Tennessee River Fishing Spot
- Elevation: 340'
- Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/09/09 04:17 PM
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A lot of fish seem to have migrated to the Smithland Dam tailwaters. Most tailwater fishermen use three-way rigs anchored with bell or bank sinkers that range from 1 ounce to about 8 ounces. For channel cats, savvy anglers will key on slack areas that are close to moving water. They'll fish in these areas with small pieces of cut bait or chicken livers. For blues, experienced bait dunkers will fish in a little more current and switch to big pieces of cut shad or herring. For flatheads, almost all anglers use big, live fish, usually gizzard shad.
Tennessee River Description
This 16-mile section of the Tennessee River flowing north along the southern boundary of Livingston County is all that is left of the beautiful Tennessee River in the state of Kentucky. The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio. It is formed on the east side of Knoxville (TN), by the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers. It flows SW toward Chattanooga (TN), loops south into northern Alabama, then flows northward back into Tennessee and on to Kentucky where it separates the Jackson Purchase from the rest of the state before joining the Ohio at Paducah. The course of the river runs 650 miles or 1,046 km. The tailwaters of Kentucky and Barkley lakes on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, respectively, flow side by side toward the Ohio River from neighboring dams that impound the two reservoirs. Both rivers join the river between the Smithland Lock and Dam and Lock and Dam 52. Both of these areas can be accessed from the Ohio side. The best fishing is close to Kentucky and Barkley dams, however, and both rivers have boating and bank-fishing access near the dams. Formed by large hydroelectric dams with multiple generators and spill gates for flood control, the Barkley and Kentucky tailwaters are similar to one another, except that the Tennessee River is much larger and has more generators and spill gates. Both areas produce an abundant supply of catfish of all three major species. There are even some big ones in these waters. In fact, the Kentucky Lake tailwater produced the previous state-record blue catfish.
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles (1049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names.[1]