Fishing Report For Badin Lake, NC

January 21, 2025

Popular Fish Species
Badin Lake Fishing Video
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Fishing Report Badin Lake, NC

Popular Fish Species Badin Lake, NC

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Very Good To Excellent

Badin Lake, is reported to be one of the best bass on the Yadkin River chain of lakes. In Spring and Fall, bass forage amongst the grass beds in shallower water, where anglers are catching them on a wide variety of grass-friendly lures. In areas with limited grass, vibrating jigs are catching some of the better quality bass. Once the bass move off the bank, they school up around structure 15' to 25' deep. Worms, jigs, spoons and drop-shot rigs well on these points and ledges.

Black Crappie

Uncle Buck's Panfish Creatures Curly Tail Minnow Rigged

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Reports of good crappie fishing continue again this year, as they have for several years now. And, fishing is quite good year round. Spring is the premiere time to be on the water as crappie move into shallow coves to spawn. Docks, brush and wood are all good places to cast small crappie jigs or live minnows. Light tackle with 4lb to 8lb test line is ideal. Locals report good success using fish finders to locate schools of crappie, which tend to stack vertically around cover. In Summer and winter focus on deeper water.

Channel Catfish

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Drift fishing, while bottom bumping is a great way to find and catch channel catfish in Badin Lake. Reports indicate that locals favor the main lake area from Whitney to the Narrows Dam, and from Badin Lake Campground to the Narrows Dam. Fishing for channel catfish is often productive around any kind of structure. Submerged road beds, creek channels and rocky points are all good places to begin. Use a slip sinker or Carolina rig setup. I prefer a gob of nightcrawlers, but cut bait also works well.

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, blue catfish, black crappie, redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish, white bass and striped bass at Badin Lake in North Carolina.

Badin Lake is over 180 feet deep, which allows the water to stays cooler during summer. Bass, stripers, crappie, white bass and catfish are popular species for locals. The sunfish are also healthy and grow to good eating size. Badin Lake is a 5,000-acre reservoir with over 100 miles of shoreline offering plenty of fishing choices.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Today's Weather & Forecast

Marinas

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Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

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Fishing License

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Badin Lake, NC Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".