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Old Hickory Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Sep 4, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Nashville's neighbor lake: Cumberland River current, music-money docks and a stripe-and-crappie fishery that plays every day of the year.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~84 F est.
Air / High
99 / 100 F
Wind
NW 3 mph

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

Satellite view
Friday
4
September 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.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Old Hickory Lake stays in its summer rhythm: early magic, midday siesta, evening reprieve. Today brings cloud cover, wind NW around 3 mph, steady pressure near 1013 hPa and a high of 100. Water sits around 84 F for the season (estimated). With the last quarter, the solunar majors run 5:39 AM-7:39 AM and 5:39 PM-7:39 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassGood

Deep and early: live bait on downlines over the river channel at first light, or downriggers along thermocline depth.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

Largemouth bassFair

Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

CrappieSlow

Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

Tomorrow: Similar at 103 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Sep 5, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

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.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~84 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp99 F
High / Low100 / 76 F
WindNW 3-4 mph
Pressure1013.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 13%
Sunrise / Sunset06:20 / 19:10
MoonLast Quarter, 50%
Water temp (seasonal)~84 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Fri Sep 4 · Overcast, 100/76 F, wind 5 mph, rain 13%

Slow. 100 F: be on the water at dawn and off by mid-morning, or fish after dark.

Species guide

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

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: spring and fall

The headline act on most American reservoirs. Relates to cover: docks, brush, grass edges and points. Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall

The reservoir heavyweight. Follows shad and herring schools in open water year-round. Deep and early: live bait on downlines over the river channel at first light, or downriggers along thermocline depth.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Good year-round

The most reliable bite on most southern waters. Blues run big; channels fill the cooler. Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: Nov-Mar

Brush piles, bridge pilings and standing timber. The fish fry favorite. Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

When to come: the Old Hickory 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 84 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~84 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 Old Hickory Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Sep 3

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Striped bass led the card at good. High of 100 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Sep 2

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Striped bass led the card at good. High of 98 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Sep 1

3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Striped bass led the card at good. High of 97 F, wind to 5 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used to send you this water's report each week. No spam, ever.

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. Stripe/hybrid combined limits: check TWRA. Generation schedules: Corps' Old Hickory and Cordell Hull daily.

Access

Sanders Ferry, Cedar Creek, Station Camp ramps; tailwater access below Old Hickory dam.

About this water

22,500 acres of Cumberland River, Davidson/Sumner/Wilson counties, TN. Nashville's daily-driver lake.

Fishing Old Hickory Lake: the full guide

The Cumberland through the suburbs

Old Hickory pools the Cumberland northeast of Nashville: a river-run reservoir of current breaks, creek embayments and celebrity-lined docks. The fishery works like river lakes do: generation moves bait, bait moves fish: check the schedule and fish the flow windows: the difference between casting and catching here is a turbine.

Stripe city

'Stripe' (white bass) and hybrids drive the daily culture: tailwater rips below Cordell Hull's releases, summer schooling across the main channel flats, winter birds marking bait balls off Cedar Creek. Live shad drifted through the moving water converts the quality: the tailrace mornings produce hybrids in the teens.

Crappie in the creeks

Station Camp, Spencer and Drakes creeks run the crappie program: spring stake beds at 4-8 ft, summer brush at 12-15, winter channel schools tight to the bends. TWRA's brush-pile coordinates are public: the milk-run method fills Nashville's livewells year-round.

Bass with a river accent

Largemouth work the endless docks and riprap (skip jigs, shaky heads), but the river DNA shows: current-swept rock bars hold smallmouth, and generation turns creek mouths into ambush lines. Night fishing under dock lights carries the summer: the lake fishes best when the town sleeps.

Common questions

When does Old Hickory fish best?

When water moves: generation windows beat solunar charts here. Summer nights under the dock lights and winter's bird-marked schooling fill the calendar's corners.

Where do the hybrids stack at Old Hickory?

The Cordell Hull tailwater upstream and the main-channel flats off Cedar Creek: dawn schooling in summer, deep bait balls with birds in winter. Live shad rules the quality bite.

Is fishing good at Old Hickory Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Percy Priest Lake17 miCaney Fork River45 miBarren River Lake50 miDuck River52 miCenter Hill Lake62 miDale Hollow Lake71 mi
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