The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency stocked more than 1,000 pounds of cutthroat trout in the Elk River below Tims Ford Dam on Oct. 11.

In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery, 2,500 fish were stocked in two locations below Tims Ford Dam.

The Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery provided and delivered the trout. The stocked fish ranged from 9 to 10.5 inches in length.

Approximately 1,900 trout were released below the Tims Ford Dam at the Highway 50 access. A location two miles downstream received the rest of the fish. This is the only scheduled stocking of cutthroat trout this year.

Cutthroat trout are native to the western U.S. They were originally stocked in a few of Tennessee’s tailwaters in the 1950s through the early 1960s with little success due to poor water quality prior to the Clean Water Act of 1972.

In 2021, cutthroat trout were added to the stocking list in the Tims Ford tailwater (Elk River), Appalachia tailwater (Hiwassee River) and Boone tailwater (Holston River) to diversify the trout-fishing experience below these dams.  

The daily limit on trout for the Elk River, from the dam to the I-65 bridge, including tributaries, is seven trout in any combination. Only one brown trout per day is allowed, and it must meet the minimum length requirement of 20 inches.