Photo by Ron Sinfelt

We could argue all day about which is more fun: a 6-pound smallmouth bass on Float-N-Fly gear in the winter with 4-pound-test, the same quality fish hooked with a grub on 6-pound mono with its head in the current in a shallow river, or a serious brown fish destroying a big spinnerbait over grass at night.

The encounters are all different, they’re all as real as it gets, and they are definitely the best fights you’ll ever have face to face with the renowned king of freshwater fish. Brown fish, bronzebacks or smallies, whatever you choose to call them, they’re a top game fish in Tennessee, and Tennessee is a top destination for them. In this article, we’ll discuss the best smallmouth opportunities Tennessee has to offer anglers. If you have the time, they for sure have the fight.

We normally focus this smallmouth outlook on about four lakes and rivers. This year, we’ll change things a bit by looking at the top four smallmouth lakes and perhaps the top four rivers, but there’s also a little room for touching on some of rest of the best. Most know which lakes and rivers take top honors, but there are a few dark horses making some smallmouth noise as well.

In the last 20 or so years, I’ve been very fortunate to have fished most of the state’s best smallmouth waters. You could realistically say that I’ve backed a boat trailer in most of the reputable smallmouth lakes and waded and fallen down in almost all of the respected streams and rivers. Not much has changed in the last few years when it comes to what most anglers consider to be the best of the best. However, a few of the lakes change top ranks and so do the rivers.

To back up what I’ve experienced, I consulted the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s (TWRA) fisheries division. Tim Churchill has spent the last several years as the state’s reservoir biologist and has just moved into a new position in Director Gary Myers’ office as his primary grant writer and assistant. He’s in a transition mode but still knows as much or more than anyone about the smallmouth bass in Volunteer lakes.

THE BEST BROWN FISH LAKES
The top four smallmouth lakes in my book at present time have to be Dale Hollow, South Holston, Center Hill and Norris lakes. Churchill and TWRA data backed up those choices, and he ranked them in order of Dale Hollow, South Holston, Norris, and then Center Hill. He and others are also looking at Tims Ford as the dark horse and probably the biggest mover in the last couple of years. As a smallmouth fishery, Tims Ford is on the rise.

In my travels not only around the state but other parts of the country pursuing brown bass, I usually run into an angler or two from other states that like to challenge Tennessee’s highly ranked smallmouth fishing against their favorite waters. States like Michigan and waters like Lake Erie often come into the fray. I spent some quality time in the boat with two-time Bassmaster Champion Kevin VanDam last year, and we definitely compared Tennessee with Michigan from spring fishing to winter fishing.