The Lakes

There are 7 major lakes surrounding Knoxville. These are Cherokee, Douglas, Fort Loudoun, Melton Hill, Norris, Tellico and Watts Bar Lakes.

Norris, Douglas and Cherokee Lakes are reservoir lakes. The water level varies the most on these lakes. Fort Loudoun, Watts Bar, Tellico and Melton Hill only vary 4 to 7 feet. All of the lakes are lowered in the winter months, generally from mid-November to mid-April. Most folks feel it's too cold to go out on the lake in those months. Personally, I feel year round view is important, not year round water. (It really is too cold on the water!) But that is just my opinion.

Fort Loudoun and Watts Bar Lakes are part of the Tennessee River. This river eventually connects to the Mississippi River. Tellico Lake connects to Fort Loudoun. Melton Hill Lake connects to Watts Bar. Because of the long range navigation options, these four lakes experience the widest variety of boats from small bass and jon boats to luxury yachts, houseboats and barges.

Below is basic information I have gathered from the TVA website. The site has much more information including charts with daily water level reports, fishing information, recreation information, etc. so you may want to browse a bit there.