Time is not always on an angler's side. Most anglers in Tennessee do not have nearly as many days that are free for fishing as they'd like. For those anglers, maximizing the fishing they do get to do is very important. One of the best ways to get the most out of your fishing days is to plan as well as possible where you're going to go fishing and what you'll be fishing for throughout the year.

With that in mind, we've again compiled a year's worth of fishing data for you to help plan those times that you can get away from your otherwise hectic life. You shouldn't have to spend that time trying to figure out what fish are doing at certain times of the year.

We've broken this plan down to feature monthly options all year with different key species noted each month. After reading this, it's our hope that all you have to do is get away from the real world and just fish.

JANUARY
Norris Lake
Smallmouth Bass
Norris Lake is a fine wintertime smallmouth destination. One of my favorite smallmouth memories came at Norris Lake on a cold and frosty morning on a 30-foot stretch of bank that provided 16 strikes in a matter of minutes. We boated two 5-pounders in that stretch in the Loyston area and broke another off.

In the wintertime, the lower to mid-section of the lake is best. Several trips to those areas have proved that the lake will produce smallies in the 4- to 5-pound range with a good deal of consistently. That doesn't mean you'll catch 5-pounder every trip, of course, but the opportunity does exist. Norris can also provide decent days for numbers of strikes in the winter. Catches of a dozen or more smallmouth bass on a cold day can be a common occurrence.

If you access the lake at the public ramp at Norris Dam, you can easily target and catch smallmouths up the Cove Creek arm to the left coming away from the dam. There are some hollows and very good smallmouth points in this area. The fish in these waters are susceptible to a Float-N-Fly all winter long, and the reliable hair jig can also be a deadly producer.

FEBRUARY
Old Hickory Lake
Striped Bass
Legendary striper guide Ralph Dallas said you'll find Old Hickory's late-winter monster stripers around the warmwater discharge at the steam plant, in the main channel, up in creeks and traveling alongside main channel islands.

At first light, it's topwater time on Old Hickory. Dallas said you have to be ready when the stripers are surface feeding on skipjack herring in the warmwater discharge. It happens fast, doesn't last long, but could produce that fish of a lifetime on a Red Fin.

After the sun comes up, it's all about live bait. Dallas will use live bait on down-lines but said you can just cover so much more water with planer boards. In the warmwater discharge, he'll pull boards mainly with skipjack on lines about 20 feet behind his boards. Dallas said the stripers won't look at a 6-inch gizzard shad but will readily take a 12-inch skipjack.

The cold weather associated with this period is big-fish time on Old Hickory Lake. Dallas likes to fish the nastiest day he can find right before a big cold front. On the edges of these fronts, he's boated as many as 15 stripers over 40 pounds in a single day.