Duck River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Tennessee

About the Duck River

The Duck River runs west across Middle Tennessee from Normandy Dam through Shelbyville, Columbia, Centerville and Hurricane Mills to the Tennessee River. Biologists describe it as the most biologically diverse river in North America, with more than fifty mussel species and a fish list well over a hundred, and that diversity is the sign of what it is: a clean, shallow, limestone river that has escaped most of the impoundment that reshaped the rest of the state.

For anglers it is a smallmouth float, and a very good one. The river runs over gravel bars and limestone ledges with long pools between, easy paddling with almost no serious whitewater, and the fish are wild and plentiful. Spotted bass and largemouth mix in, rock bass fill the pockets, and catfish hold in the deeper holes. Below Normandy Dam the upper river is cold enough that the state stocks trout in the tailwater, which is an oddity in this part of Tennessee and worth a stop.

The Duck is a canoe and kayak river more than a powerboat river, and the liveries around Columbia and Centerville run shuttles all summer. Because it is shallow and mostly wadeable, it is also one of the easiest rivers in the region to fish on foot.

The Centerville gauge sits low on the river. A few hundred cfs is comfortable floating and wading; a dry late summer can drop it low enough to require dragging over the bars; spring rain raises and colors it quickly and it clears within a couple of days.

Columbia and Centerville are the base towns, both within an easy drive of Nashville.

Access

Normandy Dam and Shelbyville: the tailwater and the top of the river, stocked trout water.
Henry Horton State Park: park access with camping and river frontage.
Columbia: town accesses and canoe liveries in the middle river.
Williamsport and Gordonsburg: mid-river canoe launches.
Centerville: access at the Highway 100 crossing near the gauge.
Hurricane Mills and the lower river: access toward the Tennessee River confluence.

Seasons

March through May: high water, pre-spawn smallmouth, the biggest fish of the year.
June through August: the main float season, topwater smallmouth at dawn and dusk, heavy paddling traffic.
September and October: falling water and aggressive fish, the best fishing of the year.
November through February: slow and clear; smallmouth in the deep pools, trout in the Normandy tailwater.