Mayflies give Harris its softer calendar. Outdoor Alabama says shellcracker and bluegill fishing can turn with the late-May-to-August hatch, while bass work the rocky points and crappie slip toward blowdowns, woody backs of coves, and summer dock lights. Another calendar is vertical: Alabama Power's fall schedule drops Harris from 793 feet to 785, the deepest swing on that four-lake list. The lake is also Lake Wedowee, 24 miles of Tallapoosa water backed up behind the R.L. Harris Dam since 1983. Newest of Alabama Power's hydropower lakes. Not empty, not famous, not polished into a state slogan. The reservoir is lean in the reports. Outdoor Alabama ties poor bass condition to low fertility and low forage, a biological plainness that cuts against the clear-water real estate dream. ADEM adds the harder water note: hydropower first, then flood control, recreation, irrigation, drinking water; mercury in fish tissue put Harris on Alabama's impaired-waters list. Around the shoreline are homes and coves and private docks, but the official voice keeps returning to measurements. The light over one dock. Crappie underneath it.
curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The facts
- Surface area 39.6 km² usgs-3dhp · lake-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Nearest town Ofelia · 3.9 km osm-overpass · lake-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Bird species (within 25 mi) 77 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Bird diversity index 0.84 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Median home value $212,200 census-acs-2024-b25077 · block-group-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Water clarity Moderate sentinel-2-l2a · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Night sky Darkest skies viirs-black-marble-vnp46a4 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Surroundings Rural — open country, few close neighbors curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Water origin Reservoir curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
In more detail
- Climate
- four-season; mild winters (~45°F mean), hot summers (~77°F); ~58 in precip/yr noaa-normals-1991-2020-descriptor · lake-level · as of Aug 28, 2026
- Public access
- R L Harris Reservoir (Lake Wedowee) is a hydroelectric reservoir owned and shoreline-managed by Alabama Power Company, which operates day-use parks (Flat Rock Park, Little Fox / The Preserves) with swimming, picnicking, fishing, and a nature trail. ADCNR separately operates public boat ramps around the lake (Highway 48, Lonnie White, Swagg, Tranquility, and others). Fees/permits: No fee information found for Flat Rock Park or Little Fox Park day-use areas; contact listed as Flat Rock Park office (256) 396-2338.. Sources: outdooralabama.com (fetched 2026-07-12); apcshorelines.com (fetched 2026-07-12); boatramps.dcnr.alabama.gov (search-extraction 2026-07-12). curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Dogs and pets
- low — Alabama Power prohibits dogs at Flat Rock Park on Harris Lake; leashed dogs are allowed only on the adjacent Flat Rock Preserve Trail, so the principal developed park has a confirmed negative exception. curator · lake-level · as of Jul 19, 2026
- Property tax
- 0.25% ACS effective-rate proxy (2024 ACS 5-year; Randolph County anchor: $452 median real-estate taxes paid ÷ $181,600 median owner-occupied home value; Alabama proxy 0.38%, -0.13 percentage points). census-acs-2024-property-tax · county-level · as of Dec 31, 2024
Where it’s heading
Stable hand-rated for v0.1 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
Census ACS 2024 records a median home value of about $229,833 for the area, a level reading with no time series on the sheet to indicate direction. The reservoir's mercury fish-consumption advisory and Alabama Section 303(d) impaired-waters listing (ADPH 2025; ADEM 2024) are chronic atmospheric-deposition conditions first listed in 2018, not a worsening trend. Local reporting of COVID-era dock-permit growth and new residents is recorded only at snippet grade and unverified, so the overall trajectory is rated stable.