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Cherokee Lake Fishing Report

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

East Tennessee's striper broadside: a Holston River TVA lake of bluffs and islands where winter gulls mark 30-pounders.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
58 / 70 F
Wind
E 6 mph

Sources: 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.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Cherokee Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 6 mph, falling 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 10:09 AM-12:09 PM and 10:37 PM-12:37 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassExcellent

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.

Striped bassExcellent

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

Catfish (blue, channel)Excellent

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.

CrappieGood

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 71 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.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low70 / 41 F
WindE 6-7 mph
Pressure1023.1 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:48 / 18:47
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 Cherokee Lake this week

The best day on Cherokee Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 5 out of 5, against 4 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€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
10:09 AM-12:09 PM and 10:37 PM-12:37 AM
Minor period
4:31 AM-5:31 AM
Sun
07:48 to 18:47
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Cherokee 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.

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.

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.

When to come: the Cherokee 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
Striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
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 Cherokee Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 74 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 74 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 74 F, wind to 6 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

Tennessee license. Striper: 2/day over 15 inches typical: check TWRA region 4. Winter drawdown affects ramps.

Access

Cherokee Dam, Grainger County Park, Fall Creek, German Creek ramps: verify winter usability.

About this water

28,780 acres (full pool) on the Holston River, Grainger/Hamblen/Jefferson counties, TN. Knoxville's striper water.

Fishing Cherokee Lake: the full guide

The Holston's big water

Cherokee stretches 54 miles of TVA water northeast of Knoxville: bluff-lined, island-dotted, and thermally split: a warm fertile upper end and a cooler lower lake that holds the striper program. The fishery headlines stripers and crappie with a bass supporting cast: and winter, not summer, is its trophy season.

Striper winters

December-March, gulls over shad give away the game: stripers to 30-plus pounds herding bait on the lower lake's flats and points. Live shad on planer boards and freelines, umbrella rigs between shows: the German Creek-to-dam reach is the signature beat. Summer pushes fish to the oxygen band at the dam: downlines at 25-40 ft in the cool water TVA leaves them.

Crappie towns

Cherokee's crappie culture works the standing timber and man-made piles: spring in the flooded buck brush of the upper arms, summer schools at 15-25 ft off the channel swings. The lake's drawdown (30-plus winter feet) concentrates December fish into the creek channels: locals fill freezers while the ramps sit quiet.

Drawdown geometry

TVA's deep winter drawdown redraws Cherokee annually: launch options shrink (check ramp status), islands grow, and the exposed structure maps the year ahead. Spring's refill floods fresh cover and lights the bass-and-crappie shallows: the lake breathes in feet, and its anglers plan by the curve.

Common questions

When is striper season on Cherokee?

Winter: December-March under the birds is the trophy window. Summer survives at the dam's cool band: but the gull weeks are why the lake is famous.

How far down does Cherokee drop in winter?

Commonly 30-plus feet: TVA flood storage. Check ramp reports before towing: and treat the drawdown as scouting season for the refill bite.

Is fishing good at Cherokee Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Douglas Lake21 miNorris Lake23 miClinch River34 miBoone Lake63 miTellico River63 miLaurel River Lake63 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.2840, -83.4700 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.