Cast the Water

Lake Norman

North Carolina · Iredell

The pin marks the middle of the water, for directions. The shoreline on the map comes from USGS NHD.

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Overview

Lake Norman is the largest manmade lake in North Carolina. Cowans Ford Dam impounded the main stem of the Catawba River in 1963 for hydropower, and the lake also supplies cooling water to a nuclear station and a steam station. Its shoreline is heavily developed, and natural woody cover is limited. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission lists Bodie bass (the striped bass and white bass hybrid), largemouth bass, Alabama bass, white perch, crappie, and blue, channel and flathead catfish among the lake's sport fish. River herring were brought into the lake in the late 1990s. The Commission notes that the lake is most productive at the upper end and becomes less so moving down toward the dam. Lake Norman State Park, in Iredell County about 40 miles north of Charlotte, takes in about 17 miles of the northern shoreline and also has a smaller Park Lake that is good for quiet fishing and paddling.

Regulations

Lake Norman has special length and creel rules for Bodie bass, a crappie minimum length limit, and a trophy rule that limits how many large blue catfish you may keep. See the current North Carolina inland fishing regulations: https://www.ncwildlife.gov/fishing/regulations

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission; North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation