Water level
633.14ft
+0.3 ft in 24h
NOAA NWPS NKJT1 updated 9:00 AM
Waters · Lakes · TN · Wed, Oct 7
Nickajack Lake water level today 633.14 ft, rising
Bite index 5/10 — Picky — fish it after dark.
Work for it.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
5/10
Picky
Today's bite windows
12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
10Peak 9 8Strong 7 6Good 5 4Slow 3 2 1Dead
Minor
3:00 AM–4:00 AM
Moonrise
Major
9:11 AM–11:11 AM
Moon overhead
Minor
4:11 PM–5:11 PM
Moonset
Major
9:34 PM–11:34 PM
Moon underfoot
Sunrise 6:42 AM · sunset 6:17 PM · tomorrow's first major 9:57 AM–11:57 AM · windows on every water
Solunar · computed updated 10:02 AM
Conditions right now
Water temp estimated
≈72.1°F
7-day mean of air temperature, ±4.5°F typical
computed from NOAA KCHA updated 9:40 AM
Pressure
30.1inHg
rising · +1.35 hPa/12h
NOAA KCHA updated 9:40 AM
Wind
6mph SSW
NOAA KCHA updated 9:40 AM
Moon
10% waning
Solunar · computed updated 10:02 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.
Nickajack Lake level over the last 8 days
633.14 ft up 0.30 ft in 24 hours
That sits 48% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 632.31 and 634.03 ft. Over the week it is up0.10ft.
09-29 632.31–634.03 ft 10-07
NOAA NWPS NKJT1 updated 9:00 AM
The week ahead
| Thu | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
| Sat | 7 | Biting | |
| Sun | 7 | 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.
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
- 5 Picky Chickamauga Lake TN · 37 km
- 6 Biting Normandy Lake TN · 77 km
- 5 Picky Parksville Lake TN · 89 km
- 7 Biting Raystown Lake PA · 901 km
- 6 Biting Sandy Hook NJ · 1187 km
Questions people ask about Nickajack 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 Nickajack Lake.
- Is it worth fishing Nickajack Lake today?
- 5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 9:11 AM–11:11 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Nickajack Lake?
- Today's major windows run 9:11 AM–11:11 AM and 9:34 PM–11:34 PM, with minor windows at 3:00 AM–4:00 AM and 4:11 PM–5:11 PM. Sunrise is 6:42 AM and sunset 6:17 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Nickajack Lake?
- No gauge on Nickajack Lake measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 72.1°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 Nickajack Lake right now?
- 633.14 ft, read at 9:00 AM from NOAA NWPS station NKJT1. Over 24 hours it is up 0.30 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Nickajack Lake?
- Rising. The lake is up 0.30 ft in 24 hours and up 0.10 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 632.31 and 634.03 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 Nickajack 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 Nickajack Lake?
- Yes. A Tennessee fishing license covers this water, required from age 13. TWRA sets the rules and is the one that counts.
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 10:02 AM
- NOAA KCHA Chattanooga, Lovell Field 9:40 AM
- NOAA MRX gridded forecast 6:06 AM
- NOAA NWPS NKJT1 Tennessee River above Nickajack Dam (Jasper 5S) · data from TVA 9:00 AM
The Tennessee River above Nickajack Dam near Jasper, read by the Tennessee Valley Authority and republished by NOAA. This is the pool below Chickamauga Dam — a few miles upstream, CKDT1 reads Chickamauga Lake at roughly 682 ft, a different water entirely. No temperature sensor at the gauge.
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.