Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Region 4
Stream Management
Wilbur Tailwater
The Watauga River enters Carter County, Tennessee from North Carolina and is impounded by Watauga Dam near Hampton, forming Watauga Reservoir (6,432 acres). Much of the Tennessee portion of the reservoir’s watershed lies within the CNF. Wilbur Dam is located about 3 miles downstream of Watauga Dam and impounds a small reservoir. The Wilbur tailwater segment between Elizabethton and Boone Reservoir has a long history of degradation. As recently as the 1970s and early 1980s, only the most pollution-tolerant aquatic life could survive in this portion of the tailwater. Consequently, few angling opportunities existed at that time. Reductions in effluent toxicity from point sources resulted in recovery of macroinvertebrate and fish communities in the lower portion of the river by the late 1980s. This recovery prompted TWRA to implement a trout stocking program. By the late 1990s, water quality improvements and TWRA’s stocking program had created one of the finest trout fisheries in the state. Unfortunately, toxic runoff resulting from a fire at the North American Corporation in February 2000 destroyed the trout fishery in the 10-mile river section downstream of Elizabethton. Despite the nearly complete trout kill, the river’s benthic community was not substantially impacted. Restoration of the trout fishery began later in 2000 and is now essentially complete.
The Watauga River below Wilbur Dam supports a 16-mile fishery for rainbow and brown trout before entering Boone Reservoir. Put-and-take and put-and-grow fisheries are provided by annually stocking fingerling and adult trout, although there is some natural reproduction, particularly by brown trout. The Watauga tailwater receives just over 200,000 trout annually, most of which are rainbows. Additionally, this is the only tailwater that is stocked with brook trout. General trout angling regulations apply except in a ‘Quality Zone’ extending 2.6 miles between Smalling Bridge and the CSX Railroad Bridge near Watauga. There, a 2-fish creel limit and 14-inch minimum size limit are in effect, and only artificial lures may be used. A creel survey of the Wilbur tailwater during 2002 indicated a 50% increase in fishing pressure since 1998, making it one of the most heavily fished trout streams in Tennessee.
Background
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Hunter Bridge
Wilbur Dam
Blevins Bend
Rinker Materials
