![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ken-smith-1.png\")
<\/p>\nKentucky lake at New Johnsonville was at 358.6 feet on the July 22, with TVA saying we should continue to see the lake fall this week to around 358 by mid-week. Flows have been moderate, with averages around 56,500 cfs. The Cumberland River at Dover was at 58.8 feet, Clarksville was at 59 feet with Cheatham Dam at 385.5 feet with an average discharge of 25,500 cfs. Both lakes are now seeing surface water temps in the upper 80s. The Buffalo River saw a slight rise with the rainfall, and on the July 22, was at 4 feet with the Duck River at 5 feet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fishing report<\/p>\n
Fishing has been tough this week, as the \u201cdog days of summer\u201d are upon us, it has become miserably hot out on the water while fishing \u2013 the only exception is for those getting out early around daylight. We\u2019ve seen the afternoons bring summer storms, but the mornings seem to be the time to hit the water to catch a fish. <\/p>\n
The bass should be out on the river flats and humps, chasing the plentiful shad. Fishermen have to compete with the plentiful natural food the bass have to feed on, which can make catching very hard, with the fish feeding often through the day, and heading to more comfortable areas to rest afterwards. I\u2019m sure there are some \u201cdiehard\u201d crappie fishermen out there, and the crappie should be in the deeper areas now in water depths of 12-20 feet along creek drops and out on the river ledges. I haven\u2019t seen many catfishing, although early fishermen targeting river drops while \u201cbumping\u201d should be producing fish.<\/p>\n
Bear sightings<\/p>\n
Bear sightings continue across the state. One has been sighted in West Tennessee, and multiple sightings have been reported in Dickson County. Bears were original residents in our area until the late 1800s, and were eliminated by the early 1900s, but with the increasing numbers in the eastern part of the state, young males black bears are looking for new areas (territory) and available females to breed. There are hunting seasons on black bear in the state but are mostly in the eastern part of the state and are outlined in the hunting guide.<\/p>\n
Deer baiting license<\/p>\n
TWRA has made available the new \u201cDeer Baiting License\u201d with the cost of $50 for residents and $100 for non-residents. This license was not well liked by TWRA, but the state legislators wanted it, so here we are. There are many reasons why the TWRA didn\u2019t like the idea, mostly due to the fact that feeding and baiting wildlife can impact negatively both wildlife and humans. Concentrating animals increases the risk of spreading diseases such as CWD, bovine tuberculosis, and brucellosis, which can affect wildlife and livestock as well as pets. <\/p>\n
Poor-quality or improperly stored grains (often labeled as Wildlife corn, due to not being able to use as livestock food) may contain aflatoxins that are highly toxic to species like turkeys and quail. Additionally, feed\/bait can unintentionally attract raccoons, feral hogs, and the growing black bear populations, increasing the likelihood of predation, nuisance issues and property damage. The \u201cbaiting license\u201d is not available in any of the CWD positive counties or in the CWD zones. This includes Humphreys and Dickson counties in our area.<\/p>\n
TWRA seeks input<\/p>\n
The comment period for the Fishing regulations is now open, and TWRA is seeking public
comments on the 2027-28 fishing regulations, this comment period is open through Aug. 16. To make
a comment, go to TnWildlife.org and look under the \u201cnews\u201d section for the prompt. The Wildlife Conservation Raffle is underway through November 8. There are over $200,000 worth of prizes
available. Tickets are 1 for $20, 3 for $50, or 10 for $100. Tickets are available at wildliferaffle.com<\/p>\n
Upcoming events<\/p>\n
BassMasters High School Championship on July 30-Aug 1 at Paris Landing<\/p>\n
Clarksville Bass Club night tournament on Aug. 1 at Paris Landing<\/p>\n
Tennessee Mad Catters catfish event on Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. at Cuba Landing<\/p>\n
Workin\u2019 Man\u2019s Trail Bass Tournament on Aug. 1 at New Johnsonville<\/p>\n
USA BASSIN New Johnsonville Division on Aug. 8 at New Johnsonville at 6 a.m.<\/p>\n
Cumberland River Catmans Association on Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. (night) at Cheatham Dam<\/p>\n
TNWR Hummingbird banding day on Saturday, Aug. 8 at 8 a.m. at 1371 Wildlife Drive, Springville, TN (731-642-2091)<\/p>\n
4 Hills Hunting Club traditional archery shoot on Aug. 8 at 123 Holland Road, Dickson, TN<\/p>\n
Tennessee Boating License Class hosted by Turkey Creek Marina and TWRA on Aug. 27 at the Apex Community building in Waverly at 5 p.m. (bring TWRA type 600 permit)<\/p>\n
Ken Smith is a retired game warden for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency who lives in the Houston County area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky lake at New Johnsonville was at 358.6 feet on the July 22, with TVA saying we should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-389348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}