Where to Fish
Eighty-five trout waters across East Tennessee, fished and field-verified, sorted so you can find the right one for today — not just the one you already know.
The rule that carries the whole region: fish high in the heat, and low in the cold. Match the water to the day and there is good trout fishing here in every month of the year.
Start with a region
Generation-driven water below the dams — cold every day of the year, and home to the browns that hold Tennessee's state records.
The Cherokee National Forest classics and their hatches — spring-through-fall water that wakes with the bugs and fades in the heat.
Tight casts, wild fish, and the cold high country where the South's native brook trout still live.
Wild, unstocked water off the crest — rainbows down low and native brookies up high, cold even in a heat wave.
Or find your day
A local's by-condition guide: where to go in a heat wave, where to catch stocked fish, and where the wild brookies are — sorted by drive time from town.
A month-by-month guide — spring hatches, cold-water summer tailwaters, the Hiwassee in fall, and winter's delayed-harvest trophies.
The quiet secret of the year: Gatlinburg's delayed-harvest trophies and the cold tailwaters that fish right through the winter.
Every water has its own full guide. Conditions change — check the gauge, the generation schedule, and the current regulations before you go.