Lake Fontana Fishing Guide Service

Lake Fontana, also known as Fontana Reservoir is located in Graham and Swain counties in North Carolina; offering great smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass fishing.

The lake forms a section of the southern boarder of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Scenic views of rivers, mountains, and wildlife including black bears, elk, deer and bald eagles are commonly seen on SAA Lake Fontana Fishing Trips.

Lake Fontana Fishing Patterns

The Tuckasegee river runs into the eastern end of the lake providing anglers great brown trout, rainbow trout and smallmouth fishing.

The Great Smokey Mountains National Park forms a number of rivers that also converge with the lake. Smallmouth and largemouth bass can be found in Hazel Creek, Forney Creek and Noland Creek, as well as rainbow, brown and brook trout.

The high elevation paired with cold water mountain creeks allows Lake Fontana’s water temperature to stay cool year round; offering ample oxygen for bass, trout and gamefish alike. The clear mountain reservoir is about 17 miles long and has many coves which form islands from the former mountain peaks. Fontana Reservoir also has steep rocky banks, which makes for wonderful smallmouth fishing.

Smallmouth can be found feeding in the top water column as well as chasing bait fish in the summer months from June to September. As the water cools the bronze back fish can be caught in small streams, rivers, and creeks throwing small grubs, hand tied hair jigs and float n’ fly jigs. These methods of fishing makes for an absolute fish catching experience that will not be forgotten!

The largemouth tend to stay in the backs of these creeks during the spring and summer months feeding on baitfish and bream. Popular fishing methods include topwater, jigs, soft plastics, and spinnerbaits. During the early fall and colder winter months largemouth can be found chasing baitfish near the bottom on main channel points and secondary points. Float n’ flies, hair jigs as well as finesse type baits are most popular during the colder months.