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Home › Waters › Alabama › Cahaba River
River · Central Alabama · Alabama

Cahaba River Fishing Guides

The longest free-flowing river in Alabama and one of the most biodiverse in North America, a shoals-and-lilies float from Birmingham down past Bibb County.

A wide river below a ridge in full autumn colour in the Appalachians
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Cahaba River

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About the Cahaba River

The Cahaba is a national treasure that most anglers have never heard of. It runs about one hundred and ninety miles from northeast of Birmingham to the Alabama River near Selma without a single dam on its main stem, and it carries more fish species per mile than almost any river on the continent. In May and June the Cahaba lilies bloom on the shoals below West Blocton, a spectacle that draws people who have no interest in fishing at all.

For anglers it is bass water. Redeye bass, the scrappy native of Alabama’s shoal rivers, live in the fast rocky sections; spotted and largemouth bass fill the pools; bream are everywhere and take a popper on any summer evening. It fishes best from a kayak or canoe, working the shoal edges and the lily beds, and the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge protects a beautiful middle section that is the most-floated water on the river.

The Centreville gauge reads the lower middle river. Something in the 200 to 1,500 cfs range makes for a good float; low summer readings under a hundred mean the shoals are bony and the trip becomes a wade-and-drag, while a spring number in the thousands turns the shoals into pushy brown water and hides the structure. The Cahaba is a rain-driven river with no upstream storage to smooth it out.

Birmingham is thirty minutes from the upper river and West Blocton and Centreville sit on the middle section. The Cahaba River Society runs cleanups and paddle trips and is the best local source for current conditions and access notes.

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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.

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Posting to Cahaba 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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Cahaba River cfs

Now: 236 cfs, read 4:15 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 02424000, CAHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Grants Mill and Trussville: upper river access near Birmingham.
Cahaba River Park, Helena: park access and shoals on the upper middle river.
Piper Bridge and the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge: the lily shoals and the most popular float.
West Blocton: bridge access and the standard refuge put-in.
Centreville: access near the gauge on the lower middle river.
Marvel Slab and Bulldog Bend: canoe launches and outfitter access.
Booth Ford and the lower river: long, slow floats toward the Alabama River.

Seasons

March through May: high, cool water, prespawn bass and the beginning of lily season.
May and June: Cahaba lilies in bloom on the shoals, the signature float of the year.
July and August: low water and hot afternoons; bream and topwater at dawn and dusk.
September through November: falling temperatures, clear water and the best redeye fishing.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Cahaba River?

As of Oct 19, 4:15 am, the USGS gauge CAHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL reads 236 cfs, the 38th percentile for this date. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Cahaba River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Redeye Bass, Spotted Bass on the Cahaba River in Alabama.

Where can you access the Cahaba River?

Grants Mill and Trussville: upper river access near Birmingham. Cahaba River Park, Helena: park access and shoals on the upper middle river. Piper Bridge and the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge: the lily shoals and the most popular float. West Blocton: bridge access and the standard refuge put-in. Centreville: access near the gauge on the lower middle river. Marvel Slab and Bulldog Bend: canoe launches and outfitter access. Booth Ford and the lower river: long, slow floats toward the Alabama River.

When is the best time to fish the Cahaba River?

March through May: high, cool water, prespawn bass and the beginning of lily season. May and June: Cahaba lilies in bloom on the shoals, the signature float of the year. July and August: low water and hot afternoons; bream and topwater at dawn and dusk. September through November: falling temperatures, clear water and the best redeye fishing.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Cahaba River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Alabama agency site: https://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater-fishing-creel-and-size-limits