Smallmouths will bite under a variety of cold-weather conditions in lakes in Tennessee, making them a great early-season target for anglers. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

If you are a smallmouth angler, you can count yourself fortunate to be living within the borders of the Volunteer State where the smallmouth bass fishing from lakes to rivers and streams is as good as anywhere in the country and better than most.

From winter finesse techniques to topwater post-spawn action and on into the night for after-dark smallies, no waters equal the variety found here in Tennessee. The Float-N-Fly technique was born here, and smallmouth anglers across the state cut their teeth at an early age on hair jigs at night.

It's one thing to battle a 6-pound smallmouth on 4-pound monofilament with a long finesse rod like the situation found with "bobber" fishing, and then it's another to come face to face with a 21-inch-plus smallmouth in the moving water of a medium-sized stream. Both types of fishing are exhilarating. There's really no doubt that Tennessee offers the best of both worlds when it comes to quality lake fisheries and super smallmouth streams as well.

Tennessee's smallmouth bass fishing didn't happen overnight and it's nothing new to us or those who visit our smallmouth waters. We've been enjoying this kind of success for decades now, and it just seems to get better and better. Now, let's take a look at where brown fish reign.

OUR TOP SMALLMOUTH LAKES
George Scholten, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's (TWRA) reservoir and river fisheries coordinator, said little has changed from last year. The top lakes are still just that -- the top lake destinations for smallmouth bass.

He said he would have to recommend Dale Hollow, Tims Ford, South Holston and Pickwick reservoirs as being Tennessee's top smallmouth fisheries in that order. But anglers also shouldn't overlook the opportunities found at Kentucky Lake, Norris and Watauga lakes at certain times of the year.

Scholten went on to say Dale Hollow continues to provide excellent smallmouth fishing with both high catch rates and quality fish. Recent TWRA surveys on Dale Hollow recently showed high numbers and an excellent size distribution, just as they have in the past. If you've never fished Dale, you just have to if you consider yourself a smallmouth aficionado. Every time you find yourself there, a special feeling just overwhelms you -- for one thing, you're fishing where the world-record smallmouth bass was caught.

South Holston has also had some of the highest percentages of quality and preferred sized smallmouth bass of any of the fisheries in East Tennessee. The night-fishing at South Holston with grubs, jigs and spinnerbaits can often rival Dale Hollow itself, and the winter tournaments see bag limits weighed in that consistently feature 20-pound-plus catches of smallmouth bass.

TWRA data also indicates that the smallmouth fishery in Tims Ford Lake is responding well to the 18-inch minimum size limit that was implemented in 2005. The biologists feel that this fishery should continue to improve in years to come. Tims Ford is another excellent nighttime destination where jigs and spinnerbaits rule the darkness.

As has traditionally been the case, Pickwick Lake is another high-quality smallmouth fishery. Scholten still believes this lake would likely benefit from a higher size limit in the three states that manage the fishery. Pickwick is a special place to get a spinnerbait or crankbait crushed in the springtime.