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Boone Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Boone Lake: a 4,520-acre TVA reservoir on the South Fork Holston and Watauga, back at normal levels since TVA finished its dam repair in 2022, with bass, stocked stripers, hybrids and blue catfish.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
354 cfs
Air / High
68 / 70 F
Wind
N 3 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 03486000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Boone Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. The main inflow is running 354 cfs, falling. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 3 mph, steady pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 70. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:04 AM-12:04 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Rainbow troutExcellent

The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Smallmouth bassGood

Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 69 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Tennessee requires a fishing licence from age 13, from $33.00 for residents. What a Tennessee licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with TWRA before you keep anything. The season dates for Tennessee, read off the agency, are on the Tennessee seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from WATAUGA RIVER AT ELIZABETHTON, TN (inflow).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 03486000.

438595751354 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp68 F
High / Low70 / 35 F
WindN 3-5 mph
Pressure1023.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:44 / 18:42
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Boone Lake this week

The best day on Boone Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:04 AM-12:04 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM
Minor period
4:26 AM-5:26 AM
Sun
07:44 to 18:42
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Boone Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

When to come: the Boone Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Hybrid striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
Smallmouth bass
Striped bass
Rainbow trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Boone Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 71 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Tennessee requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

TWRA rules for Boone (read 2026-10-06): largemouth and smallmouth 5 a day combined, 15-inch minimum; spotted bass 15, no length limit; crappie 15, 10-inch minimum; striped and hybrid striped bass 2 combined, only 1 a striper (36-inch minimum), hybrids 15-inch minimum; catfish no limit at 34 inches or less, 1 over 34 inches; trout 7 with a 16–22-inch protected slot, 1 over 22 inches. The reservoir runs from the dam to the Hwy 390 bridge at Bluff City and the Austin Springs Bridge on the Watauga arm.

Access

TVA boat ramp with courtesy pier at Boone Dam (no pets at the dam reservation); Pickens Bridge Access area and the ramp north of Devault Bridge. Little public shoreline.

About this water

TVA reservoir of 4,520 acres (TWRA) on the South Fork Holston River and Watauga River, Sullivan and Washington counties, Tennessee. Dam completed 1952.

Fishing Boone Lake: the full guide

The reservoir and the dam repair

TWRA describes Boone as a 4,520-acre TVA reservoir in upper East Tennessee, behind a dam completed in 1952 on the South Fork Holston River; the Watauga and the South Fork Holston are its main tributaries. In October 2014 TVA found a sinkhole and seepage at the base of the embankment and held the lake at 1,350 to 1,355 feet, roughly 10 feet below winter pool, while it built a seepage barrier through the dam. The dam reopened on May 25, 2022. In a normal year TVA varies the level about 25 feet between summer and winter for flood storage.

Bass and crappie

Largemouth and smallmouth are the most numerous and most sought-after game fish. Largemouth make up most of TWRA's samples, but anglers catch nearly equal numbers of both, and spotted bass are increasing. TWRA's tips: largemouth on brush and rock in spring, deeper rocky and shaley banks in summer and fall, and the backs of creeks during the winter drawdown; smallmouth on large rock and gravel in spring and suspended in winter. Crappie fishing has improved with TWRA stocking, and black crappie outnumber white.

Stripers, hybrids and blue cats

TWRA has stocked striped bass and hybrid striped bass in Boone since 1972; neither reproduces in the lake, so annual stocking maintains both. The agency's seasonal guide: live bait at 10 to 20 feet up to the South Holston headwaters and Point 19 on the Watauga arm in spring; in summer, live bait and surface plugs above Davis Dock on the South Fork and above Devault Bridge on the Watauga; in fall, the South Fork arm between Sportsman Dock and Rainbow Bridge; in winter, live bait on clay points at 20 to 30 feet. Blue catfish have been stocked on a limited basis since 1992.

Shoreline and advisories

TWRA notes that the shoreline is highly developed by private landowners and little public land is available. TVA lists a boat ramp with a courtesy pier at Boone Dam, and built ramp extensions at the Pickens Bridge Access area and north of Devault Bridge during the drawdown. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has a precautionary advisory on catfish and carp for PCBs and chlordane.

Common questions

Is Boone back to normal after the dam repair?

Yes. TVA lowered the lake to 1,350–1,355 feet after finding seepage in October 2014, finished the repair, and reopened the dam on May 25, 2022. The lake now follows TVA's normal seasonal operating range of about 25 feet.

Are stripers and hybrids stocked?

Yes. TWRA has stocked both since 1972, and neither reproduces in Boone. The daily limit is 2 combined, only 1 of which may be a striper of at least 36 inches; hybrids must be 15 inches.

Is there much bank access?

Not much. TWRA says the shoreline is mostly private and little public land is available; use the TVA dam reservation and the public access areas.

Is fishing good at Boone Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Watauga River8 miWatauga Lake14 miSouth Holston Lake17 miDouglas Lake63 miCherokee Lake63 miLake Hickory68 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 03486000 β€” WATAUGA RIVER AT ELIZABETHTON, TN (inflow)
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 17:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.3866, -82.3510 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 6, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 6, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.