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Home › Waters › Tennessee › Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam
Tailwater · Greene County, the Nolichucky immediately below the dam at the mouth of the gorge near Greeneville in the ridge and valley country of northeast Tennessee · Tennessee

Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam Fishing Guides

The Nolichucky immediately below its dam at the mouth of the gorge, a hard flowing smallmouth river carrying Blue Ridge water out into the Tennessee valley.

Still water and rock ledges on a forested Appalachian river
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam

The Nolichucky rises on the North Carolina side of the Blue Ridge, gathers the Toe and Cane rivers, and cuts one of the deepest gorges in the southern Appalachians on its way through the escarpment into Tennessee. This gauge sits below the dam at the downstream end of that gorge near Greeneville, which makes it the reference point for everything the river does once it leaves the mountains. The dam is a low run of river structure rather than a deep storage project, and that distinction matters more than anything else about the fishery.

Because the impoundment above is shallow and the dam passes water rather than storing it through a deep intake, the river below does not behave like a classic cold tailwater. There is no reliable cold layer to draw from, so the temperature regime downstream tracks the season much as a free flowing river would, and the fishery reflects that. This is a smallmouth bass river first and foremost, not a trout river, and it is one of the better ones in east Tennessee. Trout come down out of the gorge and the cold tributaries and are caught in the upper reaches, but they are a bonus rather than the point.

Flows here respond hard to rain on the Blue Ridge escarpment, which is among the wettest ground in the eastern United States, and the river can go from low and clear to brown and unfishable in a matter of hours. The discharge trace is essential reading. Smallmouth hold on the ledges and current seams, with rock bass and redbreast sunfish throughout, channel catfish in the deeper runs and walleye and white bass moving up seasonally. The gorge above is well known to whitewater paddlers, and several outfitters work both the rafting and the fishing.

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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).

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2. What you confirm

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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.

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Posting to Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam.

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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 Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam cfs

Now: 959 cfs, read 5:15 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 03466500, NOLICHUCKY RIVER BELOW NOLICHUCKY DAM, TN).

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

Access

Greeneville - the county seat nearby, with full services, lodging and the closest guide operations.
Nolichucky Gorge - the whitewater reach upstream, with rafting outfitters and limited walk in access.
Erwin - upstream at the head of the gorge, with river access and services in Unicoi County.
Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park - state land on the river with camping and bank access.
Cherokee National Forest - public land on both sides of the gorge with trail and tributary access.
French Broad River - the receiving system west, with further smallmouth water and boat ramps.
Tri-Cities - the regional airport and the nearest full service base for visiting anglers.

Seasons

Spring: high and pushy with snowmelt and mountain rain, unfishable on the biggest pulses but excellent on the drops.
Summer: the core smallmouth season, with low clear water, good wading access and the most consistent fishing of the year.
Fall: settled flows, strong smallmouth feeding and the best combination of weather and water in the calendar.
Winter: cold and often high, with slow fishing and the occasional trout taken in the upper reaches below the gorge.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

As of Oct 18, 5:15 pm, the USGS gauge NOLICHUCKY RIVER BELOW NOLICHUCKY DAM, TN reads 959 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

Anglers target Bluegill, Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Redbreast Sunfish, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam in Tennessee.

Are there fishing guides on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

Greeneville - the county seat nearby, with full services, lodging and the closest guide operations. Nolichucky Gorge - the whitewater reach upstream, with rafting outfitters and limited walk in access. Erwin - upstream at the head of the gorge, with river access and services in Unicoi County. Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park - state land on the river with camping and bank access. Cherokee National Forest - public land on both sides of the gorge with trail and tributary access. French Broad River - the receiving system west, with further smallmouth water and boat ramps. Tri-Cities - the regi...

When is the best time to fish the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

Spring: high and pushy with snowmelt and mountain rain, unfishable on the biggest pulses but excellent on the drops. Summer: the core smallmouth season, with low clear water, good wading access and the most consistent fishing of the year. Fall: settled flows, strong smallmouth feeding and the best combination of weather and water in the calendar. Winter: cold and often high, with slow fishing and the occasional trout taken in the upper reaches below the gorge.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Nolichucky River below Nolichucky Dam?

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