2 Charlotte-area lakes score big in new national ranking. Why they won.
Lake Norman and Lake Wylie offer among the most picturesque views in America when fishing, according to a new national ranking.
North Carolina’s largest manmade lake finished second to Lake Tahoe as the country’s most beautiful lake for anglers, based on the number of its tagged Instagram reels, according to fishing forecast app Fishing Points. Lake Wylie ranked ninth.
The app analyzed Instagram reels of 129 major North American lakes to find the top 10 most Instagrammable lakes to go fishing.
Lake Norman “offers a chance of landing record-breaking catfish,” according to a Fishing Points news release. “Created between 1959 and 1964 during the construction of the Cowans Ford Dam, it has a total of 3.8 million reels featuring #LakeNorman.
Lake Wylie had 822,000 reels.
‘Stunning surroundings’
Lake Norman beat the likes of Lake Michigan, No. 4 with 2.9 million reels, and Lake Ontario, fifth with 2.1 million.
Klemen Klemenčič, Fishing Points co-owner and CEO, said the “strong showing” by Lake Norman “proves anglers do not need to travel to a national landmark to find stunning surroundings.”
Lake Norman has hosted some of the top fishing tournaments in the Southeast for decades.
Professional angler Cole Huskins of Gastonia won the recent Turtlebox Bassmaster Open on the lake with a three-day total catch of 47 pounds, 14 ounces.
This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 11:16 AM.