Creeks??
 

I am dying to catch some smallies. Can anyone recommend a creek in middle tn that i can hit? i will be bank fishing. i live in Dickson Co. I am fairly new to the sport. well, i have always fished, but more recently i have been taking more interest than ever. Any help would be appreciated. thanks.

Get a gazetteer. Look for creeks that flow into good smallmouth water. It takes a little work but it is well worth the effort.

thx. where can i find that?

You'll even find them in very small creeks, ankle deep in most places with a deeper hole here and there. You'll catch numbers, not size. I do it and have caught 50 fish in an hour that way. Mostly smaller panfish with the 8" smallie and redeye thrown in the mix. Use 2lb test and you'll have a blast.

yeah, i just need to know where to find them. how will i know if im not just wasting my time wetting a line in some creek or hole when they arent even there?

Trial and error....you won't know if you don't try!

They are in most of the small creeks as others have mentioned

Books A Million, Barnes and Noble for a invaluable Gazetter and my go to for all fishing spots is the Middle Tenn Fishing Map guide see www. scmaps.com

I have waded many of the creeks first located in the Tennessee Atlas and Gazetteer. I keep the map and my rods in the truck and when Im out anywhere I'll stop and check out the creeks. Some I fish some I don't. I passed my favorites to and from work 3 or 4 different streams, all good.

I doubt anyone would commit to a creek and guarantee you'll catch but if the creek looks good it probably is. Its up to you to figure out how good.

Keep in mind there is a lot of disagreement as to the trespass laws and many people do not want strangers on there property and if your wading your probably trespassing. If you don't make a pest of yourself most seem tolerant. Some will have you arrested. I have had great luck and if in doubt I dont unless I ask first.

I'll give you a place to start with an understanding..its a catch and release stream. Take a fish out and your no longer in harmony with the stream and you wont be welcomed back, there are holes so deep if you fall in you'll sink to the bottom lost forever. Its how the stream protects itself from anyone out for a cheap thrill.

Under the bridge in Wartrace, under the power lines. Leave no trash or signs that you were there return the fish to the water.

Dont think for a minute you dont need a felt sole on your shoes. Overlook that one thing and your going to take a bath. I can guarantee that much ...twice

i dont keep fish. i do it just for the sport of it. i just want to have fun catching them.
ANd Wartrace is a little bit too far for me right now. but i def appreciate the tip.

The Duck river under the bridge in Shelbyville is good for LM and parking and a nice picnic area. Good luck and try Walter Hill Dam below you can wade a long ways and make long casts.

I prefer the smaller creeks though any of them.

Not to turn this into a catch and release vs catch and eat debate but that was a bit dramatic. It's just a stream. It doesn't purposely gobble up fishermen who dare to take a fish home.

Lol, I thought the comment was pretty funny :D

What I found really fun was catching fish in a creek that you'd normally not look at twice. I probably exaggerated a little about the creek gobbling you up.

(Redeye are delicious, but I know where the deep holes are and I don't get too close. If its a Smallie I just play it safe LOL).

yeah i have lived in TN for 6 months now and i still have never caught a smallmouth.

There seem to be plenty of creeks around the Nashville area, but very little or no public access.

Look for Seven Mile Creek that runs through Brentwood. It's very tiny, ankle to knee deep and loaded with fish. Nothing large. Biggest Smallie I've found is about 8". Go with ultralight and trout magnets and you'll get a fish almost every cast. I've been there and caught 50+ fish in just over an hour of fishing. Mostly smaller panfish but you'll find smallies and redeye bass in rocks and under those sheets of rock. They'll come out and grab it and head back in, it's pretty cool.

Easy access at Wentworth Caldwell Park and another park just south of it on Edmonson Pike, I forget the name of it.

Thanks for the info. Thats actually about 5 minutes from my work. I will check it out soon.

x2

I know that in the past naming creeks on here has sparked some fury. Before anyone gets mad for me naming the creek and location, understand this is NOT by any means a trophy Smallie creek. Enough fish in there to have a blast but I've fished it all over the place, caught every fish within casting distance of where I wade, and found several Smallies in the 7-8 inch range and that's it. The guy really wants a Smallie on the line and I helped him out like we're supposed to do on here.

Unless its listed as a state navigable waterway then you have to be able to access it publicly then float it to another public access to be fishing it legally. Otherwise you need to ask permission to be on their property. It used to be where fishermen can access at bridges being a public easement but year after year you seen landowners posting these places. I don't know who is right or has the right of way in that scenario but you still can't get in the water there even if you can legally access it. Floating bridge to bridge would be another can of worms though if it was applicable.

My suggestion is to start around parks with greenways along the creeks. Most of the time the city owns that property and I have yet to be in one around middle tn that didn't have fish. I'd say asking landowners these days is less than a 50/50 venture that it used to be. Too many people have trashed private streams for those who don't.

