Warrior Reservoir
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Fish and Fishing in
Warrior Reservoir
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Warrior Reservoir is an 8,580-acre lake on the Black Warrior River. With Selden Dam near the City of Eutaw, Warrior Reservoir continues upstream to Oliver Dam at Tuscaloosa. The primary uses for this reservoir are navigation, flood control, and recreation. Primative camping, hunting and boating are available at this reservoir. Eight public access areas provide bank and boat access to Warrior Reservoir, including two boat ramps managed by the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.
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Warrior Reservoir headwaters/Oliver tailwaters
photo by Jerry Moss
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Since being impounded in 1958 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Warrior Reservoir is best known for its largemouth bass and crappie fishing. Abundant weed beds provide good cover for bass, crappie, and bream in Warrior Reservoir. Largemouth bass up to 12-13 inches are abundant. Larger fish are available in lower numbers. Bass recruitment is good, but growth is somewhat slower in Warrior Reservoir than in other Alabama reservoirs.
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Small crappie are abundant. Crappie larger than 9 inches are not plentiful; but an occasional slab may be caught in weed beds during the spring. In 1993, a 9-inch minimum length limit was implemented on crappie to protect young fish in the population. This length limit has been well received by anglers according to creel surveys conducted by the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.
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Bream fishing provides a modest summer and fall fishery mainly in backwater and cove areas in the lower section of the reservoir. The best fishing for major sport species (except hybrid striped bass) is in backwater areas and sloughs.
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Hybrid striped bass provides a good, year round fishery, but is best in the spring and fall. There are a good number of 3-8 pound fish with some individuals up to about 12-pounds in size. Hybrids are caught primarily in the headwaters of Warrior Reservoir below Oliver Dam or in the tailrace below Warrior Dam (Demopolis Lake).
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The upstream tailrace at Oliver Dam is a high use area with good fishing for hybrid striped bass, catfish, drum and crappie. Angler catch rates are relatively high and these areas are very popular with anglers. A new fishing pier and two new access areas have increased angler access to upper section of Warrior Reservoir.
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It is illegal to possess blueback herring  in Alabama. Regulations designate legal capture methods for bait and specify additional species that may not be used for bait.
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Pictures.
Link list (disclaimer):
Fishing license information may be found at: www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/license/. Instant licensing is available via the Internet (2% fee), via the telephone by calling 1-888-848-6887 ($3.95 fee), or at 900 vendors and probate offices in Alabama. All youth age 15 and younger fish for free.
Possession and creel limits for Alabama public waters are listed at: www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/regulations/
Bass fishing quality at Warrior Reservoir is assessed here.
If you are a member of a bass club, please consider being a part of our Bass Angler Information Team. We use information from clubs to help better manage your lakes for fishing.
State fish management information and Alabama reservoir location, size and elevation are listed at: www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/where/reservoirs/
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers information about Warrior Reservoir is listed at: www.sam.usace.army.mil/. During July of 2003, the US Army Corps of Engineers installed steel log fish attractors at Warrior Reservoir near Brush Creek at 2 sites and 2 sections. These fish attractors have a red and white "Fish Attractor" buoy are in water 10-20 foot deep.
Information concerning lodging and recreation near the Warrior Reservoir is listed at: www.tcvb.org
General information is found under the Warrior Lake listing at: al.com/parks/central.html
Bass fishing reports for Lake Holt may be available at: www.wmi.org/bassfish/reports/alabama/.
It shall be unlawful to intentionally stock or release any fish, mussel, snail, crayfish or their embryos including bait fish into the public waters of Alabama under the jurisdiction of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries as provided in Rule 220-2-.42 except those waters from which it came without the written permission of a designated employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources authorized by the Director of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to issue such permit. The provisions of this rule shall not apply to the incidental release of bait into the water during the normal process of fishing.
The Fisheries Section's District III biologist can answer specific questions about Warrior Reservoir at Jay.Haffner@dcnr.alabama.gov.
Prepared by: Fisheries Section, Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. This site is presented for information only the Fisheries Section cannot be responsible for the quality of information or services offered through linked sites, disclaimer. To have your site included, send your URL, email address, or telephone number to the Fisheries Web Master, doug.darr@dcnr.alabama.gov. The Fisheries Section reserves the right to select sites based on relevant and appropriate content, of interest to our viewers. If you discover errors in the content or links of this page, please contact Doug Darr. Thank you.
