A healthy river or lake is like a Rolex watch – there are dozens of settings and pieces that must all be in alignment to work right, but once it’s working, it’s difficult to interrupt. Water level, water temperature, oxygenation, sediment levels, salinity and pH levels are just a few of the closely interconnected cogs in the machine. Even one being out of whack can ruin the order of the whole watch, er, lake.
Eastern Tennessee through Northwest Alabama has been suffering from a D2, or “severe,” drought since mid-2016 – which can disrupt even the most well-oiled machines, so to speak. Still, initial signs from TVA indicate that local fish populations won’t be severely harmed.
“When you have a drought, it brings on stress in the fish, which can lead to an increase in disease and parasites,” says TVA fisheries biologist Kurt Lakin. “But the fact is the TVA system of dams and reservoirs is very dynamic and flexible. We can handle these short-term, intense drought periods.”
Lakin says the local drought conditions in 2016, deemed D3, were similar to what Tennessee experienced in 2007 – the second-driest year on record for the state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But local waterways such as the Tennessee Blueway, Lake Nickajack and Lake Chickamauga sustained minimal damage that year, he says.
As a result, fishing in those waters continued as normal throughout that period, and fishing conditions this summer are expected to be similar.