First Saturday Clean-up and Fishing Day

Thanks to your support during the 2025 Tail Water Round-Up, large sections of the Watauga River are now nearly free of debris. However, the Watauga Bluffs State Natural Area still requires multiple clean-ups to remove debris from a small, low-lying section. To address this, we’re incorporating a clean-up component into our First Saturday Fishing Days, allowing us to make steady progress each month.

Event Details

📍 Location: Watauga Bluffs State Natural Area 
🕗 Time: 8:00 AM, First Saturday of each month

Participants will be provided with gloves and trash bags before walking less than half a mile to the river. We'll spend an hour or two cleaning up, followed by a relaxing morning of fishing near the bluffs. This area offers excellent wade fishing when there’s no generation. If generation is scheduled, we’ll still proceed with the clean-up, and participants can explore other fishing spots afterward.

For convenience, trash bags will be placed near the river below the rapid, allowing drift boats to easily retrieve them from the boat ramp downstream.

Directions

📍 Address: 3511 Steam Plant Rd, Watauga, TN 37694

Google Maps provides accurate directions, but some GPS systems may not.

From I-26 in Johnson City:

• Take the Watauga Ave exit and head northeast toward the town of Watauga.
• Travel 1 mile on E Watauga Ave, then turn left onto N Broadway at Walgreens.
• Immediately turn right onto E Unaka Ave and continue for 3.5 miles.
• Turn left onto Steam Plant Rd just before Persinger Bridge over the Watauga River.
• Follow Steam Plant Rd for 0.25 miles and then bear to the right
• The parking lot will be another 0.25 miles on the right.

Steam Plant Rd passes under Persinger Bridge and over railroad tracks. Since the parking area is small, please carpool if possible.

We appreciate your help in keeping our river clean and look forward to seeing you there!