The Lake

Lay Lake is a beautiful man-made lake on the Coosa River about 40 miles from Birmingham. With over 250 miles of shoreline, and covering over 65,000 acres, Lay Lake offers a wealth of recreational activities, from fishing and boating to sightseeing and swimming. Two BassMasters Championships have been held here in the past several years, and it’s always exciting to see the huge number of bass boats out on the lake during the tournaments.

With a consistent water level year-round, Lay Lake does not experience the flooding that can occur on the lakes both above and below on the river during the spring. Nor is the water level lowered during the winter as it is on the neighboring lakes. This makes Lay Lake an ideal recreational lake for all seasons.

We are succeptible to drought, however. This past year, the lake water level dropped about 3-4 feet, making it impossible to use our boat ramp to launch the sailboat. The water was also so low that we couldn’t float the ski boat or the SeaDoo off the hoists in the boathouse, either. So, we were effectively ‘off the water’ from from June through February, when the rains returned and the water level returned to normal.

The photo above was taken from our front yard on a cool morning in Spring. The sun rises over the low mountains to the East, and shines right down the length of our little inlet. (Not that I’m up very often to see it.)