I have fished Center Hill for years trolling for walleye on the lower end. Center Hill, I believe, has a LOT of catfish in it, because we always catch them while trolling. We were trolling one time and caught 9 that day. I can show you places with the depth finder where there are LOTS. I do not think noodlers in lakes catch that many. Percy Priest has lots of catfish.
Concerning the TN River, it gets a lot of pressure from rod/reel, trot liners, and noodlers. It is unreal how many catfish come from it, below the dams and in the lakes. If you go to KY Lake in the summer, one of the favorite things to do, is bottom bounce in 40 ft of water. You will see a lot of boats doing it for miles up and down the lake. I have done it.
TWRA set a catfish limit on the large brood fish of 1 per day over 34". Here is what I think is bad and is hard to stop. There are a lot of these private pay to fish lakes/ponds that have tournaments popping up all over the area and in other states. Some people catch a fish over 34" and sell it to one of these ponds and they are taking TN fish to other states to stock their private pay lakes for their tournaments. I do not think it is happening on a large scale, but it does happen.
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