Cedar Pond FarmsPeople book a farm stay for the cows and then spend most of Saturday morning at the water. The two-acre lake is the middle of this place — the barns and pastures are arranged around it — and it is stocked with catfish. Here is everything worth knowing before you come.
No license required
It is a private pond on a private farm, so guests staying with us can cast a line without a Tennessee fishing license. That is the single most common question we get about the water, and the answer is the same every time: bring yourself, not paperwork.
You do not need to bring gear either
Rods and tackle are rentable right on the farm. This is the part that has quietly cost people a morning — families arrive having decided fishing was not worth packing for, and then find out at breakfast that they could have been on the dock by seven. If fishing is on your list, say so when you book and it will be waiting.
Where to fish from
- The pond-side dock — the main one, easy footing, room for a few people and a bucket. This is where most of the catching happens.
- The floating dock — further out, quieter, and the better spot when the sun is high and the fish have gone deep.
- The bank — walk the edge. The brushy side toward the wood line holds fish that never see a hook.
The Fish House is the tiny home right on the water, so if the plan is to fish before anybody else is awake, that is the unit to ask for.
When they bite
Catfish are most obliging early and late — first light, and the last hour before dark. Midday in high summer they sulk in the deep water and you will work harder for less. Overcast days are generous. After a warm rain, more so.
Nobody here is going to pretend the pond is a competition fishery. It is a farm pond with catfish in it, at the bottom of a hayfield, twenty-five minutes from Knoxville. What it is good at is a slow morning with a kid who has never caught anything.
Bring them back, or put them back
We ask guests to be reasonable about it: take a couple if you want them, put the rest back, and do not clean fish on the docks. There are Highland cattle on the far bank who will come and watch you, and a heron who considers the whole lake his.
The rest of the water
The lake is not only for fishing. The pond-side swing arbor and the floating dock are two of the most-photographed spots on the farm, and a good many ceremonies have happened within twenty feet of the water. The full list of what is out there — every building, every pasture, the docks, and the farm map — is on The Farm.
Plan a morning on the water
Fishing comes with the stay; the rods are the only thing to arrange. Have a look at the farm stays, or ask us what the water is doing this week — somebody here will actually know.