Eastern TN End of March Suggestions

[dabassking]

A buddy and I are trying to plan a trip to eastern Tennessee towards the end of March. We actually plan on fishing a few days then running to Knoxville for a day of 2 at the classic.

What lake would you all suggest to fish around that time? I’ve kind of ruled out Cherokee since the Opens have been there a few times around that timeframe and it seemed tough and the way they caught them (deep Damiki rig) doesn’t really appeal to me. That narrows it down to Norris or Douglas, I think. We’re open to either focusing on smallmouth or largemouth, but I’d like the chance to catch some 4+ lb fish. We’d be open to other ideas or corrections on my assumptions of Cherokee. Any tips on lodging would be appreciated as well. Thanks!

[fish365]

I wouldn't rule out Cherokee. I've had some of the best days around that time of year cranking. The weather is the wild card that time of year. Not unusual to have 3"-8" of rain over a short time of days and all of the TVA highland reservoirs, Norris -Douglas-Cherokee, may come up 10'-30' or more and be full of logs trees, trash and debris.

[MattVT18]

There are way more lakes in East Tennessee than you mentioned. Are you coming to a specific town close to those lakes? For 4+ lb fish the lakes you mentioned would not be my choice. The upper end of Ft. Loudon (near downtown Knoxville and up) is a sleeper and of course there is Watts Bar and Chickamauga. Tellico and Melton Hill have some big bass in them they are just REALLY hard to catch most of the time. Depending on the weather you'll either be late pre-spawn or spawn on the lower lakes making bigger fish more likely. I've never caught a 4 lb fish on any of the lakes you mentioned but I know there is potential. I've caught more 4 lb fish than I care to count on Melton Hill and Watts Bar though.

[Tyler882]

If I was going to pick one lake in the east TN area, specifically looking for a good size bite - I would go Ft. Loudon or Melton Hill. Both of these have plenty of grass, rock, and cover to make them good shallow-er fisheries. Quality of fish is really good in both, maybe giving a slightly better quality of fish to Ft. Loudon. And as a big plus, these are so close together that if you stayed in that Knoxville area, you could go to both easily. The ramp that I use on Ft. Loudon is about 20-25 minutes, if that, from the one I use on Melton Hill.

And Douglas and Cherokee are so close by too, that if you spent a couple days in the area you could easily hit both of them as well.

I probably wouldn't rule out Cherokee as there are some really good 4+ smallmouth in there. Dropshot and crankbaits usually get it done on Cherokee for that time of year.

Douglas holds some excellent quality fish (many 5+ pounders), but getting them to bite can sometimes be pretty tough because that lake gets heavily pressured. May have to weed through some "Douglas lake special" 12 inch/1 pounders to get to them though, but they are definitely in there!

[Aj14]

I agree with 365. I was there last year at that time at the time of the opens. Many boats 300?, that week was freezing and very windy.
The first day of the open was canceled because of the wind.
I remember they did not catch them very good also.
It was strange for me to see a dock sitting below 30 feet of full pool.

[dabassking]

Thanks for the suggestions. Ft. Loudon and Telico are not an option because the Classic will be going on. I don’t want to interfere with them. I’m leaning towards Douglas.

[Cleve C.]

I've fished Douglas twice in March recently, yeah, fool me once, etc. There will be half a million crappie fisherman and almost that many for bass. Up the lake walleye and sauger guys. If the lake doesn't shoot up 20 feet in 2 days you might have a good dink fest.

[Stratos285proxl]

Go a little further east. Watauga and South Holston in March is amazing!