Water level was the word yesterday when I interviewed the anglers about what we fans can expect this week at the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.
The reason why all the talk about water is the Tennessee Valley Authority. The federal agency is responsible for managing the flow of the entire 652 miles of the Tennessee River. From end to end are nine locks and dams, with Guntersville Dam the seventh in the stair step lineup. Upstream is Nickajack and above it, the larger Chickamauga. So, whatever TVA does can impact the entire river, at least from a bass fishing perspective.
On Wednesday the guys I spoke with said the rising (and warmer) water coming into the lake could be that magical trigger for pushing big female largemouth into the spawning zone of shallow water. Will they get their wish?
Here’s the outlook from TVA and NOAA. This chart is created by its Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, with data also provided by TVA. As you can see, the hydrology forecast shows the river—at the river stage gauge at Scottsboro—expected to drop in elevation. That also lines up with TVA’s predicted generation schedule. Today, the Guntersville Dam is expected to release about 133,500 cfs of water. On Thursday, it drops to an average outflow of 128,000 cfs and then just 120,000 on Friday, when the long-range forecast period ends.
What does that all mean for the fishing? Well, relying on textbook bass fishing it could mean the fish are drawn out of the shallower areas. Or, it might not really matter. Tennessee River bass are current oriented, and while they react to it, they are also used to the ebb and flow of water.
It’ll be interesting to see how the TVA’s plans pan out. There’s even a cool app from the TVA that you can download and check out their plans for yourself. In the Apple Store do a search for TVA Lake Lake Info and get it. The app is free.