Fishing the Clinch River (Oak Ridge, Maryville: live, safe, pollution)

[mtneer]

Can anyone give me pointers on fishing the Clinch in Tenn both above and below Norris? What's the typical fish you can catch from shore, what's the best baits, how hard is it to get a nibble and can fish taken from the river be safely consumed?

[hondaguy83]

Isn't Clinch river the river between Oak Ridge and Clinton?...If so i don't think i would wanna eat any fish that i caught from there since it is flowing to and from Oak Ridge...Just my guess...I would fish up in Norris where i knew for sure that the fish was safe to eat...I've heard you can catch some pretty big bass and catfish up in those waters

[mtneer]

The Clinch flows through Norris Dam into Clinton and then from Clinton into Oak Ridge. So technically it seem since Oak Ridge is downstream Clinton waters should be safe from the nuclear waste pollution. Clinch actually flows into Virgina too and in VA its considered one of the cleanest rivers in the nation. I just don't know though about eating something like catfish caught in Clinton area.

[misstoogood]

My hubby wades it every time he can! He uses a web site to check when the generators will run and what not. I'll get him to come here and give you tips...

[tsimmu]

What a timely post. My husband has been fishing the Clinch most days recently exploring both new and old sites up and down the river. He could definitely help. Where are you from -- meaning are you very familiar with the area(s) to which he'd be referring or are you from out of the area and might need more specific information?

[gdahlke9]

Don't know much about upstream of the Norris dam. Lot's of people fish Norris Lake and do well and I hear there's some good Smallmouth Bass fishing in the river above the lake up towards VA.

I fish for trout below the dam and do pretty well. Don't know what kind of fishing you're used to but here goes. I usually fish either at the weir dam or at Miller's Island below the dam. They are near Norris TN. For a first timer I'd go with some lite or ultra lite spinning gear if you have it although my daughter uses a Zebco 33 I think spooked with 4 lb test line. I use an ultra light spinning outfit with 4 lb test line. You need to wade into the river like you'll see others doing. The water's pretty cold but there are lots of shallow spots to stand in. Shorts and some old sneakers will do in the summer. The bottow can be slippery so don't be surprised if you fall once or twice and get wet. For tackle, Bait is the easiest to start with. People use red worms and do well. I like to use Trout Nuggets. They're like a doe ball and come in small jars in orange, yellow, green, and rainbow amound others. The orange and rainbow sem to work for me and my kids. I use a #10 bait holder or salmon egg hook at the end of about 18" of 5x tippet material. I tie a small swivel at the end of my 4 lb and tie the 5x to that with the hook at the end. Then I use a small split shot just above the swivel for weight. You need the lite outfit to cast this small weight and then let it drift down stream. Cast up and across and let it drift past you downstream. Repeat as necessary. I also fly fish on occasion or use a small brass Mepps style spinner with a red bead and silver blade that works well too.

The one thing you need to be aware of is the generation schedule at Norris dam. You don't want to be in the river when the generators come on. Check hte schedule at [URL="http://www.lakeinfo.tva.gov"]www.lakeinfo.tva.gov[/URL] and select Norris dam. The water comes up at the weir dam pretty quick after they turn on the gens. You'll hear a wailing alarm right before. At Miller's Island, it takes about 40-50 minutes for the water to start to come up.

Hope this helps. I catch Brook, Rainbow and Brown trout in the Clinch and they are tasty! I usually put them back except for a few if I'm going to cook them up for lunch when I get home. Most of themwill be 8-12" long but every now and then you get a 18-24" Rainbow or Brown that makes thing interesting!

[Kitties of Domination]

Norris is the probably the cleanest of the TVA lakes. Anything upstream from Oak Ridge is very edible, even cats.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

Norris is the probably the cleanest of the TVA lakes. Anything upstream from Oak Ridge is very edible, even cats.

Nothing better than a cat taco with in ice cold Budweiser!

[mtneer]

Originally Posted by tsimmu

What a timely post. My husband has been fishing the Clinch most days recently exploring both new and old sites up and down the river. He could definitely help. Where are you from -- meaning are you very familiar with the area(s) to which he'd be referring or are you from out of the area and might need more specific information?

I'm semi-familiar with the area. Place names not so good with. Grew up in Maryville, lived in Oak Ridge for 12 yrs but really didn't get out much when I lived there. Moved to the mountains of AZ for 12 yrs then moved back to TN and ended up outside city limits in Clinton. I've only been to Norris Dam once so I don't know much about the waters here.

I did catch a small what I think was a yellow perch in Claxton. Or it might have been Powell. I've never understood where Claxton ended and Powell began...lol It was at a creek by a bridge just off the main road. I've caught bluegill like crazy near the steam plant but threw those back in. I saw people fly fishing at Norris by the dam but have not seen people fishing the Clinch between Clinton and Oak Ridge so that made me wonder if the water was unsafe?

Any tips and suggestions are appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[mtneer]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

Norris is the probably the cleanest of the TVA lakes. Anything upstream from Oak Ridge is very edible, even cats.

Do the unsafe waters have signs posted that say do not eat fish? See this scares me since I see no one fishing in Clinton. I don't like fishing for sport; I believe in eating what you catch or else not catching it. The fishing guide I picked up made all of Anderson Co aside from right below Norris dam sound unsafe.