Jason Henegar, our new TWRA river and streams coordinator, is the new kid on the block so to speak, but after a year or so on the job, he knows his smallmouth rivers very well. He took the time to help us break down our best smallmouth rivers, and based on my background of guiding anglers and catching smallmouths in river situations, he's right on the money.

In Henegar's book, the Pigeon River is once again the top smallmouth river destination for Volunteer smallies, followed by the Holston River system, the French Broad, and then the famed Nolichucky River. But this wouldn't be a complete look at our best smallmouth rivers if we didn't mention the Buffalo, Cumberland and Duck rivers too.

I'll never knock any smallmouth river destination -- like I said, they're all good if they have brown fish in them. The only difference between the East Tennessee rivers and their counterparts in Middle and West Tennessee is quality versus numbers. I've fished them all but one, and the Buffalo is on my hit list for this summer -- I have to go. I've encountered some good 3-pound smallies in the Duck and had brown fish knock the paint off a peanut jig in the Cumberland River below Old Hickory Dam. These three rivers are great places to catch plenty of nice smallies in good numbers.

Henegar said there are many factors to take into account with any quality fishery. Of course, you have to have the available forage to grow quality fish, but the availability of habitat for larger fish has to be present. He said this might be in the form of more consistent and adequate flows or structure that allows the larger fish to escape high flows or feed more efficiently. Another factor that affects a quality fishery is the amount of fishing pressure a river gets and that it can withstand. Those qualities can be found in all of the East Tennessee smallmouth rivers.

"The Duck, Buffalo and Cumberland are better for numbers of fish than big fish," acknowledged Henegar. "However, our surveys do find some quality smallmouths in these waters. They just do not produce the numbers of quality fish that the Holston, Pigeon and French Broad produce."

There's one dark horse river that I've mentioned over the last couple of years that at certain times of the year deserves your full attention. It's the Little Pigeon River. Unlike the French Broad, Holston and Pigeon rivers, all of which can produce big smallies in the 4- to 6-pound class almost year 'round, the Little Pigeon is best in the spring for quality fish, and after that, it's a good numbers fishery the rest of the year. The bigger smallies -- those in the 3- to 5-pound range -- move up from the French Broad into the Little Pigeon in serious numbers in the early to late spring.

Henegar couldn't agree more. You can't go wrong with a finesse worm like a Yum Dinger fished on a 2/0 hook without a weight there in the spring and summer.

"The Little Pigeon remains a seasonal fishery for quality smallmouths coming into the river from the French Broad River," Henegar said. "Fish in the 10- to 14-inch ranges can be caught throughout the year, but those bigger fish are only there during a short time in the spring and early summer. It remains a good smallmouth fishery, but does not support the quality smallmouths year 'round like the Pigeon, Holston or the French Broad."