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Middle Tennessee · County seat Pulaski

Fishing in Giles County, Tennessee

Giles County is thin on public water. This page lists what there is, then points at what is close.

Find fishing spots5 public access pointsFind gear & baitBait shops, tackle, rentals, licences

What to bring

What to bring fishing in Giles County

Three picks from the largemouth bass checklist that work for the fish here. Affiliate links: buying through them pays this site a small commission at no extra cost to you.

RodUgly Stik GX2 7 ft medium-heavy casting rodStiff enough to set a hook in grass, tough enough to live in a truck bed.Shop on Amazon →Why it is on the list
ReelAbu Garcia Black Max baitcasting reelAn inexpensive baitcaster that casts cleanly once the brakes are set.Shop on Amazon →Why it is on the list
Soft plasticZoom Trick WormThe Tennessee standard on a Texas rig or weightless along docks and grass edges.Shop on Amazon →Why it is on the list
Full largemouth bass checklist (11 items)All gear checklists

Spending more? The bigger purchases, compared side by side:

Smallmouth Bass checklistBluegill and Panfish checklistCatfish checklistFish Finders comparedTrolling Motors comparedLithium Marine Batteries comparedShallow Water Anchors compared

Giles County at a glance

Giles County boat ramps and fishing access

Giles County has 5 public fishing access points: 5 boat ramps, on 2 lakes, rivers and creeks.

5boat ramps
2lakes, rivers and creeks

The big water in Giles

Main fishing waters in Giles County

What each of these is actually known for, and what you can expect to catch.

river · the Elk runs about 195 miles total; the Giles County reach runs from the Lincoln…

Elk River

By the time the Elk reaches Giles County it is well below the Tims Ford trout water and has become a warmwater smallmouth and catfish river

smallmouth basslargemouthrock basscatfish
creek · TWRA, mixed banks

Richland Creek

Runs through Maury and Giles counties and past Pulaski before joining the Elk below the Tennessee–Alabama line

smallmouth bassrock basssunfishcatfish

What it looks like

Giles County water

Photographs of the water this page covers. Every picture opens that water’s own page. Drag or swipe to see the rest.

Richland Creek, TennesseeRichland CreekOpen the Richland Creek page →Snyder, Frank R. Flickr: Miami U. Libraries, Digital Collec / No restrictionsElk River, TennesseeElk RiverOpen the Elk River page →dmtilley / CC BY 3.0Center Hill Lake, TennesseeCenter Hill LakeOpen the Center Hill Lake page →Tyler White / Public domainOld Hickory Lake, TennesseeOld Hickory LakeOpen the Old Hickory Lake page →Brian Stansberry / CC BY 3.0Cumberland River, TennesseeCumberland RiverOpen the Cumberland River page →U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not s / Public domainDuck River, TennesseeDuck RiverOpen the Duck River page →SBaker43 / CC BY-SA 3.0

The ones nobody writes about

Small and out-of-the-way water in Giles County

County lakes, park ponds, creeks and river stretches in Giles County that never make a best-of list. Several of them fish better than the famous water on a busy weekend.

creek

Sugar Creek

Southern Giles County toward the Alabama line.

sunfishrock basssmall smallmouth
creeks

Robertson Fork and Bradshaw Creek

Richland Creek tributaries.

sunfishrock bass
n/a · private

Farm ponds and small private impoundments

Giles County’s still water is essentially all privatewhich is why the county has only 0.2 square miles of water surface in 611 square miles of land, a striking statistic worth publishing as-is.

No boat, or your own boat

Bank fishing and launching in Giles County

Fishing from the bank in Giles County

Richland Creek at public road crossings through and around Pulaski; the Elk River at the SR-7 and US-31 crossings near Elkton; the Elk at the I-65 corridor crossings (right of way only, verify posting and never fish from the interstate structure itself). No developed, named public bank fishing facility in Giles County was verified.

