Fishing at Ford Lake, Cherokee County, Georgia

• Overview

  The Cherokee County entry here is Ford Lake, in Georgia. The setting is dry hill. At 6 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. It is a small entry by Cherokee County standards. You are 4.7 miles from Ball Ground. For a city, Sandy Springs is 29 miles off. Being near a boundary, it pays to know which side you are fishing.

• Where to Fish on Ford Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Points where the flooded channel swings in are the reliable ones. Inflow corners move water, and moving water gathers fish. Fish reported in the area, according to open records, include blackbanded darter, bluegill and redeye bass. Presence in the area does not guarantee a fish on the day. The shape of Ford Lake rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 76°F and January near 39°F. Winter is a mild inconvenience here, nothing more. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer squeezes it into the edges of the day. April and May are the settled weeks, with October close behind. Anyone fishing Ford Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Nothing is listed nearby for parking or launching a boat. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Payne-Smith Lake, 0.9 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Confirm before you fish Ford Lake.