.
Madison County Public Fishing Lake
105 acres on County Lake Road in Gurley, 11 miles east of Huntsville — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth, bluegill, redear, crappie, channel catfish, and rainbow trout during winter trout season.
DeKalb County Public Fishing Lake
120 acres on Sand Mountain one mile north of Sylvania — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth, bluegill, redear, channel catfish, and crappie, with covered piers, campsites, and boat rentals twenty minutes from Little River Canyon and DeSoto State Park.
Walker County Public Fishing Lake
163 acres on Walker County Lake Road three miles southeast of Jasper off U.S. Highway 78 — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth, bluegill, redear, channel catfish, crappie, hybrid striped bass, and rainbow trout during winter trout season.
Fayette County Public Fishing Lake
60 acres at 529 County Road 134, six miles southeast of Fayette off U.S. Highway 43 — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth bass (catch-and-release only), bluegill, redear sunfish, and channel catfish. Small, quiet, no lake manager on site — trolling motors and bank-and-ramp fishing in west Alabama farm country.
Marion County Public Fishing Lake
37 acres at 554 County Road 148, six miles north of Guin off U.S. Highway 43 (one mile south of Hamilton, then east on County Road 148) — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish, and crappie. ADA fishing pier, ADA pavilion, ADA concessions with bait, tackle, and snacks, and a boat ramp when open. Temporarily closed for renovation per ADCNR — confirm status with WFF District 3 Fisheries Office in Northport at (205) 339-5716 or Fisheries Headquarters in Montgomery at (334) 242-3471 before driving out.
Lamar County Public Fishing Lake
68 acres eight miles west of Vernon in rural northwest Alabama near the Mississippi state line — ADCNR-managed State Public Fishing Lake stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish, crappie, and hybrid striped bass. Amenities include restrooms, concessions, a boat ramp, fishing pier, cabins, and campsites — one of the few PFLs in the network with on-site lodging. Alabama fishing license plus $5 State Public Fishing Lakes permit required for ages 16-64.
Lake Catoma
A 536-acre City of Cullman drinking-water lake on Eightmile Creek — 25-HP motor limit, one public ramp at 1815 3rd St NE, and a quiet largemouth-and-crappie bite on water most out-of-town anglers never fish.
Hays Nature Preserve
A 538-acre City of Huntsville nature preserve in Hampton Cove with Bar Lake (no-permit bank and ADA pier fishing) and Flint River oxbow access — the city's largest undeveloped parkland, established by the Hays family's 1999 land donation.