Though small compared to other Tennessee waters,
Boone Lake has a notable
striper fishery.
Tennessee is best known for country music and the Smoky Mountains, but it also boasts superb freshwater opportunities—among the best in the United States. This is not a secret to resident and nearby anglers, and the news is beginning to spread far beyond the state’s borders.
Home to more than 300 species of fish, Tennessee is among the most ichthyologically diverse of any state in the country. From the sandy-bottomed ponds and creeks of the coastal plains of western Tennessee, to the cold tumbling streams and large man-made reservoirs of the east, anglers have access to a multitude of environments that support gamefish. As a result of the federal government’s attempts to control flooding and create inexpensive electricity, the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers were converted into a series of lakes that step-stone from one end of the state to another. The 24 major reservoirs along these rivers attract the bulk of the angling interest in the state. In total, Tennessee has 29 large lakes that contain more than 500,000 surface acres of water; this is complemented by more than 2,000 miles of coldwater streams, 19,000 miles of warmwater streams, and more than a dozen family fishing lakes created by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA).
All of this water, matched with ample rainfall and a mild climate, makes Tennessee an angler’s paradise. East Tennessee is home to some of the South’s best trout fishing; here, stocked rainbows and browns offer a larger, more plentiful, and easier-to-find alternative to native brook trout. Since the 1960s, striped bass have been aggressively stocked statewide and are now the predominant fishery on some lakes. Largemouth bass thrive statewide in every significant reservoir and river, and they are usually the dominant species in thousands of farm ponds. In the clearer, cooler waters, largemouth are often joined by smallmouth and spotted bass. Smallmouths are also abundant in the many smaller rivers that have not been dammed or otherwise altered.
Reservoirs are the most popular angling destinations in the state, and some 440,000 individuals participate in these fisheries in any given year. Seventy-five percent of them pursue a particular species; largemouth bass are the most popular species by far and attract roughly half that number of anglers annually. In a recent Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) rating of lakes according to angler success, fish quantity, and fish quality, Chickamauga in the eastern end of the state, Percy Priest in the middle, and Barkley in the west ranked as the best places to fish for Tennessee largemouths. Barkley, which gets surprisingly little fishing pressure, produced the most consistent angling across the state.
The TWRA manages a group of family fishing lakes in middle and west Tennessee, and another group is under construction. Some of these small lakes are operated by private concessionaires and offer everything from boats to baitfish; most require a daily angling permit.
