From spring's pre-spawn fishing on lakes and streams on into the night-fishing of summer, the early smallmouth action in the Volunteer State is just a drop in the bucket. Fall's feeding frenzy, followed up by the best winter fishing around on a variety of deep lakes, give Tennessee smallmouth angers a smorgasbord of brown fish options to choose from year 'round.

Count yourself lucky to get to travel within our borders to sample what Tennessee has to offer when it comes to smallies, from shallow-water streams to deep-water lakes. And count yourself even more fortunate that you just happen to live in the best all-around smallmouth state in the country.

In a year's fishing in Tennessee, you can battle a 6-pound smallmouth on 4-pound line with a long Float-N-Fly finesse rod, and you can come face to face with a trophy smallie in the moving water of a river, where the fish can use the current like a lever against you. I'll take either at any time.

Volunteer anglers have been taking advantage of smallmouth success for years, and with trophy regulations now in place across most of the state, the fishing seems to be getting better and better. Let's look at where that "better fishing" is.

OUR TOP BROWN FISH LAKES
George Scholten, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's (TWRA) reservoir and river fisheries coordinator, has little trouble identifying the top lake destinations for smallmouth bass.

Scholten said Dale Hollow is Tennessee's premier smallmouth fishery, but Tims Ford, South Holston, Norris and Pickwick reservoirs are also very good. Dale Hollow is just plain Dale Hollow -- the legendary lake is still the top destination when it comes to reservoir smallmouths.

Although Dale Hollow produces solid numbers of smallmouths, what really sets it apart is its capacity to produce trophy fish. Scholten said, according to the most recent creel surveys, Pickwick Reservoir actually had the highest catch rates. Dale Hollow and Norris were close behind Pickwick, and then followed up by Percy Priest and South Holston.

Scholten did say was the agency was proposing a trophy smallmouth regulation package for one reservoir for 2010, but that decision hadn't been made officially at press time, so keep an eye out for at least one change in smallmouth regulations this spring.

The best news is where the Volunteer State stands in relation to the rest of the country when it comes to quality smallmouth bass fishing. We've always been mentioned in the top two or three and often whispered as the best out there. Many biologists, as well as anglers, have believed that Tennessee is the top overall state for smallmouth bass fishing in recent years -- and not without reason. The trophy regulations in place have helped to beef up an already strong population.

"Tennessee is still the go-to state for high-quality smallmouth fishing," said Scholten. "Through progressive management, we have been able to maintain this high-quality fishing in spite of increases in fishing pressure."

As far as trophy regulations go, Scholten added, "Unfortunately, politicians intervened this past spring and size limits were reduced on several upper East Tennessee reservoirs. These reservoirs would really benefit from the 18-inch size limits that were in place earlier this year. Hopefully, someday we will be able to get these size limits back up where they need to be."

With this forecast each year, we also like to look at what we call dark horses for the coming year. This year's lake to keep in mind is an old standby that used to be known for big smallies more than its largemouth bass. Scholten said for those anglers who haven't discovered it yet, Watts Bar has improved tremendously in the last few years. Other than that renewed brown fish destination, he says the size limits on many reservoirs were increased to 18 inches in March 2009. That means the reservoirs with these size limits still in place should be improving soon. Scholten says these are definitely areas for anglers to watch.