Fishing Report For Watts Bar Lake, TN

By Rick Seaman

January 24, 2025

Popular Fish Species Reports
Watts Bar Lake Fishing Video
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Fishing Report Watts Bar Lake, TN

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Watts Bar Lake, TN

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Very Good To Excellent

In early Spring bass are being caught on points and structure around the mouths of coves. As Spring progresses, bass move into the coves and spawn around any type of cover. After the spawn they move outside the coves to lake points, ledges and river channel edges. The TWRA reports that the current average bass caught here weighs 2 1/2 pounds. Stocking of Florida-strain largemouth bass should enhance the fishing over time.

Smallmouth Bass

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Smallmouth bass love to feed on crawfish. Mid-range crankbaits like the Rapala DT-6, in crawfish colors, are ideal around rocky points and gravel banks. Once the smallies move off the bank, to points and rock piled, locals report good catches on tube baits. The smallmouth spawn typically happens a couple weeks earlier than largemouth, and they tend to bed in deeper water.

Striped Bass

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Striped bass tend to congregate in the tailwaters below Melton Hill Dam on the Clinch River and below Fort Loudon Dam on the Tennessee River. These are good feeding spots where stripers ambush shad and small fish drifting downstream. Other schools of stripers school up in the deeper, cool water of the main lake and follow the shad schools. In Fall, as water temperatures cool, stripers move shallower. Being successful at fishing for stripers is a matter of locating schools of bait, and wolf packs of stripers are likely to be nearby. Fish finders are a big help in locating these roaming schools. Swimbaits, jerkbaits, crankbaits, spoons, live bait and cut bait are all effective here.

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, channel catfish, blue catfish, black crappie, white crappie, walleye, bluegill, redear sunfish, rock bass, warmouth, white bass, yellow bass, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, muskie, paddlefish and sauger at Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee.

Watts Bar Lake is a 39,000-acre reservoir on the Tennessee River, with over 700 miles of shoreline. Big bass, stripers and crappie are the main attraction here. The lake is well-known for its exceptional bass fishing. Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass are abundant in the lake. The lake also offers fishing for catfish, muskie, white bass and sunfish.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Today's Weather & Forecast

Fishing Boat Rentals

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Marinas

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Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

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Fishing License

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Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".