Cherokee Lake, Norris and Douglas

[Daniel_Boone]

I have never fished Cherokee lake or Douglas. Grew up in the area and spent my summers on Norris. I have been away for school that past 7 years but am moving back this summer and plan to fish all three lakes as they are all relatively close. I love to bass fish, small mouth in the winter and LM/smallies in the spring and summer. I've read up on Cherokee/Douglas and they sound like very fertile fishery with lots of fish.

Compared to each other, how does the Lm/Sm fishing stack up between the lakes?



Thanks ahead of time for the info guys!

 

[stik]

douglas is one of the best bass/crappie lakes in the state.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

Figured Douglas was good considering the tourny guys are hitting it this spring. How is the smallie fishing?

 

[stik]

norris is probably best of the 3 for smallies.

 

[SilverFox]

All 3 lakes have something to offer. If I was going after largemouth only I would fish Douglas. If I was going after smallmouth I would fish Cherokee or Norris. I think both of those lakes offer you the best chance of catching larger smallmouths than Douglas.

With that said, Douglas is getting a good population of smallmouth. I've caught a bunch of them this fall/winter. Only 3 of them have been 20 inches or more. Biggest was 22 1/2 inches and 6.5 pounds. I've caught a bunch of largemouth 3 pounds and up with the biggest being 7 1/2 pounds. I have fished Douglas a lot this fall/winter.

I've fished Cherokee 3 times this fall/winter. I've caught a couple of good smallmouth with one being over 20 inches. All the largemouth I have caught have been small but I haven't had a good day on Cherokee yet and I don't know the lake that well. Other guys I fish with have been killing the smallmouth... just not me.

I haven't fished Norris this fall/winter but I've got some good reports from friends who fish it. I fished it last fall/winter and caught some good smallmouth and largemouth... just not the numbers I caught on Douglas.

 

[Diehard Hunter]

I love the smallmouth fishing on Norris. However, I never fish other lakes because I keep my boat in a slip on Norris.

 

[GRAMPS]

I don't fish Norris, and only fish Douglas for crappie and white bass. I would consider Cherokee as my home lake and do very well on bass there; both largemouth and smallmouth. I have been fishing Cherokee for around forty years.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

Found a good article that talks about east Tn smallie fishing and specifically addresses Cherokee.

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2010/10/0 ... n_0205_01/

 

[Winchester]

The lakes mentioned in the article are absolutely some Smallmouth gems!! For trophy fish I would rank all 3 above Norris!

 

[Football Hunter]

good luck

 

[stik]

The lakes mentioned in the article are absolutely some Smallmouth gems!! For trophy fish I would rank all 3 above Norris!

i have never fished watauga or cherokee but ft. loudon/tellico are sleepers for smallmouths and hold some monsters.

 

[NICHOLS3]

Douglas for Largemouth Norris for smallmouth(did have a friend catch a 9 3/4 smallie on Douglas though). Havent fished Cherokee even though our hunting property is 5 min away. Dont forget Watts Bar I pulled a 9 and 8 1/2 out of there and have only fished it a handfull of times.

 

[Biggun4214]

I saw pictures of 2 huge largemouth that came from Douglas. Both were over 10 according to the picture of the hand-held scales. They were caught at opposite ends of the lake. Some years it is not uncommon for 30lb 5 fish limits from mid-May to mid-June. Smallmouth are becoming more prevalent in Douglas for 2 reasons. Jet-drives allow fishermen to venture farther up river. Also as Douglas ages it is becoming clearer. This accounts for an increase in smallmouth and black crappie as well.

 

[TeamMainStreet]

I say Douglas and Cherokee both beat Norris so I would fish them. :smile: That way aint nobody sittin in my smallie holes on Norris.