Chilhowee Lake

[EastTNHunter]

My dad and I are looking at taking a 1/2 day trip up there this weekend hoping to catch some trout, crappie, bream, bass, or whatever we can catch. Most of the fishing reports that I seem to be able to find via Google search are 2011 or older, so I was hoping to glean some tips from the kind folks on this website. We plan on throwing roostertails, spoons, small jigs, night crawlers, and maybe even some minnows. We could even use some tiny traps or full size rattle traps, grubs, or plastic worms.

I was wanting to put in at Tabcat Creek and go north to begin with to take in the sights and hit the trout, but may drift south after that and hit some bank brush, sloughs or creeks. Of course, I am open to all suggestions. We are both casual fishermen who are just looking for a good father-son outing, with an eye to scouting it out for taking my 7 and 4 year old daughters later, so we want to keep things very basic.

Any thoughts on baits, methods, locations, or depths? We will be in a 16ft flatbottom with a 15hp that goes about 18mph loaded, so I don't know how much lake we can cover in that amount of time.

 

[Carl Guffey]

<font size="3" face="georgia,palatino">Haven't been to Chilhowee in a while. It is a fun place to explore. If you put in at Tabby Cat watch pulling out into the road(129, The Dragon). There is a curve comming onto the bridge and approaching cars can't see the pull out or any vehicles and trailers. Add to that they are getting ready to start a climb and The Dragon and they will usually pick up speed. </font></p>

<font size="3" face="Georgia">Have fun and enjoy your trip. The left hand wall going up stream from Tabby Cat, from the ramp, is usually pretty good.</font></p>

 

[EastTNHunter]

Thanks for the heads up. It sounds as if Abrams Creek has special regs since it resides within the GSMNP. Does anybody have any experience with this?

 

[hoop235]

Several years ago I fished Chilhowee for trout a lot but I haven't been up there in a couple of years but here's what I would suggest. When you come out of Tabby Cat, hang a left and go up the lake until you see a concrete boat on your left. (1-2mi) Try trolling a Rapala F7 or F9 from the boat ramp up the power house. You need TVA to be generating water when you do this so check their website for times. We caught a lot of trout in that area and also picked up a few smallmouth. We also caught some trout trolling around the big towers on the lower end of the lake just out from the first boat ramp. Hope this helps and let's know how it turns out.

 

[Carl Guffey]

EastTNHunter - 4/10/2014 5:53 AM Thanks for the heads up. It sounds as if Abrams Creek has special regs since it resides within the GSMNP. Does anybody have any experience with this?

</p>

<font size="3" face="georgia,palatino">Yes I do. If you go up Abrams creek do not get out of the boat, not even to step out into the creek to push off. As long as you are on lake level the regs are the same as the rest of the lake. Once you step out you are on GSMNP and must adhere to all of their rules. If you cast into the trees, break it off, do not get out of your boat.</font></p>

 

[EastTNHunter]

SKUNKED! Didn't have much time to fish, but the time spent with dad was well worth the trip. We tried Abrams Creeek, found the boundary markers, and I even had a couple of fish on, but could not seal the deal. Nobody that we talked to was catching much. We threw every color and style of bait that we could think of, but they just weren't biting much. We will try upriver towards the power house next time, but I am not giving up on Abrams Creek yet.