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Home › Waters › Tennessee › Daddys Creek
Creek · Cumberland and Morgan counties, the sandstone gorge country of the Cumberland Plateau northwest of Crossville, in the Obed and Emory river system · Tennessee

Daddys Creek Fishing Guides

A Cumberland Plateau gorge creek in the Obed system, famous among whitewater boaters for a short high-water window and fished for smallmouth and rock bass when the level drops.

Whitewater dropping through a boulder-strewn Appalachian stream
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Daddys Creek

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About the Daddys Creek

Daddys Creek is one of the four streams that make up the Obed Wild and Scenic River system on the Cumberland Plateau, and among paddlers it has a reputation that far exceeds its size. It cuts a sandstone gorge northwest of Crossville, drops through a series of ledges and boulder gardens, and then joins the Obed above its confluence with the Emory. The water is tea-coloured and acidic, stained by the plateau’s hemlock and rhododendron, and the gorge walls are high enough that the creek feels remote within a few hundred yards of any road crossing.

Everything here depends on flow, and the gauge near Hebbertsburg is the number that plateau boaters watch through the winter and spring. This is a rain-fed creek with almost no groundwater contribution, so it comes up hard after a storm and falls away within a day or two. The whitewater window is short and mostly a December-to-April affair. The gauge also reports water temperature, which is genuinely useful here because the creek runs cold in the gorge shade well into the spring and warms quickly once summer low flow sets in.

Fishing is a summer and fall pursuit, done on foot, and it rewards anglers willing to walk the gorge. Smallmouth bass hold in the plunge pools below the ledges, rock bass sit tight to the boulders, and redeye bass and longear sunfish fill the smaller water. The plateau’s low-nutrient sandstone geology means fish run small by valley standards, but they are wild, abundant and unpressured. Access is by a handful of bridges and by the National Park Service trails into the gorge, and the walk out is always uphill. Anglers who treat it as a hiking trip with a rod attached rather than a fishing trip with a walk attached tend to enjoy it a great deal more.

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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 Daddys Creek.

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 Daddys Creek cfs

Now: 17.5 cfs, read 5:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 03539600, DADDYS CREEK NEAR HEBBERTSBURG, TN).

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

Access

Hebbertsburg - the community at the gauge and the usual reference point for plateau flow readings.
Obed Wild and Scenic River - National Park Service access points and trails reach the gorge from several directions.
Crossville - the nearest town of any size, with lodging, fuel and supplies southeast of the creek.
Devils Breakfast Table - the best-known bridge access and put-in on the lower creek.
Antioch Bridge - an upstream crossing that serves the middle gorge.
Wartburg - the Morgan County seat to the east, the base for Obed system trips.
Nemo - the downstream Obed and Emory access, the usual takeout for long plateau runs.

Seasons

Spring: the heart of the paddling season, with the gorge running after every front and the water still cold in the shade.
Summer: low and clear, unrunnable by boat but the best wading and smallmouth fishing of the year in the plunge pools.
Fall: low water continues with cooler temperatures and excellent walking, and the gorge colour is worth the trip on its own.
Winter: the other half of the whitewater season, cold and serious, with rain events bringing the creek up quickly and briefly.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Daddys Creek?

As of Oct 18, 5:00 pm, the USGS gauge DADDYS CREEK NEAR HEBBERTSBURG, TN reads 18 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Daddys Creek?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Creek Chub, Longear Sunfish, Redeye Bass, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Daddys Creek in Tennessee.

Where can you access the Daddys Creek?

Hebbertsburg - the community at the gauge and the usual reference point for plateau flow readings. Obed Wild and Scenic River - National Park Service access points and trails reach the gorge from several directions. Crossville - the nearest town of any size, with lodging, fuel and supplies southeast of the creek. Devils Breakfast Table - the best-known bridge access and put-in on the lower creek. Antioch Bridge - an upstream crossing that serves the middle gorge. Wartburg - the Morgan County seat to the east, the base for Obed system trips. Nemo - the downstream Obed and Emory access, the usua...

When is the best time to fish the Daddys Creek?

Spring: the heart of the paddling season, with the gorge running after every front and the water still cold in the shade. Summer: low and clear, unrunnable by boat but the best wading and smallmouth fishing of the year in the plunge pools. Fall: low water continues with cooler temperatures and excellent walking, and the gorge colour is worth the trip on its own. Winter: the other half of the whitewater season, cold and serious, with rain events bringing the creek up quickly and briefly.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Daddys Creek?

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