Work travel earlier this week took me through Chattanooga. A couple of exploration stops, when combined with things I’ve found on previous trips, helped me realize that the Chattanooga area offers an amazing amount of shoreline fishing access. It’s an area I’m now eager to explore more with more dedicated fishing time at my disposal.
I should note up front that this post won’t be a detailed fishing guide. More so it’s reporting what I’m beginning to discover. I’ll detail more as I learn more, probably showing some of the access points in video form on the Fishing on Foot YouTube channel.
Chickamauga Lake & Tailwater
Although there are other fishing spots in the area, the main areas I’m taking about are toward the lower end of Chickamauga Lake and along the Tennessee River, downstream of the dam.
On the lake, Booker T Washington State Park and the Chickamauga Dam Day Use Area both offer extensive access for Fishing in Foot, and while they are near one another geographically, opportunities differ substantially.
The Bay, which is within the state park, is a dedicated fishing area, with a fishing pier and parking that’s handy to the pier, a riprap point that connects a big bay with a cove that’s off it and significant sections of shore along the bay and the cove.
Anglers I’ve seen on past visits to this park have been targeting crappie, but I have little doubt that at times it’s a good place to catch bass, bream and catfish.
The day use area at the dam again offers easy access to a long section of shore. The main difference is that it’s on the lake’s main body, instead of a creek or cove, and includes access to the riprap at the end of the dam.
Like the dams that create most Tennessee River impoundments, Chickamauga Dam has good access to riprap banks immediately below the dam and a fishing pier close to the dam. I knew that and had fished within sight of the dam before.
What I didn’t realize is that a park-like corridor of public access extends several miles below the dam with places to fish the river running through downtown. Included in the first few miles is what is officially called a “fishing park” and includes several fishing piers.
Big river tailwaters are almost like saltwater fisheries on terms of the variety of fish species and opportunities they provide. Any fish that bites could turn out to be one of many different kinds of fish, and the nature of the fishing varies enormously according to the season, the river level and which turbines are turning.
Blue catfish, smallmouth bass, crappie and white bass are some of the species most frequently sought beneath the dam.
Keep an eye on this blog and my YouTube channel for more on shoreline fishing around Chattanooga.
Fishing on Foot 