Beta

GuidedFloats is in beta. The full site launches March 1, 2027. The mobile app follows.

Guides: claim before March 1, 2027 and your first full season of Premium is free. Claim your founding spot →

Log in List your guide serviceFor guides
Home › Waters › Tennessee › Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam
Tailwater · Upper Cumberland · Tennessee

Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam Fishing Guides and Conditions, Tennessee

The Cordell Hull tailwater on the upper Cumberland near Carthage - cold, generation-driven water below the dam holding striped bass, smallmouth and a strong late-winter walleye run.

A river bending away below forested hills in the Appalachians
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam

Cordell Hull Dam sits on the Cumberland River just upstream of Carthage, Tennessee, and the water it releases sets the character of the river for many miles downstream. Like every generation tailwater, this reach has two states: still and wadeable when the units are off, and a fast, cold, rising river within minutes of the horn. The bed below the dam is limestone ledge and gravel with deep scour holes near the structure, grading into a broader, slower river as it works down toward Carthage and the Caney Fork confluence.

Striped bass are what the tailwater is best known for. They stack below the dam through the warm months because the released water stays cold when the rest of the river does not, and guides run trips specifically for them from late spring into September. Smallmouth bass hold on the ledges and in the current seams year-round and are the most consistent catch. White bass run up to the dam in spring in large numbers, walleye make a late-winter spawning push into the tailrace, and blue catfish hold in the deep scour water immediately below the structure. It is a genuinely mixed fishery in a short piece of river.

Access is concentrated at the dam. The Corps of Engineers maintains a tailwater recreation area with a boat ramp and bank fishing platforms, and most fishing happens either from that bank or from boats launched there. Wading is possible during generation-off windows and is dangerous at any other time, because the river can come up several feet with very little warning. The gauge below the dam reports water temperature and stage but publishes no discharge series, which means the release schedule matters more than any flow number when planning a trip here.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Cordell Hull Dam tailwater area - Corps of Engineers boat ramp, parking and bank fishing access immediately below the structure.
Defeated Creek and the Carthage area serve the reach downstream where the river widens and slows.
Bank fishing platforms at the tailwater are the safest option during generation and the most heavily used spot on the reach.
The Caney Fork confluence below Carthage adds a second cold-water input and holds fish through the summer.
Wading is only sensible during confirmed generation-off windows; check the release schedule before committing to it.
The horn and the warning lights at the dam mean the river is about to rise - leave the water immediately, not after one more cast.
Restricted zones immediately below the dam are buoyed and enforced; boats must stay downstream of the markers.

Seasons

Spring: white bass run up to the dam in March and April and the tailrace is at its busiest. High, cold water and frequent generation.
Summer: the striped bass fishery peaks as fish concentrate in the cold released water while the rest of the river warms past their tolerance.
Fall: cooling water spreads fish back downstream, smallmouth fishing on the ledges is at its best, and pressure drops off sharply.
Winter: walleye push into the tailrace late in the season, and the deep scour holes below the dam hold blue catfish through the coldest months.

From the water

No logged trips yet. Be the first to put this water on your map.

Log this water

Fished it or cleaned it? Log in or create a free account to log a trip with photos and earn the waterway badge.

Questions

What species can you catch on the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam?

Anglers target Blue Catfish, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Walleye, White Bass on the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam in Tennessee.

Are there fishing guides on the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam?

Cordell Hull Dam tailwater area - Corps of Engineers boat ramp, parking and bank fishing access immediately below the structure. Defeated Creek and the Carthage area serve the reach downstream where the river widens and slows. Bank fishing platforms at the tailwater are the safest option during generation and the most heavily used spot on the reach. The Caney Fork confluence below Carthage adds a second cold-water input and holds fish through the summer. Wading is only sensible during confirmed generation-off windows; check the release schedule before committing to it. The horn and the warning...

When is the best time to fish the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam?

Spring: white bass run up to the dam in March and April and the tailrace is at its busiest. High, cold water and frequent generation. Summer: the striped bass fishery peaks as fish concentrate in the cold released water while the rest of the river warms past their tolerance. Fall: cooling water spreads fish back downstream, smallmouth fishing on the ledges is at its best, and pressure drops off sharply. Winter: walleye push into the tailrace late in the season, and the deep scour holes below the dam hold blue catfish through the coldest months.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Cumberland River below Cordell Hull Dam?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Tennessee agency site: https://www.tn.gov/twra/fishing/fishing-regulations.html