Good fishing, clear waters, and the beautiful backdrop of the wooded Appalachian foothills combine to make Guntersville one of the South's premier recreation attractions.

Crappie is the number-one sport fish, usually accounting for more than half of the total catch. Bass and bluegill are also caught in large numbers. The area just below Guntersville Dam is known for its fine sauger fishing during fall and winter, white bass in early spring, and catfish during the summer months.

The area below the dam offers unique opportunities for day hiking and caving. An easy one-mile loop trail leads by a cave used during the Civil War to mine saltpeter, a basic ingredient of gunpowder.

When TVA established the stairway of dams and locks that turned the Tennessee into a 652-mile-long river highway, the rural town of Guntersville was transformed into a major port. Several large companies now have terminals at Guntersville for processing and distributing grain, petroleum, and wood products.