Fort Patrick Henry Dam Generation question kayak fishing.

[ogie]

Hey all,

I'm in the tri-cities this week visiting a friend and had a question about taking a kayak below the Fort Patrick Henry Dam. I know there's generally only about a two hour window to fish between generations, is it even viable to fish the river when the dam is generating from a kayak in Kingsport? Is there anywhere further down river that I would have a little more time between dam generations to safely fish the river? I've been coming down here for awhile but I usually fish the lakes and I would love to hit the river for some smallies. Thanks in advance and tight lines!

 

[sll]

Below the PH dam you are mainly in trout water for the biggest part. There are smallmouth there , of course, but the good SM fishing starts below the Eastman for the most part.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

some smallies in the sluice around the island... used to know a guy that floated that during duck season. aint been down it myself yet. bass like to hang around at outfalls from the plant on town side of main river.

 

[Kevin Snook]

The area above the Wilcox bridge is killer for big smallmouth and largemouth
Especially around the water discharges

 

[ogie]

Well I managed to get out for a few hours, only caught one but it was a good one. Lost another good size girl after it snapped my line. Every hit came on jerk baits. Thanks for all the info guys! Gonna give it another go next time I'm down there.

 

[ogie]

Just out of curiousity if anyone knows, do Bucky Cooper Park or Laurel Run get hit with the discharge as badly as down from Eastman? I don't have a lot of experience with flow controlled rivers so I'm not sure if the affect dissipates the further you get down stream.

 

[tndeerman]

The area at church hill is not as bad as at the dam,it has settled down by then,still the river will rise 2 to 3 ft,great fishing on the part of the river

 

[ogie]

The area at church hill is not as bad as at the dam,it has settled down by then,still the river will rise 2 to 3 ft,great fishing on the part of the river

Good to know! How long is the delay between the dam discharge to Church Hill? 3-4 hours?