Lake Gaston

Overview

Lake Gaston is a reservoir of about 20,300 acres on the Roanoke River, between Kerr Lake upstream and Roanoke Rapids Lake downstream, on the Virginia and North Carolina border. Dominion Energy owns and operates it, and the dam was completed in 1963. The lake runs about 34 miles with some 350 miles of shoreline, a mean depth of about 20 feet and a maximum of about 95 feet. Largemouth bass are the main event: in a 2007 to 2008 creel survey they took more than three quarters of the directed fishing effort, and anglers work vegetation and docks. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission sampling in 2022 also turned up Alabama bass. Catfish rank second in popularity, and Gaston produced three state record blue catfish in a row starting in December 2015. Walleye are best in the upper end in February and March, and striped bass fishing can be good in the tailwater below Kerr Dam. Channel catfish, chain pickerel and bluegill round out the catch. Virginia access includes the Pea Hill, Poplar Creek and Steel Bridge ramps, and anglers should clean hydrilla off boats and trailers before leaving.

Regulations

Lake Gaston has seasonal striped bass rules, a walleye minimum length limit, a trophy rule on large blue catfish in the North Carolina part, and American shad may not be kept. Under a reciprocal agreement, Virginia and North Carolina licenses are both valid for fishing from a boat on the lake and its accessible tributaries. See the North Carolina inland fishing regulations: https://www.ncwildlife.gov/fishing/regulations and the Virginia fishing regulations: https://dwr.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/

Nearby waters

• John H. Kerr Reservoir · 22.8 km (VA)

More in Warren

• John H. Kerr Reservoir (VA)