Waters · Lakes · TN · Wed, Sep 30

Chickamauga Lake water level today 681.01 ft, falling

Bite index 4/10 — Picky — get there by six.

Work for it.

Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.

4/10
Picky

Today's bite windows

12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
Major
3:28 AM–5:28 AM
Moon overhead
Minor
11:32 AM–12:32 PM
Moonset
Major
3:58 PM–5:58 PM
Moon underfoot
Minor
9:19 PM–10:19 PM
Moonrise

Sunrise 7:35 AM · sunset 7:26 PM · tomorrow's first major 4:28 AM–6:28 AM · windows on every water

Solunar · computed updated 10:30 AM

Conditions right now

Water temp estimated
≈68.1°F
7-day mean of air temperature, ±4.5°F typical
computed from NOAA KCHA updated 10:15 AM
Water level
681.01ft
-0.11 ft in 24h
NOAA NWPS CKDT1 updated 9:00 AM
Pressure
30.15inHg
rising fast · +3.05 hPa/12h
NOAA KCHA updated 10:15 AM
Wind
0mph N
NOAA KCHA updated 10:15 AM
Moon
81% waning
Solunar · computed updated 10:30 AM

What this means

Largemouth bass, Crappie, Catfish
This gauge reports level but no water temperature, so depth calls stay open. Read the windows and the pressure trend instead.

Chickamauga Lake level over the last 8 days

681.01 ft down 0.11 ft in 24 hours

That sits 2% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 680.99 and 681.86 ft. Over the week it is down0.51ft.

09-22 680.99–681.86 ft 09-30
NOAA NWPS CKDT1 updated 9:00 AM

The week ahead

Thu 6 Biting
Fri 6 Biting
Sat 6 Biting
Sun 6 Biting
Mon 6 Biting
Tue 6 Biting
Wed 6 Biting

Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.

Chickamauga Lake boat ramps and public fishing access

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency lists 34 public access points on Chickamauga Lake. These are the 8 closest to our gauge — the farthest one the agency lists sits 43 mi away.

Access data from Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Distances are straight-line from our gauge, not driving distance.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency · public access inventory

Before you go

A Tennessee fishing license covers this water — $33 a year for residents. TWRA sets the rules and is the one that counts.

What it costs, and who is exempt →

Nearby waters today

Questions people ask about Chickamauga Lake

Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Chickamauga Lake.

Is it worth fishing Chickamauga Lake today?
4 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 3:28 AM–5:28 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
What time should you fish Chickamauga Lake?
Today's major windows run 3:28 AM–5:28 AM and 3:58 PM–5:58 PM, with minor windows at 11:32 AM–12:32 PM and 9:19 PM–10:19 PM. Sunrise is 7:35 AM and sunset 7:26 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
What is the water temperature at Chickamauga Lake?
No gauge on Chickamauga Lake measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 68.1°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KCHA (Chattanooga, Lovell Field). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
What is the water level at Chickamauga Lake right now?
681.01 ft, read at 9:00 AM from NOAA NWPS station CKDT1. Over 24 hours it is down 0.11 ft.
Are water levels rising or falling at Chickamauga Lake?
Falling. The lake is down 0.11 ft in 24 hours and down 0.51 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 680.99 and 681.86 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
Can you eat the fish you catch in Chickamauga Lake?
That is a health question and it belongs with the state, not with us. TN publishes fish consumption advisories through its health or environmental agency, and those are the ones that count. We give no eating advice.
Do you need a licence to fish Chickamauga Lake?
Yes. A Tennessee fishing license covers this water, required from age 13. TWRA sets the rules and is the one that counts.

What a Tennessee license costs, and who is exempt

Where these numbers come from

Read above Chickamauga Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority and republished by NOAA. Summer pool is 682.5 ft. The gauge at Chattanooga a few miles downstream reads about 636 ft — that is Nickajack Lake below the dam, not this water.

No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.