I live in Chattanooga, so I usually just head to the Hiwassee or Tellico to fish. This weekend I will be in Nashville, and will find myself with some free time Saturday evening. I was hoping to wet a fly or two. I think that the Duck is too far away to be worthwhile for me ( I’m staying off Bell Road). I don’t necessarily need to be on trout water (is there any this time of year?) but I’d like to find some wadeable riffles to cast on - perhaps for Bass, Crappie, or Bluegills.
So I’m hoping someone familiar with the Nashville area can put me on some good water near where I am?
I was going to post when I first saw your post, but, you said the Duck was too far away. I live in Tullahoma and fish the Duck and the Elk. The Duck is not a power generating dam so no worry on generation. It is flowing 68 degree water from the dam and that makes for bad trout fishing, but, the warm water fishing is good. Lots of bluegill, black perch and bass. The Elk River, below Tims Ford Dam, is running 54 degrees and trout fishing is really good right now. Tim’s Ford Dam is a power generating dam, so, you must check the generation schedule each morning. Just call: 1-800-238-2264, wait for the computer to answer and then push #4, wait and when it asks for you to put the number in for the dam you are interested in, just push #5 & 0 & the # sign. They will tell you the generation schedule for the Elk. The #5 & 6 & # sign will give you how much water is being released from the Normandy Dam for the Duck. Anything below 200 cubic feet per second is safe wading on the Duck. For the past several weeks they have been releasing around 150CFS on the Duck. If you need more info on these 2 rivers just let me know.
I would really like to hit the Elk, but realistically it won’t be worth my time. My wife will be working for a client Satuday after 5, so I would only have from 5 til dark to fish, which would be mostly eaten up by the drive there. I was hoping to find some wadeable water within 30 minutes of Hicory Hollow mall. I know there’s the stones, and the J Percy Priest tailwater (what’s that? the Cumberland river or something like that?)
So on that note, I will need to return to Chattanooga Sunday, so if I can swing it I could veer off for a bit to the Elk. If I did that, what would be the best place to hit to wade and have a little fun with the Trout?
I would recommend that you go directly below the Tim’s Ford Dam. Walk down the river to where it makes a sharp 90 to the right and fish that bend and the water around the bend. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. They usually do not generate on the weekends. As far as what fly to use, I would try an olive woolly bugger with flash in the tail on a #12 streamer hook. It needs to be weighted either by lead on the hook shank under the body or a bead head. I may be fishing in that area this Sunday so if you see a white Mazda B3000 pickup with a white fiberglass cover on the bed with a FAOL bumper sticker in the back cap window, I’m there somewhere. Hopefully, we can connect and fish some before you have to leave.
J Percy Priest dams the Stones River just south of I-40. You can fish for warm water fish below the dam if they are not generating or in the lake if they are. There IS generation from JPP dam and it is likely to be in effect when you want to be fishing. If power is being generated, then forget fishing it with a fly rod.
The problem with fishing on Saturday afternoon is that every place that you might want to use a long rod will have about a jillion people around. The rest of the places are now “Posted, No Trespassing”. Note to non-residents, violating that can land you in the county jail for “11-29” (11 months, 29 days). Not likely, but it is possible. Getting access to the water is the biggest problem now.
Another possible site is the Little Harpeth River, actually more like a creek, that runs thru Edwin Warner Park. Getting access to the stream on Saturday is a complete crap-shoot. There are some smallmouth bass there up to about 3 pounds. There are some LMB, bluegill, red-bellies, carp, etc… I was out there for a quick jaunt Tuesday morning and the BG and SMB were reasonably cooperative. Wading the long, straight stretch above the falls in the park is a bit treacherous because of holes in the beddrock bottom and the presence of round boulders and submerged logs. The topography changes after every good rain, and we had one of those a few hours ago. You can wade it and probably be away from most people, but beware of kayakers who seem to be looking for speed and come around blind turns way too fast. Most of the snakes that you will see in the water in the park are Queen Snakes. About a hundred yards downstream of the falls, I saw what might have been a cottonmouth a couple of times last year, but not this year.
There is no trout water in Nashville in the summer.
I wish that I could join you, but I have some major computer work happening about then. I’ll be about two ridgelines east of JPP Dam. Warm regards,
Ed
The pleasure was all mind. Now I can say that I have met face to face with 3 FAOL!! I only wish I had know you were coming and I could have shown you more of the river. I will look forward to meeting you one weekend and spending a day on the river. Just e-mail me.
