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Old Hickory Lake Fishing Report

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

A 22,500-acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Cumberland near Nashville, with TWRA fish attractors, accessible fishing piers and its own reservoir limits.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
76 / 77 F
Wind
ENE 4 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.

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

Old Hickory Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 77. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:22 AM-11:22 AM and 9:50 PM-11:50 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

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.

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 77 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 temp76 F
High / Low77 / 42 F
WindENE 4-5 mph
Pressure1021.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:00 / 18:00
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 Old Hickory Lake this week

The best day on Old Hickory Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:22 AM-11:22 AM and 9:50 PM-11:50 PM
Minor period
3:44 AM-4:44 AM
Sun
07:00 to 18:00
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 8 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

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: 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.

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 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
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 Old Hickory 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 77 F, wind to 9 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 78 F, wind to 7 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 77 F, wind to 8 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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 fishing license. TWRA Region 2 rules for Old Hickory (read 2026-10-05): black bass 5 a day combined; largemouth 14 in. minimum; smallmouth 18 in.; spotted bass no length limit; crappie 30 a day, 10 in.; striped or hybrid striped bass 2 a day, 15 in.; white bass 15 a day; walleye 5, 16 in.; sauger 10, 15 in.; catfish no creel limit at 34 in. and under, one over 34 in. a day; paddlefish 2 a day, April 24-May 31.

Access

Corps campgrounds with boat launches at Cages Bend and Cedar Creek (open April 1-Oct. 31); swim beaches with launching ramps at Cedar Creek, Laguardo, Lock 3 and Old Hickory Beach; accessible fishing piers at Rockland, Sanders Ferry, Shutes Branch and Bledsoe Creek State Park. Resource Manager's Office: 5 Power Plant Road, Hendersonville, (615) 822-4846.

About this water

A 22,500-acre Nashville District Corps of Engineers lake on the Cumberland River near Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee; resource office in Hendersonville.

Fishing Old Hickory Lake: the full guide

A Corps lake on the Cumberland

Old Hickory Lake is the Nashville District Corps of Engineers' 22,500-acre lake on the Cumberland River near Metropolitan Nashville. Pleasure boats, sailboats, personal watercraft and fishing boats share it, served by eight commercial marinas and many Corps access areas. The State of Tennessee manages more than 27,000 acres around the lake for fish and wildlife programs, much of it reached by water.

Fish attractors and piers

TWRA maintains 18 fish attractor sites marked with buoys, built from suspended cedar trees; the Corps calls them popular and productive for bass and crappie. Bank anglers have accessible fishing piers, reached by paved paths and with attractors nearby, at Rockland, Sanders Ferry, Shutes Branch and Bledsoe Creek State Park.

Water releases

Releases through the dam move water and bait. The Corps points anglers to TVA's lake information page and phone line for generation schedules and lake levels, and posts fishing updates on the Old Hickory Lake Facebook page.

Common questions

Where can I fish from the bank?

The Corps lists accessible fishing piers at Rockland, Sanders Ferry, Shutes Branch and Bledsoe Creek State Park, each with fish attractors nearby.

What are the crappie rules?

TWRA's Old Hickory rule is 30 crappie a day of all species combined, each at least 10 inches.

Where do I find generation schedules?

The Corps directs anglers to TVA's lake information page, or 1-800-238-2264 (press 4, then 37, then #).

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

Nearby waters

Percy Priest Lake17 miCaney Fork River45 miBarren River Lake50 miDuck River52 miCenter Hill Lake59 miDale Hollow Lake71 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.3000, -86.6170 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 5, 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 5, 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.