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Home › Waters › Tennessee › Elk River
River · Middle Tennessee, the upper Elk on the Cumberland Plateau escarpment near Pelham and Winchester, above Tims Ford Lake · Tennessee

Elk River Fishing Guides

The upper Elk above Tims Ford - a clear plateau-fed smallmouth stream, distinct from the trout tailwater downstream.

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

Guides on the Elk River

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About the Elk River

As with the Clinch, the Elk River has two identities and this page covers the upper one. The Elk that most Tennessee anglers know is the cold tailwater below Tims Ford Dam, a well-regarded trout fishery. Above the reservoir, where the gauge near Pelham sits, the Elk is a different river entirely – a clear, spring-influenced warmwater stream coming off the Cumberland Plateau escarpment, and it is worth knowing on its own terms.

The upper river drains the plateau near Pelham and Altamont and picks up cold, clean water from the escarpment springs and the karst country around it. The result is a small, clear, gravel-bottomed stream with good water quality and a healthy smallmouth bass population. Rock bass share the same holding water, bluegill and redear sunfish fill the pools, largemouth appear in the slower reaches, and channel catfish use the deeper holes.

This is wading and small-boat water rather than float-trip water. The river above Tims Ford is modest in size, with a drainage of only about sixty-five square miles at the gauge, and by late summer much of it is shallow enough to walk. Access comes from bridge crossings on the county roads around Pelham and Winchester, and from the public ground associated with the reservoir at the lower end.

The surrounding country is a draw in itself. The escarpment above the river holds some of the finest waterfall and gorge scenery in Tennessee, with the state natural areas nearby and the plateau rim overlooking the valley. Anglers coming for the Tims Ford tailwater can reasonably spend a morning on the upper river, and will usually have it to themselves. There is no guide trade on the upper river, so this is entirely self-guided water, and the small drainage means it rises and falls quickly after summer storms on the plateau above.

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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 Elk 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

Pelham - the gauge crossing and the main upper river access.
County road crossings near Altamont - plateau headwater access.
Gruetli-Laager - upper drainage access on the plateau.
Winchester - the largest town on the river and the main service base.
Tims Ford Lake headwaters - the bottom of the free-flowing upper river.
Tims Ford State Park - public ground at the reservoir.
Escarpment spring branches - cold tributary access above the main river.

Seasons

Spring: high clear flows and the strongest smallmouth fishing of the year.
Summer: low water, easy wading and steady sunfish and smallmouth.
Fall: cooling temperatures, clear water and good smallmouth on the gravel.
Winter: cold and low, with fish held in the deeper plateau-fed pools.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Elk River?

As of Sep 17, 5:00 am, the USGS gauge ELK RIVER NEAR PELHAM, TN reads 12 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Elk River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Redear Sunfish, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass on the Elk River in Tennessee.

Where can you access the Elk River?

Pelham - the gauge crossing and the main upper river access. County road crossings near Altamont - plateau headwater access. Gruetli-Laager - upper drainage access on the plateau. Winchester - the largest town on the river and the main service base. Tims Ford Lake headwaters - the bottom of the free-flowing upper river. Tims Ford State Park - public ground at the reservoir. Escarpment spring branches - cold tributary access above the main river.

When is the best time to fish the Elk River?

Spring: high clear flows and the strongest smallmouth fishing of the year. Summer: low water, easy wading and steady sunfish and smallmouth. Fall: cooling temperatures, clear water and good smallmouth on the gravel. Winter: cold and low, with fish held in the deeper plateau-fed pools.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Elk River?

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