Lake Lanier Georgia - Lake Lanier Drought Marinas Parks

Lake Lanier is a beautiful lake close to Atlanta, Georgia.

• What are the most popular restaurants and marinas on the lake?
• How long will it take the lake to recover from low water levels?

We aimed to answer all these questions and more via the 2nd Annual Lake Lanier Survey. You can click here to see the results from 2007.

Read on to find out the results...

Update: the alligator was caught this week.

There's a baby alligator still on the loose in Lake Lanier.

It was last seen under an old, unused dock on Flat Creek. The area is close to Old Federal Park and Sunrise Cove Marina.

The Corps of Engineers has stopped issuing permits for nighttime fishing because of the low lake levels. The explanation?

"That’s just to try to help keep boaters safe. Because at nighttime it’s much more difficult for you to see rocks and stumps and shoals that may be just underneath the water’s surface."

Fishermen dispute this, saying that those going out at night are the most experienced boaters who are unlikely to get into trouble.

Unfortunately, its that time of year again. Boat ramps are closing again on Lake Lanier.

We had a good winter with a good number of ramps reopened but the lake has been falling again during July and the situation isn't looking great.

Five people drowned in eight days on Lake Lanier during July:

• July 4th: Lung Mang (21) and Tha Thang (23) jumped in the lake to push their rented pontoon boat off a sandbar during a late-night rainstorm.
• July 4th: Aeriel Cotuc Chaudjay (17) drowned off Lanier Beach South. The teen apparently waded from shallow water into an area with a 15-foot drop-off.

Apparently the mussels aren't so endangered after all.

The Corps of Engineers was given approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to store more water and release less from Lake Lanier and other Chattahoochee River reservoirs. The change in releases has already been implemented.