Vacation help - Tennessee local input

[Holdmybeer]

Just throwing this out here hoping a few locals can give some input and anyone else that might have knowledge.

My family books a house on Norris almost every year. This year we couldn't make it but are shopping for next summer.

We can stay in some of the same houses or venture away from Norris to Dale Hollow, Cherokee, or Douglas.

Wife found a great place on Cherokee but I know nothing about the other lakes. Dale Hollow seems less inhabited of the 4 and we do like to have dinner on the water at least once while we are there.

Let me know what you think about the 4 choices. We drive from Ohio so 5-6hr drive is not a big deal.
We have looked at other state but everyone loves The Volenteer state.

Thanks for the help.

[MJHSupra]

As you know, Norris has the most going on - marinas, restaurants, bars, more boats and people. etc. And is the biggest.

Dale Hollow is the prettiest. Fewer people and marinas. Fewer houses and the shoreline is very natural - not spoiled with many homes. Private homes around the lake do not have docks. Thus, fewer rentals - very few. Numerous coves and super clean water. I stayed at a marina for a weekend and used their slips. Mostly been on day trips here. Love this place for peace and quiet. Shoreline is smaller than Norris, but bigger than Cherokee and Douglas. Dale Hollow feels closer to Norris in size.

Cherokee and Douglas I put in the same category - between Norris and Dale Hollow for the amount of people and marinas. Both pretty lakes and have rentals around the lake. The advantage of Douglas over Cherokee is the proximity to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (if you want to get away from the lake for a day or take the kids). The closest city to Cherokee is Morristown - metro area is probably 150K. These both have about the same amount of shoreline - probably 400 miles.

[Holdmybeer]

How is water depth at the other 3 in late June - July? I know Norris is 80-300ft deep. Safe to assume the other 3 are similar?

We boat in 10-30ft in Ohio, so really not an issue but curious. Only concern would be water depth at the shoreline. Rental house at Cherokee is shown at low season and still seemed good. Only real concern at Norris is the floating trees.

Lastly, we missed the meet-up 2 yrs ago by a couple days. I think some of the people here saw me drive over the jumping bridge on the last day of the event. We were just getting there. If there is a meet up at Norris the same wewk we go, that might keep us at Norris. I would like to make one of these at some point.

[BigOrange]

No issues with Depth at Dale Hollow, super deep like Norris I assume. I would assume some shallow spots on Douglas and not sure about Cherokee. But, caveat I've only been on DH out of those....

[Mxmark4]

Cherokee and Douglas both have random shallow spots throughout. Nothing like Norris. I saw you last year at the bridge. Norris is probably one of my favorite places to be. Lucky to have it in my backyard.

[KnoxMojo]

Don't sleep on Tellico. It's beautiful up there and where many of the major brands do their photo and video shoots. Dale Hollow is nice, but very few marinas and about 0 cell service, which y'all might like. Lived in Knoxville my whole life, never been on Cherokee, there's nothing there interesting. Douglass is ok, small though.

[Mobius22]

Don't sleep on Tellico. It's beautiful up there and where many of the major brands do their photo and video shoots. Dale Hollow is nice, but very few marinas and about 0 cell service, which y'all might like. Lived in Knoxville my whole life, never been on Cherokee, there's nothing there interesting. Douglass is ok, small though.

Tellico is a hidden gem

[MJHSupra]

How is water depth at the other 3 in late June - July? I know Norris is 80-300ft deep. Safe to assume the other 3 are similar?

We boat in 10-30ft in Ohio, so really not an issue but curious. Only concern would be water depth at the shoreline. Rental house at Cherokee is shown at low season and still seemed good. Only real concern at Norris is the floating trees.

Lastly, we missed the meet-up 2 yrs ago by a couple days. I think some of the people here saw me drive over the jumping bridge on the last day of the event. We were just getting there. If there is a meet up at Norris the same wewk we go, that might keep us at Norris. I would like to make one of these at some point.

In June and July all the lake are at full pool, so not really issues in the main channels. Cherokee and Douglas would have more shallow spots cruising close to coves or points in the lake vs Dale Hollow. Douglas has some flat-spots where the water can change very fast, you might be cruising in 40-50', get into a wide open cove, then it drops to 10-15' and that whole area is only that deep.

Per the trees, that can be an issue on any TN lake if we get a lot of summer rain. Some seasons are worse than others. In the spring (Mar-Apr-May), Norris can get really bad for weeks b/c the water level is rising 20'. Douglas rises >40' in the spring, so that can get bad until everything settles down in the summer. Cherokee is probably 25-30', but I've never been on there in the spring. I'm not sure about Dale Hollow in the spring, but that lake is deep, thus why the smallmouth bass fishing is so good.

Cherokee and Douglas are the same size, but most of Cherokee is a longer open stretch of open water. Where Douglas has more twists/turns, so that might appear bigger. Cherokee has some islands in the lake, so one needs to be cautions around those.

[MJHSupra]

Here is the width of the main channel of Cherokee. This was by the dam in July probably 60-80’ of water.




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