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Home › Waters › Tennessee › Obed River
River · East Tennessee, the Cumberland Plateau gorges of the Obed Wild and Scenic River between Crossville and the Emory confluence · Tennessee

Obed River Fishing Guides

A National Wild and Scenic River cutting deep sandstone gorges across the Cumberland Plateau, with clear water and wild smallmouth.

A mountain stream running over mossy rock through eastern hardwoods
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Obed River

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About the Obed River

The Obed cuts a set of sandstone gorges across the Cumberland Plateau that are as rugged as anything east of the Mississippi, with cliff lines rising five hundred feet above water that runs clear over bare rock. It is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River, which has kept the corridor undeveloped, and it is better known to climbers and whitewater paddlers than to anglers. That is the opportunity.

Smallmouth bass are the main fish, and they are wild, stream-bred and beautifully coloured in the way that plateau fish tend to be. Rock bass are everywhere in the pocket water. Redeye bass hold in the smaller tributaries and upper reaches, and they are a prize in their own right for anglers who go looking for them. Nothing here runs large by reservoir standards, but the fish are hard-fighting and the setting is extraordinary.

Water level dictates absolutely everything on the Obed. The catchment is shallow plateau sandstone with almost no storage, so the river is a raging whitewater run for a few days after heavy rain and a chain of disconnected clear pools in a dry summer. The fishable window is the middle – enough water to connect the pools, not enough to be dangerous. Most fishing is done on foot, rock-hopping between pools, because the access trails drop steeply into the gorge and carrying a boat down is a serious undertaking.

Access is through the National Park Service unit and the adjoining Catoosa Wildlife Management Area. Lilly Bridge and Nemo are the main road-reachable points; everything else is a hike. Catoosa closes seasonally for hunting, which catches visitors out, so check the WMA schedule as well as the river gauge before planning a trip into the upper gorges.

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  • 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.

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 Obed River.

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

Lilly Bridge - the main road access to the gorge and the best-known fishing reach.
Nemo Bridge - the Emory confluence access and a popular takeout.
Obed Visitor Center at Wartburg - park information, maps and current conditions.
Adams Bridge - the gauge site on the upper river near Crossville.
Catoosa Wildlife Management Area - gated seasonal roads into the upper gorges.
Clear Creek - a major tributary with its own gorge and access points.
Daddys Creek - the other main tributary, reached from the plateau above.

Seasons

Spring: high water and whitewater flows, with a narrow window as levels drop.
Summer: low clear water and pool-hopping on foot for wild smallmouth and rock bass.
Fall: the best conditions of the year, with stable levels and colour in the gorge.
Winter: cold and rain-driven, with high flows and seasonal WMA road closures.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Obed River?

As of Sep 17, 6:45 am, the USGS gauge OBED RIVER AT ADAMS BRIDGE NEAR CROSSVILLE, TN reads 7 cfs, with water temperature 73.8 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Obed River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Redeye Bass, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass on the Obed River in Tennessee.

Where can you access the Obed River?

Lilly Bridge - the main road access to the gorge and the best-known fishing reach. Nemo Bridge - the Emory confluence access and a popular takeout. Obed Visitor Center at Wartburg - park information, maps and current conditions. Adams Bridge - the gauge site on the upper river near Crossville. Catoosa Wildlife Management Area - gated seasonal roads into the upper gorges. Clear Creek - a major tributary with its own gorge and access points. Daddys Creek - the other main tributary, reached from the plateau above.

When is the best time to fish the Obed River?

Spring: high water and whitewater flows, with a narrow window as levels drop. Summer: low clear water and pool-hopping on foot for wild smallmouth and rock bass. Fall: the best conditions of the year, with stable levels and colour in the gorge. Winter: cold and rain-driven, with high flows and seasonal WMA road closures.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Obed River?

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