Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula) Water Level
Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula) is at 189.11 ft today (Oct 6), 0.89 ft below its 190 ft full pool, up 0.23 ft this week.
Georgia & Alabama · Chattahoochee River
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Water level history
About Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula)
Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula) is a reservoir on the Chattahoochee River in Georgia & Alabama, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Known as the “Big Bass Capital of the World.” Its full summer pool sits at 190 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from USGS gauge 02343240 and update every 15 to 60 minutes.
Understanding Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula)'s water level
Walter F. George Lake sits on the Chattahoochee where Georgia and Alabama share the river, backed up by a Corps of Engineers dam about a mile north of Fort Gaines, Georgia. Work began in September 1955 under a project first called Fort Gaines Lock and Dam; Congress renamed it in 1958 for Walter F. George, the Georgia senator. The pool started filling on 11 May 1962, reached spillway crest that November, and all four generators were running by November 1963. Alabamians mostly call it Lake Eufaula, a name their legislature endorsed by resolution in June 1963. At its 190 foot summer level the lake covers about 45,000 acres, stretches roughly 85 river miles up toward Columbus, and has 640 miles of shoreline. Filling it meant evacuating Oketeyeconne, a Georgia community with historically Native American residents, and covering many Native American sites along the valley.
The level follows a guide curve rather than rainfall alone. The Corps holds the top of conservation pool at 188 feet from December through April and 190 feet from June through October, filling in May and drawing down in November, with 184 feet as the bottom of conservation storage. From 15 March to 15 May the pool is held within about six inches to protect spawning bass and crappie. The dam also carries a 450 by 82 foot lock with an 88 foot lift, the highest in the Corps' South Atlantic Division, and a 168 megawatt powerhouse, but the navigation it was built for has largely faded: commercial barge traffic on the Apalachicola system stopped in 2003, and the Corps held a hearing in 2026 on whether to restart dredging. Releases here also feed the long fight over Chattahoochee water that Florida lost at the Supreme Court in 2021.
The town of Eufaula, Alabama, bills itself as the Big Bass Capital of the World, a claim rooted in the early days of B.A.S.S. Four of the first seventeen B.A.S.S. tournaments were held here, and Blake Honeycutt's 1969 winning weight of 138 pounds 6 ounces has never been topped in a Bassmaster event. Tom Mann, the lure maker who helped Ray Scott start B.A.S.S., lived in Eufaula, and a 12 foot bass statue downtown honors him. Georgia DNR biologists today describe excellent numbers of 2 to 4 pound largemouth under a 14 inch minimum, strong hybrid and crappie fishing, and a tailrace that produced an 80 pound 4 ounce state record blue catfish in 2010. Hydrilla shapes where fish hold, and the Corps has stocked grass carp to keep it in check. Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1964 with Corps help, and Lakepoint State Park line the Alabama shore north of Eufaula.
Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula) — frequently asked
What is full pool at Walter F. George Lake (Lake Eufaula)?
Full summer pool is 190 feet (NGVD29), held from June through October. In winter the Corps lowers the top of conservation pool to 188 feet from December through April, so a reading near 188 in January is normal rather than a drought sign. The spillway crest sits at 192 feet, and the conservation pool bottoms out at 184 feet.
When is Lake Eufaula drawn down and when does it refill?
The drawdown from 190 to 188 feet happens in November, and the lake climbs back to 190 during May. Between 15 March and 15 May the Corps tries to keep the pool within about six inches of a steady level so bass and crappie nests along the shallows are not left dry or flooded out during the spawn.
What is the record high level on Walter F. George Lake?
The Corps' water control manual lists a peak pool of 194.72 feet in March 1990, a flood during which the dam's operations cut the downstream crest by more than 230,000 cubic feet per second. The gauge on this page only has daily records back to 2007; within that window the high was 193.6 feet on 26 December 2015, well above the 190 foot summer pool.
What is the lowest Lake Eufaula has been?
Within the USGS daily record, which begins in May 2007, the low was 184.69 feet on 28 November 2011, during the late 2011 drought. That is less than a foot above 184, the bottom of the conservation pool, and more than five feet under the 190 foot summer pool. Because the gauge record is short, older droughts may have gone lower without appearing in these figures.
Why is it called the Big Bass Capital of the World?
The nickname is promoted by the city of Eufaula and traces to the late 1960s, when four of the first seventeen B.A.S.S. tournaments were fished here and winners routinely weighed more than 100 pounds. Rip Nunnery's 98 pound 15 ounce single day limit and Blake Honeycutt's 138 pound 6 ounce total, both from 1969, still stand out in Bassmaster history.
Can boats lock through Walter F. George Dam?
The lock is 82 by 450 feet with an 88 foot lift, the highest in the Corps' South Atlantic Division, and was built to carry barges to Columbus. Commercial traffic on the river system ended in the early 2000s, and the lock has had closures for repairs, so check with the Corps ACF office in Eufaula before planning a trip through.
Who operates the dam and what controls the lake level?
The Mobile District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runs the dam, its four unit, 168 megawatt powerhouse, and the lock. Levels follow a seasonal guide curve, but releases are also tied to the whole Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, Flint basin, including flow targets downstream in Florida, and drought operations are triggered by combined storage across the basin's federal reservoirs rather than by this lake alone.
Flow released below Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula)
This gauge reads the water leaving the dam, which is the number to check for fishing, paddling and downstream conditions. Live flow is tracked on riverlvl.com.
Other lakes near Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula)
- West Point LakeGA/AL
- Lake SinclairGA
- Lake AllatoonaGA
- Lake SeminoleGA/FL
- Lake BlackshearGA
- Richard B. Russell LakeGA/SC
See current levels for all 16 Georgia lakes and reservoirs →
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