The United States Coast Guard issued a press release yesterday stating that the Tennessee River from Mile Marker 206 (Pickwick Dam) to Mile Marker 0 (Paducah, KY) is closed to recreational boating. The release originally stated that Mile Marker 0 was Knoxville, but that is incorrect and have since changed the press release.
Wired2Fish called the Coast Guard this morning to verify. They said the closure is from Pickwick to Paducah and they do not have an eta on when the section of river will open to recreational crafts. Commercial crafts are still allowed on the river but must operate at safe speeds so as not to disturbed moored vessels or other infrastructure.
Unsafe flows were cited as the primary reason for the closure. We will keep anglers updated as soon as we learn more about the re-opening of the lake.
This closure will not effect this week's Bassmaster Elite Series event. We have a call into FLW Outdoors and they are confirming with the Coast Guard the closure and a decision is pending about the BFL event on Kentucky Lake out of Moor's this Saturday. We will update anglers further when we find out.
Click Here for the official release from the Coast Guard.
