Trace State Park Lake

Trace State Park Lake is a 565-acre lake located between the cities of Pontotoc and Tupelo in Pontotoc County. The lake was originally designed and constructed by the Soil Conservation Service as a watershed lake for flood control. The lake was drained in 2017 for repairs to the dam, and was re-opened in August of 2020. Historically known for its good bream fishery, the lake currently supports both abundant bass and bream. A seasonal fishery also exists for crappie and catfish.

Address: 2139 Faulkner Rd, Belden, MS 38826
Phone: (662) 489-2958

For more information about fees, amenities, activities, camping, and lodging visit the Trace State Park page.

Fishing Report - Updated 5/20/2025

Species	Detail
Bass	The bass bite is fair to good and anglers are catching most fish in the 1-2 lb. range. Shallow points at the mouths of pockets with Texas-rigged finesse worms, chatterbaits, 1 oz. spinnerbaits, and Alabama rigs being good bait choices. Creek channels and slow moving rigs are successful. Topwater lures are successful early in the morning and late in the evening.
Crappie	Crappie bite is fair to good. Not a lot of numbers, but mostly 11- 12 inch fish being caught as deep at 10 feet and as shallow as 2 feet. Trolling jigs and crankbaits are good techniques to find the fish that have not started moving toward shallow water. Minnows are also known to be productive. In stained or muddy water, crappie have a tendency to move more shallow and be more active, so keep that in mind with all of the recent storms. Target fish attractors for activity.
Bream	Bream bite is very good. Large redear are being caught along the dam, and bluegill in the 8-9 inch range are regularly being caught. Bream should be bedding soon if they aren't already. They at least should be shallow looking for bedding areas and feeding. Anglers are tightlining red worms and/or crickets along the points, piers, and the banks. Check creek channels and woody cover for productivity.
Catfish	No reports from anglers targeting catfish although some bream anglers have caught some. The creek channels should be good for catfish. Try tightlining with liver, worms, hot dogs, or cut bait. The bite should be picking up. We anticipate the bite and anglers targeting catfish to continue to increase with the extra fish stocked from the youth rodeo.

Trace State Park Lake Special Regulations

Creel and Size Limits

Species	Lengths to Release	Daily Creel Limits
Catfish	No Length Limit	10 per angler

Statewide creel and size limits apply to all other fish species

Lake Regulations

Only rod and reel or pole fishing is allowed on State Park Lakes. No trotlines, set lines, jug fishing, or commercial gears are permitted.
Sport fishing licenses and fishing permits are required.
Night fishing (from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise) will be permitted from the shore or from boats which are in compliance with State and Coast Guard regulations. Only idle speed and trolling motors may be used at night.

Fish Attractors

Fish attractor sites placed in 2018 and 2019.

N 34.250176	W -88.892688	N 34.250552	W -88.890833
N 34.249174	W -88.892625	N 34.251191	W -88.889463
N 34.249510	W -88.893674	N 34.252348	W -88.887880
N 34.248284	W -88.893239	N 34.252516	W -88.887813
N 34.247894	W -88.893541	N 34.253179	W -88.886563
N 34.247681	W -88.893344	N 34.253262	W -88.886470
N 34.246820	W -88.893612	N 34.255404	W -88.890669
N 34.247843	W -88.893170	N 34.253982	W -88.905252
N 34.250452	W -88.891138	N 34.254598	W -88.905299
N 34.256715	W -88.905611

MDWFP fisheries personnel built and placed 7 new fish attractors throughout the lake in January 2025. The GPS coordinates for these attractors are listed below:

N 34.24686	W -88.89358
N 34.24274	W -88.89339
N 34.24270	W -88.89465
N 34.24275	W -88.89905
N 34.24836	W -88.90706
N 34.25269	W -88.90417
N 34.24768	W -88.90834

Reel Facts

Depth Map

Trace State Park Lake Interactive Map

Find and learn more about Trace State Park Lake...

Filter Lake