If you are looking for smallies then Shelbyville is NOT the place, the section of river mentioned on this thread (although I know he said LM bass) gets a lot of pressure daily and people around here keep most legal fish most of the time, this place gets pounded every day because it is basically downtown and since the improvements that created fisherman's park were made a few years ago with better parking and picknick area although nice also it has done away with the decent fishing it used to have, I no longer fish this place, just wanted so save u a drive and dissapointment ;)
also can somebody tell me what is a gazetteer and where can I find one??

A gazateer is a detailed topo map. It lists the entire state, small gravel roads, to interstates, rivers, creeks, and lakes. These are not a great map for family road trips, but great to look at in the evenings while having a glass of sweet tea, or in the morning over coffee. You can pick one up at Wal-Mart, or like others have said bookstores.

One thing about naming small waters is frowned upon from most. Some of these waters may not contain trophy fish, but we have guides on some of these small waters who make their primary living on creeks and small wadeable waters. They may not be trophy hunters, but they take people out for hire to show them they can have fun using light gear catching fish, and sometimes hook into an unexpected trophy, or just have fun creek'in. The more people that name these waters the more visitors you may get on these small waters, and they may just keep their legal limit, but by the time you have these five different people a week visiting these small waters keeping their limits soon all you have is some litter, creek chubs and a few snakes left.

Jeremy

Thanks for the info Jeremy!, I do not fish creeks (maybe I should) I know about not naming creeks, but that is the reason I posted about the Duck here in Shelbyville, IMO it was ruined once the improvements made the little place nicer with better parking and picnic area, because this place experienced a 10 fold increase in pressure now there is no fish to speak of, this is a good example of what people pounding a place can do, sad!!

^^^ This. I can't say that you'll get on any particular species you want but you will catch fish. You'll also be able to cover ground pretty quickly and learn about that creek. This combined with looking at the maps as others have said should get you started.

I don't think that any guides would come to this small of a creek as what I mentioned or I wouldn't have mentioned it. It's literally 20 feet wide at the most. I've found other creeks that are larger and I'm pretty sure with more exploring I'd find bigger Smallies, those don't get mentioned. I just wanted to help out.

Where I'm going after work tonight, I know for a fact has larger Smallies. You may see a thread with pics, but no mention of where I was.

One bit of advice I can give to anyone looking for good wading creeks is check all the greenways. All kinds of access since the trail goes right by the side of the creek for miles. Just google search Tennessee Greenway Trails and you'll find them all over.

Greenways
 

We live near one of our Greenway trailheads by the Stones River. We have used it for years for biking and walking, but I had overlooked it for fishing.

Now that I have gotten the boys into fishing, it's a great opportunity to catch a couple from the bank, or even put the kayaks in one of the larger holes.

We haven't got anything of great size, but you can see from the pics that there is some variety, and the boys are having fun.

BTW, all this fishing goodness is due to tips and methods learned here. All these fish caught on TM/CM's and 2-4lb line.

Thanks to everybody here that helped me have a great summer of fishing with the kids.

Billy

Never caught any Smallies there but the LM opposite the dam side of the bridge still holds them.

Not like wading the smaller creeks. After I locate a creeks in the gazetteer I find it on Google Earth and look up close and though not up to date it can give you an idea what access might be like. Its a good tool.

You just have to get into finding them. I enjoy seeing the same fish return to its original hole and finding it there again the next season. If you put a tiny notch in the fin between the spines its identifiable in the future.

I told someone about a great creek once and he told some one else etc. and the same holes I had caught the same fish in for 2-3 seasons went empty and the creeks is a near bust now. People have left it alone now for a while I haven't looked yet this summer but I will soon.

And try some helgremites (or how ever you spell it).

The Middle Tn Fishing Guide in my opinion is more informative than the gazetteer and fits a backpack a little better. If covers all the rivers and lakes streams. Its good

Thanks for the info Tom!, do you mean the spiral bound book they sell at walmart?? I have never seen it for rivers or creeks, I thought the info there would be so obvious that the places mentioned would not be worth try because of the aforementioned reasons, google earth does give you a really good vantage point I used it before for scouting possible places for deer hunting, I'm almost always release the few fish that I catch unless my grilfriend ask for a meal, I always catch it fresh at Kroger Lol!!! (she wouldn't know!) good luck out there!!

Stupid rainstorm muddied up my creek :mad:

I went for a little over an hour just before dark. The creek I fished was stained but not muddy. The fish were biting great. I got 2 largemouth, 3 smallmouth, 3 drum, and a rock bass. Great fun on 2lb test.

Last cast was the best fish, a nice 15 inch smallmouth. I will post a few pics from my phone later. I only fished one hole and probably never moved more than 10 ft the whole time. The fish were at the base of a riffle and at the head of the hole.

The high water in the creeks in the summer is a blessing. Typically, many small creeks are unfishable by this point in the summer as they are too hot and low. The spot I fished tonight was dead a few weeks ago. Nothing in it and full of algae. The fish will leave when the water drops again.

Jim

Well this was new water I was exploring. Had I previously known what the bottom looked like I would have walked in with no worries but didn't want to chance it in murky water. Sounds like you had a good time, I love creek fishing!

I can't think of a stream in mid-TN that is wider than 10 feet, that does not have smallies in it.