Fish Springs Marina

What it is

Fish Springs Marina opened in 1949 and is the oldest continuously operating marina on Watauga Lake. It sits on the south shore of the lake off Fish Springs Road, about 15 minutes from the townhouse by car and a short cruise from most points on the south side of the lake by boat.

It is a working marina. People keep their boats here. Pontoons go out and come back. The fuel pump runs. The store sells what people need when they walk in off a boat and remember they forgot something. Fish Springs is not trying to be a destination; it is trying to be a marina that works, and it does that well.

What you can actually rent and what it costs

The big rental for vacationing guests is a pontoon. Fish Springs runs a fleet of 25-foot pontoons with 115HP or 200HP Yamaha 4-stroke engines, Bluetooth audio, GPS depth/fish finder, Bimini top, built-in live-well, and life jackets included.

Pricing as we have it:

• Walk-in hourly rate: $75/hour standard pontoon, $100/hour tri-toon, 2-hour minimum. No reservation, subject to what they have sitting at the dock that day.
• Reserved day rates: lower effective hourly cost, paid in advance, with a real cancellation policy (full refund 7+ days out; 50% refund 7-3 days out; nothing inside 72 hours, no shows forfeit).
• Plus gas: you leave with a full tank and return with a full tank. Whatever you burn is on your card.
• Plus 9.75% Tennessee sales tax and an online booking convenience fee.
• Maximum capacity: 1,700 pounds or 10 people, whichever comes first.

Tri-toons get up on plane faster and handle big-water chop better. If you have a group of 8 to 10 and want to actually move around the lake, the upcharge to a tri-toon is worth it. If it is 4 people drifting in a cove with a cooler, a standard pontoon is plenty.

Paddlecraft rentals (kayaks, canoes, SUPs) are also available. Walk-in is fine most weekdays.

What they sell

The marina store carries the standard stuff: snacks, cold drinks, beer (check current TN Sunday rules), ice, basic fishing tackle, sunscreen, hats, gloves, sunglasses you forgot. Live bait availability varies seasonally and by what their supplier has, so call ahead if your trip depends on minnows or worms.

24-hour on-water fueling is the underrated feature. Several Sundays we have been out late with friends and rolled in past closing time to top off, no problem.

Slips and seasonal camping

Fish Springs rents seasonal slips (open, covered, jet ski, and houseboat) and runs a campground on Cherokee National Forest land adjacent to the marina. The slip waitlist can be long for covered slips. If you are an owner who is thinking of moving a boat to Watauga, get on the list.

When to go

Weekday mornings are the right time for a rental. The lake is calmest before noon. The marina is uncrowded. Staff has time to walk you through the boat without a line behind you.

Saturday mornings in July are the opposite. Plan to arrive 30 minutes before your reservation, expect lines at the gas pump, expect a busy launch ramp.

Off-season (November through February) the marina is open but quiet. Pontoon rentals are not running, but if you have your own boat and want fuel and a tie-up, they are here.

How we use it as your hosts

When guests ask us where to rent a pontoon, this is where we send them. It is closer to the townhouse than Lakeshore. The boats are well-kept. The staff is patient with first-time pontoon operators (and a lot of our guests are first-timers).

A typical day for our guests looks like: drive over, pick up the boat by 9 AM, cruise up the lake for two hours, anchor in a quiet cove for lunch from a cooler you packed before you left, swim, cruise some more, get back to the dock by 4 PM. That is the trip. Bring more sunscreen than you think you need; the reflection off the water is rougher than the air temperature suggests.

For the second day of a long weekend, a lot of our guests do paddlecraft instead. Kayaks for a couple of hours, $30-ish a person, done by noon. Quieter, slower, also great.

A note on traffic to and from the marina

US-321 between the townhouse and Fish Springs is a two-lane road. On July 4 week and Labor Day weekend, trailer traffic backs it up. Allow 25 minutes instead of 15 if you are traveling those days. The rest of the year, 15 minutes is realistic.

For more on what is in the water and which species are biting when, see the fishing guide. For the bigger picture on the lake itself, see Watauga Lake.

Related on the lake

• Lakeshore — bigger, with cabins
• Fishing overview
• What to throw, when, where to launch