Getting a boat on the water in Giles County

Giles County is a paddling and carry-in county, not a trailer-boat county. Elk River Adventures, 4747 Elkton Pike, Prospect runs river trips on the Elk and is the one confirmed commercial water operation in the county.

The Elk through Giles County is a pleasant Class I float with good smallmouth fishing from a kayak or canoe. Richland Creek is floatable in higher water. There are no marinas, and no confirmed public trailer ramp.

Two different trips

Visiting Giles County versus fishing it like a local

Where visitors get pointed in Giles County

Elk River Adventures at Prospect for a guided or rental float; the Elk River corridor near Elkton; Richland Creek through Pulaski; the Giles County Museum and Pulaski’s historic square for non-anglers. Giles County is not a fishing tourism destination and the page should position it as a local-water county with one good float river.

Where Giles County locals actually go

Richland Creek upstream of Pulaski for wade smallmouth, genuinely good and almost entirely local knowledge. The Elk between Elkton and Prospect, which is quieter than the Alabama stretch. Sugar Creek in the far south of the county. Bradshaw Creek and Robertson Fork as small-stream options.

Rules and record fish

Limits and records for Giles County water

Creel and length limits in Giles County

No water-specific creel, length or seasonal exception for Giles County waters was found. Statewide stream regulations apply on the Elk and Richland Creek, note that Tennessee stream bass regulations differ from reservoir regulations and often carry no length limit, so this should be confirmed against the current proclamation rather than assumed from the Tims Ford rules upstream.

The Elk crosses into Alabama in this county, so anglers fishing the lower reach need to know precisely where the state line falls; an Alabama licence is required south of it and there is no reciprocal agreement here comparable to the Kentucky Lake or Big South Fork arrangements. Giles County appears on no TWRA trout stocking list.

5 public boat launches in Giles County, counted from TWRA’s own access database.

Questions people actually ask

Giles County fishing questions

Where can I fish from the bank in Giles County?

Richland Creek at public road crossings through and around Pulaski.

How many public boat ramps are in Giles County?

TWRA’s access database lists 5 boat launches in Giles County. Most of them are on Richland Creek. Every one is listed further up this page with its owner and lane count.

Do I need a fishing license to fish in Giles County?

Yes. Anyone 13 and over needs a Tennessee fishing license, and there is no license required for ages 12 and under. A resident annual combination hunt and fish license is $33, a resident one-day all-species license is $11, and a non-resident three-day all-species license is $40. Tennessee has no non-resident one-day license. Buy online at gooutdoorstennessee.com, from a county clerk or from a licensed agent. Licenses are digital, nothing arrives in the post.

What fish can you catch in Giles County?

The main species across Giles County water are largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sunfish, rock bass, catfish and freshwater drum. Each water body on the fishing spots page lists what it is actually known for, which is not always the same thing.

Does my Tennessee license cover trout in Giles County?

Not automatically. The $33 resident combination hunt and fish license does not cover trout, and neither does the county-of-residence license or the cheaper no-trout short-term options. Those need the $21 annual trout supplemental added on. The Sportsman licenses and every non-resident all-species license already include trout. There is no designated trout water in Giles County, but it is worth knowing before you drive to a tailwater elsewhere in the state.

What are the creel limits in Giles County?

No water-specific creel, length or seasonal exception for Giles County waters was found. Statewide stream regulations apply on the Elk and Richland Creek, note that Tennessee stream bass regulations differ from reservoir regulations and often carry no length limit, so this should be confirmed against the current proclamation rather than assumed from the Tims Ford rules upstream The Elk crosses into Alabama in this county, so anglers fishing the lower reach need to know precisely where the state line falls; an Alabama licence is required south of it and there is no reciprocal agreement here comparable to the Ken Always check the current TWRA guide before you keep anything, because water-specific exceptions change.

Where can I buy bait and tackle in Giles County?

