Southern Middle TN Reservoir Bass Information

It may not ever be the best smallmouth lake in Tennessee, but Tims Ford Reservoir potentially stands to be among the best fishing destinations with its deep, cool, and rock-and gravel-laden water that smallmouth prefer.

“Of the three impoundments in southern Middle Tennessee, it is easily the best smallmouth lake and an impoundment that I consider a very good for smallmouth bass anglers,” said John Riddle, a fish biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

“We put an 18-inch size limit on smallmouth a couple of years ago because we thought Tims was special with a potential to improve,” said Riddle. “Most fishermen seem to like the limit now that it has been in place for a while and it appears to be working.”

While Tims would be the biologists first choice for smallmouth fishing, it is the nearby, but much smaller Normandy Reservoir, that offers “exceptional” spotted bass opportunities.

“I’m not sure that fishermen are catching as many spotted bass as they could, but our surveys of the lake show us that there are a lot of spotted bass in Normandy with many of those fish in the two-pound plus range,” said Riddle.

In addition to spotted bass, Normandy has a decent largemouth population and a smallmouth population that might improve over the next few years.

“We stocked fingerling-sized smallmouth into Normandy last year,” said Riddle. “Only time will tell if the stocking helps, but we are hoping it improves smallmouth numbers and, as a result, smallmouth angling.”

Meanwhile, Woods Reservoir—the shallowest of the three southern Middle Tennessee lakes—has a decent largemouth population and a few smallmouth that local anglers tend to target and catch.

“We are finding increased numbers of smaller bass, mostly largemouth, in our sampling studies on Woods,” said Riddle. “This is a shallow lake with plenty of fertility and so we hope those fish grow and eventually provide improved bass fishing.”

Size limits and creel limits for the three lakes and the three bass species—largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, can be found in TWRA’s annual fishing guide available from businesses that sell fishing licenses. Or, by visiting our Web site and clicking on “fishing”.