One of the nicest things about living in Tennessee is the copious quantities of water. Rivers, lakes, all within easy drives. No driving 300 miles to a put-in here...
My favorites spots are Center Hill Lake, the Harpeth River/Cumberland River confluence, and (only because it's 5 miles from my home) J. Percy Priest Lake.
Percy Priest has issues...it's treacherous, in that it was created by the Army Corps of Engineers by flooding existing land in the Stones River basin, and this part of the country is not as hilly as, say, Center Hill/Caney Fork rivers. That means there are shallows.
I'm talking about prop-destroying, shaft-bending shallows. Late in the summer, when the lake is drawn down to produce electricity for overheated Nashville, those shallows get nassty...that's when one goes to Center Hill lake, where 5 feet from the bank, it could be 85 feet deep.
Priest does have attractions, including Party Cove. Weekends draw dozens of boaters, alcohol, and good socializing. The Percy Priest Social Club leads to everything you could expect at clubs...music, dance, drinking...and patrols. This year Party Cove is somewhat subdued, finally succumbing to the politically correct police state that is troubling dry land...
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