THREE DAYS: THAT’S how long the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic competitors have to locate Tennessee River treasure and amass their heaviest cumulative weight in hopes of taking home the sport’s most coveted award: the Ray Scott Bassmaster Classic trophy. Time is tight on the Classic clock, but imagine what a 12-year search might yield.
A dozen trips around the sun — that was the time frame allotted for the Tellico Archaeological Project, a joint recovery operation between Tennessee Valley Authority engineers and those from the state of Tennessee. Much more than a museum-filling effort, those years were essential for the completion of half of the Classic playing field.
We’re talking about Tellico Lake, the 16,056-acre impoundment of the Little Tennessee and the lower Tellico rivers. It’s not officially part of the nine-lake Tennessee River chain, but this TVA reservoir holds a direct physical link to Fort Loudoun Lake, as well as an immeasurably profound connection to the entire region — in particular, the site of Classic weigh-ins. (Hold on to that thought.)
Located on the Little Tennessee River arm of Watts Bar — the next Tennessee River reservoir below Fort Loudoun Dam — Tellico connects to Fort Loudoun Lake through a short canal that passes beneath U.S. 321. Pretty straightforward topography, but the other stuff deserves a deeper dive.
INUNDATION CONSIDERATION
While the TVA’s core mission — economic development, hydroelectric power, flood control and navigational efficiency — has clearly
