Load the boat at Morganton Point on a mid-August morning and the first thing you notice is how much shoreline isn't showing. By this point in most summers, the pebble beach at the swim area has widened, the ramps up toward the north end have started to show their concrete aprons, and everybody who fishes here has already adjusted where they park the truck. Not this year. The lake is sitting close enough to full pool that the routine hasn't had to change yet. Away from the water, one familiar stop for many Morganton households has changed.
The Gauge Is Reading Better Than the Calendar Suggests
Lake Blue Ridge runs on a managed drawdown. Full pool sits at 1,686 feet, and the reservoir typically loses about 20 feet between that summer high and its winter low, filling back up each spring as rain and releases allow. As of the August 2026 fishing report from Georgia Outdoor News, the lake was measured at 4.5 feet below full pool, with a surface temperature around 85 degrees. Run the math on that and you get something worth knowing if you live here: the lake has used up a bit over a fifth of its typical annual swing, and it's the middle of August.
That's not a subtle difference if you're the one loading a cooler onto a pontoon. A lake that's only a fifth of the way into its seasonal drop behaves like an earlier-summer lake. Floating docks that would normally need a longer gangway by now are still sitting at a comfortable working length. The pebble beach at Morganton Point still requires water shoes, same as always, but there's more of it underwater than a typical mid-August visitor would expect.
Here's the year in a single frame:
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 1,686 feet |
| Reading in the August 2026 report | 4.5 feet below full pool |
| Typical winter-to-full-pool swing | about 20 feet |
| Share of that swing used so far | roughly one-fifth |
For anglers, the same report has the walleye holding in the 30 to 60 foot range and biting best on an early troll with spoon presentations, while trout are still active on sunny days in the Toccoa tailrace below the dam. None of that requires the lake to be higher or lower than normal. It's just useful to know before you decide what to load in the boat this weekend.
Three Ramps, and Right Now All Three Are Working the Same
Morganton residents already know the lake has more than one way in. What's worth flagging is that this year, none of them are compromised the way they can be once the drawdown gets serious in September and October.
- Morganton Point, off Lake Drive, is the low-cost public ramp attached to the campground and swim beach, with a $5-per-person day-use fee. It's the ramp most people use if they're also stopping at the beach or the concession stand locals call The Point for a kayak or paddleboard rental.
- Lakewood Landing, on Old Highway 76, is the fee ramp closer to the dam side of the lake. It's the better call if you're launching early and want less foot traffic than Morganton Point sees on a weekend morning.
- Lake Blue Ridge Marina, also on Old Highway 76 near the dam, is the one with fuel, boat storage, and the Boat Dock Bar & Grill if you're planning to make a full afternoon of it rather than a quick trip out and back.
At 4.5 feet below full pool, all three are launching boats without the shallow-water complaints that show up later in the season. That's worth knowing now, because the campground and its ramp close for the year at the end of October, and the water only gets thinner from here.
Serenberry Vineyards and Sunday Stops
If you've made the drive out toward Serenberry Vineyards recently expecting a Sunday tasting, you already know the story. The family that ran it for eighteen years announced in January 2025 that they were winding the business down, and by the end of March 2025 the tasting room had closed for good. The barn that housed it dated back to the early 1900s and had been in the family since the late 1950s, which is part of why it worked as a stop for people who'd spent the morning on the water and wanted somewhere quiet to sit before heading home.
Some general guides to Morganton still list Serenberry Vineyards as open on Sundays, though its tasting room closed at the end of March 2025.
Other Sunday Options Around Morganton
Other Sunday options include places that were already part of the rotation, offering different experiences from the vineyard's tasting room.
Project Chimps, the sanctuary tucked into the woods outside town, is still booking guided tours for anyone who wants an afternoon that isn't centered on water. Morganton Point's day-use area still runs its beach, its picnic tables, and its rental stand through the campground season, which closes at the end of October. And the marina crowd on Old Highway 76 has the Boat Dock Bar & Grill if the plan is to stay near the water rather than head back into town.
For a water-centered afternoon, the Point and marina keep the day close to the lake; Project Chimps offers a change of pace inland.
The Two Threads Together
The lake is being generous this August in a way the calendar doesn't usually allow, and that buys Morganton a few extra weeks of near-full-pool boating before the October drawdown starts in earnest. Serenberry Vineyards' tasting room closed in March 2025, while Morganton Point, Project Chimps, and Lake Blue Ridge Marina offer other Sunday options. Together, these details describe August in Morganton.
If the shifting rhythm of a season like this one ever has you thinking about what comes next for a lake property in Morganton, whether that's timing a sale around water levels the right way or figuring out what your place is actually worth with the lake sitting this full, Laura Elleby and the E+E Group know this shoreline block by block. Discover Blue Ridge Living. Let's talk about your next move.