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Cordell Hull Lake is located in the heart of Tennessee at river mile 313 on the Cumberland River. The construction and impoundment of the lake was completed in 1973 with hydropower, navigation, and recreation as the top missions. The cool water the lake receives upstream is ideal for walleye, sauger, and striper on the main channel while bass, crappie, catfish, and sunfish thrive in the shallow warmer bank areas.
Cordell Hull Lake is a run-of-the-river lake with most of its recreation is land based such as fishing, hiking, camping, picnicking, and horseback riding. However, Cordell Hull Lake has gained popularity amongst anglers after the Tennessee state record striper was caught in 2000. The majority of boat traffic on Cordell Hull Lake is fisherman, with the local tourism boards heavily promoting the angling opportunities the lake provides.
Defeated Creek is the hub of activity on Cordell Hull Lake. These three miles stretch of the lake hosts a 155-site campground, a six-mile hiking trail, bike trails, swimming beach, picnic area, fishing platform, commercial marina, environmental study area, and multiple bank fishing access points. The campground itself is a top-ten revenue generating USACE campground nationwide with over 150,000 visitors annually.
With the lake approaching 50 years since impoundment, the fishery in and around Defeated Creek has begun to deteriorate. The loss of underwater structure and erosion issues in high traffic areas have led to the need for a major rejuvenation of the aquatic habitat. This project aims at placing nearly 150 artificial structures into the lake, with a special emphasis on areas accessible to land based users. This includes Mossback habitat structures, black pipe spiders, spawning benches, and stake beds. Additionally, nearly 200 tons of rip rap will be placed along 400 linear feet of high traffic areas that will provide fish habitat, shelter for fry, and reduce siltation caused streambank erosion.

Improving the fish habitat in Cordell Hull Lake, specifically the area immediately adjacent to the Defeated Creek Recreation Area, which is a top-ten revenue generating USACE campground nationwide and averages over 150,000 visitors annually. This will be achieved by installing artificial habitat structures within Defeated Creek to the main channel near the campground.

Over 150 Fish attractors will be constructed or assembled using volunteers from TTU, B.A.S.S. Nation and other Corps of Engineers volunteers and staff. They will be loaded onto boats, provided by USACE and TWRA, where they will be deployed into the lake. Riprap will be placed along the shoreline using USACE employees and equipment, while volunteers will assist by hand placing some riprap in areas the equipment cannot reach.

Monitoring will be a joint effort by Corps of Engineers staff and volunteers. Both parties will perform in person creel surveys to see if utilization, fish population, and specific fish species have increased due to fish attractor installation and habitat improvements. Surveys will be performed on a monthly routine before the improvement of the area and continued 18 months after the area improvement project is complete.
Bank stabilization will be placed in areas commonly used for bank fisherman. Success will be determined during periods of high water and the presence of no additional sluffing of banks and shoreline. During the summer months, wave action should not reduce water clarity in these areas and USACE staff will monitor them while on boat patrol.
Park Rangers will monitor sunken structures via boat patrol once a month for 18 months. TWRA and USACE already has a fish attractor refreshment schedule in place. This area would just be added to the rotation and provide additional fish habitat.

A press release and posts on social media by USACE will both notify the public of the grant and its planned impact but will solicit volunteers for completing the various tasks.
This project will be presented at our annual Environmental Awareness Days event where every 5th grader in Smith County, approximately two hundred students, spend the day at Defeated Creek Recreation Area for a four-hour rotational interpretive day hosted by the Corps of Engineers.