Low light, a nice river channel and cut bait: They all add up to big catfish in Tennessee. Photo by Jeff Samsel

What's not to like if you're a catfish living in the tailwater below a big-river dam? Skipjack and shad of all sizes are ever present and usually abundant, and the water's a little cooler than what you would find just down the river. Good current flows over a rough, rocky bottom, often with swift water next to slacker areas. Beyond the boulders that litter the bottom, riprap lines both banks, and various concrete walls and barge ties provide additional cover. Plus, the bottom goes up and down like a roller coaster, creating even more great places to hide.

And what's not to like if you're a catfisherman? Tailwaters of large hydroelectric dams hold all the cats one might expect, considering their incredible offerings of food, current and cover. In addition, likely holding areas are generally fairly easy to recognize once anglers learn to read the water. Making things even better, angler access generally is very good, even for fishermen who are confined to the banks.

In Tennessee, the best tailwaters for catfishing, overall, are those along the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. Cats grow to big sizes in the major rivers, and all three species are apt to show up. From there, making picks becomes a tougher proposition. Truly, all eight dams along these rivers and within Tennessee's borders offer high-quality catfishing. That fact acknowledged, we've selected four of the best. They are widespread across the state and each offers something a little different to fishermen.

FORT LOUDOUN DAM
Fast action is the name of the game in the waters downstream of Fort Loudoun Dam, southwest of Knoxville. Few really massive cats come from within sight of the dam, but the action can be very good when conditions are right, with plenty of decent-sized fish in the mix.

The right conditions, generally speaking, means water flowing through some of the dam's turbines. While the cats won't hold right in the heavy flow, they clearly feed more aggressively when some current is flowing. Anglers commonly fish around turbines that are off but close to turbines that are on, where swirling eddies and seams between current lines develop. Most either drift downstream in the current or hold over "blowout holes" near the face of the dam with motors kept running to hold position.

Philip Price of Asheville, N.C., an avid Tennessee River catfisherman who travels across the mountains almost weekly during the summer to target big cats, has enjoyed his best success below Loudoun Dam by fishing from the bank. He uses a large slip cork (large enough to float 3 ounces of weight) and suspends his bait 3 to 4 feet beneath the surface. His technique is simple. He casts upstream and lets the current carry the offering back downstream. With this method, which he has used to great success in several tailwaters, he can easily work up and down a riprap bank as he fishes in order to cover a lot of water.

Price uses live and cut threadfin and gizzard shad, but he generally prefers cut bait for targeting cats. Most fish he catches from the tailwater, which are a mix of blues and channels, weigh 3 to 15 pounds. Occasionally, he'll catch a 20-pounder.

Price also has drifted below Fort Loudoun and has caught cats using a couple of different techniques. One method is to fish several lines up off the bottom, essentially free-lining them as he drifts downstream. The other is to use a three-way rig with a 3- to 5-ounce bell sinker, ticking the weight along the bottom. Hang-ups are super-abundant, Price warned.

Not far downstream of the dam, in water still very much affected by tailwater flows, the Tennessee River does produce plenty of very large cats. In fact, the big bends in the river near the I-75 crossing are considered by some anglers to be among the best in the whole river for big-fish production. Price caught and released one massive blue from that section last summer that bottomed out 75-pound scales.