Fish in Tennessee

About Fish

• Lateral line: Nerve endings along a row of sensory pores on either side of a fish, from the gills to tail act as “radar,” allowing the fish to detect the size, shape, direction and speed of objects.
• Touch: Fish can detect minute temperature differences and can discriminate between hard and soft baits. Fish are more likely to hold a soft bait longer.
• Hearing: Water conducts sound better than air, and fish hear directly through the bones in their head. Noise on the bank, dock, or even in a boat may spook fish.
• Taste: Most fish do not rely on taste, but catfish and bullheads have taste buds over their entire bodies and fins, including their barbels (whiskers), which help them locate food.
• Smell: Fish have nasal sacs (nares) to help detect odor. Night feeders, or fish that live in muddy water, have a highly refined sense of smell.
• Sight: Most fish lack eyelids and cannot adjust the diameter of the eye’s pupil. Therefore, they tend to avoid brightly lit areas. They can detect colors, but their perception of color is affected by water depth and clarity.

Fish are cold-blooded, which means that their body temperatures are about the same as their surrounding environment. Because they don’t produce body heat, fish must find and remain in preferred water temperatures.

A fish’s streamlined shape helps it move through the water. The water also helps “float” fish; many species can make themselves lighter or heavier in the water by increasing or decreasing the amount of gas in their swim bladder. A fish swims by alternately contracting muscles along each side, which causes its tail (caudal fin) to sweep and propel the fish forward. The pectoral and pelvic fins assist with forward and backward movement, provide stability and steering, and help the fish brake (stop).

Fish markings usually serve as camouflage. Fish that are found near rocks or weeds often have blotches or bars on their sides. Many fish are dark on top and light underneath, making them more inconspicuous when viewed from above or below.

Most fish have scales, which are embedded in the skin and are arranged in overlapping rows. Scales may be thick and tough, as in sunfish, or extremely small, as in trout. Catfish, eels, and paddlefish have tough skin instead of scales. Growth marks on scales, spines, and otoliths can reveal the age of a fish, just as tree rings show the age of a tree. The life span of most of our game fish is about 4-10 years, but some live much longer. Fish continue to grow in length and girth as they get older.

Many fish swim in groups or schools. Solitary fish may concentrate when a feeding opportunity presents itself. Some fish wander constantly in search of food, while others have narrowly defined home ranges and wait for food to come close enough to ambush.

Fish often make regular daily movements between feeding and resting places, seasonal movements to summer and winter habitats, and annual movements to traditional spawning areas. Many species travel long distances to spawn. Spawning activity concentrates some species of fish and makes them easier to find.

Tennessee’s Official Sport Fish

Tennessee’s official sport fish is the smallmouth bass, designated in 2005.

The smallmouth bass replaced the largemouth bass as the official sport fish in 2005, due to its popularity and the fact that Tennessee has produced the five largest smallmouth bass in the world. The smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu, often referred to as "bronzeback," will fight ounce for ounce harder than any other species of sport fish in Tennessee. The current state record, which is also the world record of 11 pounds, 15 ounces, was caught by D.L. Hayes at Dale Hollow Lake on July 9, 1955. It may be found in most streams and lakes in the state with the exception of West Tennessee.

Tennessee's State Commercial Fish

The state commercial fish is the Channel Catfish, Ictalurus lacustris, which was also designated in 1987. The Channel Catfish, sometimes known as "Spotted Cat" or "Fiddler," is widely stocked and reared in farm ponds. It may be found in most Tennessee streams and many lakes. The channel catfish is a bottom-feeder and current feeder, generally taken by still fishing.

Attention Anglers, Do NOT Move Bass!

The movement and illegal stocking of Alabama Bass outside their native range has caused serious issues for Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass fisheries across the southeast. It has been well documented that Alabama Bass prey on, hybridize with, and out compete other bass species for habitat and food resources. High hybridization rates between species will eventually result in a population without any genetically pure Smallmouth Bass. Once this occurs it can never be reversed and results in the loss of those species and the decline in the quality of that fishery.

Alabama Bass and their hybrids have been found in numerous Tennessee reservoirs. TWRA has documented the displacement of Largemouth Bass in Parksville Reservoir, one of the first sites Alabama Bass were documented outside their range in Tennessee, and hybridization with Smallmouth Bass has been documented in Watts Bar, Ft. Loudoun, and Tellico reservoirs. By all accounts, if Alabama Bass are introduced into Tennessee’s best bass fisheries, we stand to lose bass fishing as we know it. Do Not Move Alabama Bass!

Wader Cleaning Stations

ANGLERS! TWRA in partnership with local fly-shops, the U.S. Forest Service and Trout Unlimited, are managing wader cleaning stations at multiple locations across East Tennessee to help prevent the spread of whirling disease and other non-native aquatic species.  Stop by and clean your waders to help protect your waters!