Elk River Adventures, 4747 Elkton Pike, Prospect, canoe, kayak and raft trips on the Elk. No bait shop, tackle shop or sporting goods retailer in Giles County was verified by name. Walmart Supercenter, Pulaski sells tackle, bait and licences. Nearest Academy Sports: Columbia or Huntsville, Alabama (roughly 45 min to an hour). Nearest Bass Pro: Huntsville, Alabama (~1 hr) or Nashville (~1 hr 20 min).. There is a fuller list on the Giles County gear page, including anywhere renting boats or kayaks and the nearest big-box store.

Where do locals fish in Giles County?

Richland Creek upstream of Pulaski for wade smallmouth, genuinely good and almost entirely local knowledge. The Elk between Elkton and Prospect, which is quieter than the Alabama stretch. Sugar Creek in the far south of the county. Bradshaw Creek and Robertson Fork as small-stream options.

If the county comes up short

The nearest real fishing to Giles County

Giles County is genuinely thin on still water, 0.2 square miles of water surface countywide. Closest real lakes: Tims Ford Lake (10,600 acres) is about an hour east via Lincoln County; Woods Reservoir about 1 hr 15 min east; Wheeler Lake and the Tennessee River at Decatur, Alabama about an hour south; Normandy Reservoir about 1 hr 15 min northeast.

The nearest trout water is the Elk River tailwater below Tims Ford Dam, about an hour away. For a Giles County page the honest framing is: one good smallmouth float river, one good wade creek, and a drive for anything bigger.

Giles County water holds largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sunfish, rock bass.

The water itself

Lakes and rivers in Giles County

Each of these has a page of its own covering the whole water, not just the Giles County end of it, with every public access point on it and what it holds.

CreekRichland Creek3 access points in Giles CountySee the spots →RiverElk River2 access points in Giles County, 11 in totalSee the spots →

Conditions

Giles County river levels

River levelsElk River level todayUSGS flow, gauge height and the seven-day trend.Open →River levelsRichland Creek level todayUSGS flow, gauge height and the seven-day trend.Open →

Statewide limits: 5 black bass, 15 crappie at 10 inches, 2 stripers at 15 inches, 7 trout.

About this list

Where the Giles County access list comes from

The 5 access points above come from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s public access database, which is why each one names the agency that owns or manages it. A state or TVA ramp is usually free. A Corps of Engineers site, a state park ramp or a marina often is not.

The waters, species and local notes are researched separately, county by county, against TWRA’s own reservoir pages, TVA, the US Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee State Parks.

Ramps close for repairs, gravel roads wash out and regulations change. Treat anything here as a starting point and call ahead if you are driving a long way for it.

By town instead

Towns near Giles County

These pages measure from the middle of town rather than the county line, which is usually the number you actually care about.

17 access points within 30 milesFishing near LawrenceburgDuck River, Richland CreekSee the spots →24 access points within 30 milesFishing near ColumbiaDuck River, Harpeth RiverSee the spots →24 access points within 30 milesFishing near ShelbyvilleDuck River, Normandy LakeSee the spots →24 access points within 30 milesFishing near TullahomaNormandy Lake, Tims Ford LakeSee the spots →

Tennessee sells no non-resident one-day fishing license. The three-day is the shortest option.

Keep looking

Counties next to Giles

Fish do not respect county lines. These are the nearest counties to Giles with public water of their own. Each one opens its own page.

Next county overLawrence CountyLaurel Hill Lake, Shoal CreekSee the spots →Next county overLincoln CountyElk RiverSee the spots →Next county overMarshall CountyDuck River, New LakeSee the spots →Next county overLewis CountyBuffalo RiverSee the spots →Next county overMaury CountyDuck River, Bluecat LakeSee the spots →

Keep going

More Giles County water, and who fishes it

Every guide and charter on this site is listed by the water they run, so you can call the captain direct. Licences, limits and the state record list are one click away too.

Guides by waterLicence and limits

Weather alerts, power outages and road closures in Giles County right now: Giles County conditions.