Looking at changing things up this year from the typical beach thing and taking a vacation somewhere that we have not been. I have some interests in visiting Lake Martin (or somewhere similar) but I know nothing about the area. I am mainly wanting to rent a house for my family for roughly a week and bring my boat. Question, is there nice places to pull the boat up and let the family swim or is it all anchoring in deep water?

www.lakemartin.com has several listings for rentals. Beautiful place.

Several islands and beaches to pull up on at lake Martin. My advice would be to try and pick a non- holiday week to experience the lake. It can be a bit much these days around the holidays.

There are plenty of islands you can pull up on and swim. You can check out Goat Island by the dam and see the goats. Plenty of restaurants you can access by boat all of which have mediocre food in my opinion but they are fun to go to via water.

I live a mile or so from Martin and frequently go to fish or lounge on the water. There are quite a few places to beach your boat on the lower end of the lake. There were no trespassing signs posted on the Russell Lands owned property on the lake to discourage social gathering due to covid 19, not sure if they are still enforcing this. Lake rentals are pretty pricey, can go for beach vacation for the same dollars, have looked into this for a staycation. Lake is stupid busy this year so be prepared for rough water around boat traffic if your boat is on the smaller side. It's a big lake so you can get away from the crowds if you want to. Wind creek, Blue creek, Kowaliga, chimney rock will be your busiest areas.

David

Signs are down on sand bars. We enjoyed the lake this past weekend. small boat on big water during weekend can be pretty rough. Weekdays are smooth as glass most of the time. You won't regret it, take in a pizza at Chuck's while your down. There are some condo's next to us called Paradise Point if any are available, they have pier parking for the boat.

Instal the app VRBO there are several dozen or more house for rent in the $200-$400 a night range i know of a nice little cabin for $250 in the equality area that will sleep 6 or 7 with a sand beach and private ramp and dock it is off in a slough and peaceful due to the fact 1,000 wake boats arent passing by every hour creating off shore like wake it is convenient to kowaliga reel island and parker creek i will find the info and send it to you if youll pm me a phone number that i can text too. also know of a few more that sleep up to 10 in the $350-400 range that are nice but on the main part of the lake with all the traffic

heres a few pictures think its $250 a night with private ramp we really like the place pull up back the boat in and start your vacation if you want to know locations of sandbars to hang out on martin I can send you gps of atleast 10 or 15 good ones but they are all over the place really if you just cruise and look

Spend most of my summers on that lake. Like others have said it can get really rough on Holliday weekends. Lots of things to do lots of places to eat.

Shhhhhh... don't tell everyone about LM!!!!!!!! . Have fun. Chuck's Marina serves some cold beer and pizza!!!!!!!!!!! LM is close to Auburn so there are a lot of AU fans there... which is a great thing! If you're a Bama fan, that's ok... we'll welcome you too! Good luck!

Great place but it’s not the lake Martin I grew up on. Too many outsiders from big cities think they on the lake and they don’t respect the lake or others.

Agreed. I haven’t been on it as long as some but I’ve got 43yrs of her running thru my veins. It’s hard to believe how much it’s changed over the years.

I love living near LM and wish I had more time to spend enjoying it but life is busy these days. I hope you find a great place

I’m also willing to bet that most of us who spend a lot of time on Lake Martin will tell you it’s some tough fishing. That is unless you have a doc light. It’s a very clear lake which makes it easier to swim in. One of my favorite lake activities is floating in the water with good friends drinking beer.

We were on our pier last Saturday night fishing our monster lights when a boat pulls up and 2 men and 1 older boy starts fishing right on top of us. They were only 20ft from the dock and sitting right on top of our lights. After about 30 seconds i told them to move the boat and how they were not teaching that young man any manners when it came to fishing. They never said a word and just left. The fishing is tough enough without the asshats coming in on top of you.

You know that saying "You can't have nothing nice."

I think that applies to Lake Martin. What a great peaceful place that I enjoyed for most of my life...... that has within the last 10 years or so been completely overrun by jet skis, general dumbassery and people from Atlanta.

Sort of just like the beach..... except the beach is now overrun with Coonasses from LA.

he's right, they also have a FB Karen page called LM Boaters that drip water from the page. Nothing like it used to be, if you decide to go pm me and I have a surefire method of catching fish there. shhhh

Lake Lanier is FULL! And, ppl from Atlanta can drive SW to Auburn and then to Lake Martin just about as fast as it would take them to travel up GA 400 or I85 on a Friday afternoon to reach Lake Lanier!!! And, lakefront property is or WAS cheaper than lake property on Lake Lanier or lakes surrounding Atlanta. But hey, let's populate this country as fast as we can. We have a world that you, and that means YOU... a world that YOU need to clothe, educate, feed, house and provide iPhones to and basically, support!!! I want the USA to be an India or China and live on top of each other!!! Pollute the waters and exhaust our natural resources!! Of course i'm being facetious about wanting to as I hate where we're headed, but that's the path America is on!!!! But hey, I don' t want this to turn into a political slant. NTL, Lake Martin is a gem!!! What a wonderful place to spend some time! I hope to retire there one day.

We always take the kids to the landing at Parker creek during the day. Great beach and activities. Usually chucks or coppers in still water for dinner. Coppers you park at the marina and catch a golf cart to the restaurant. Chimney rock is fun to watch, and so is goat landing but the will both be mad houses. North Beach can get crowded at times but it’s one of the biggest cleanest beaches on the lake. You should be able to find plenty of sloughs or islands that have smaller beaches where you can get a little privacy as well.

I grew up on Lake Martin and as others have said, it has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. For most of life, it never seemed crowded unless you were at Chimney Rock and folks understood the rules of operating a boat. It was common for a wave or a drink salute when you passed another boater. That's done with now. With the infiltration of folks from Atlanta and the overall lack of courtesy, it can be a rough place on the weekend. Sunday afternoon until Saturday AM are pretty good times to be on the lake most of the year. I usually hit the water with the family until about 10:00 and let all the folks head to the rock and then get back on the water after they've gone.

This past Saturday there were more boats on the water than I have ever seen other than at the fireworks show on the July 4th. Watched some Idot come through Peanut Point (no wake zone) in a fully loaded pontoon boat with the throttle down. Tons of boats and people in the water. Amazed he didn't kill or injure a bunch of people. Get ready, plans are in place for a large development and a mid-lake connector to 280 that will make getting to the lake from Atlanta easier.

Anybody remember the Boat House Lounge at Castaway Island?