South Holston River & Watauga River
4.26.09 Video Last Spring Watauga
Feb 28th
Video From Last Spring on the Watauga
Some video footage from the Watauga Last year that I never really did much with. There’s some decent fish footage and good music. Plus I like that it looks a whole lot warmer than it does now.
Woven Sulphur Nymph
Feb 28th
I hadn’t felt really great today. Just kinda blah, so I’ve been thinking about sulphurs. The Blue Wing Olives are fun and all but. The Sulphur Hatches will be just around the corner. I have been thinking about weaving a sulphur nymph for a while, to get good contrast of a dark back with a light underbody like the nymphs have. Also i like to have a larger actractor type fly on alot of times at the head of the nymph rig to drive a lighter more realistic bug into the feeding lane. This is normally a flashback PT, or Copperhead of some kind.
Warning: What you are about to see has not been tested. It may or may not catch fish. It should!, but It’s in it’s experimental stages. This has been tied to be an attractor nymph during sulphur season as well as a heavy point fly.
Woven Sulphur Nymph:
Hook: TMC 9300 #14
Bead: 3/32 Tungsten CU
Thread: 14/0 Brown Griffiths
Tail: Coq de leon
Abdomen: shuttle weave of orange and
brown DMC emroidery thread.
Underbody: White 140
Thorax: Sulphur Orange
Wingcase: Black scudback
Legs: Partridge
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South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.27.10
Feb 28th
February 27th, 2010:
They were generating today until 12 o’clock and I had a few hours to burn this afternoon, so I was able to catch the water as it was dropping out. Anytime you have the opportunity to fish on falling generation water is a good thing. The fish have a tendency to be very charged up with lots of gusto, and for the first 30 minutes or so as the water is falling the fish will hit very well usually.
One word of caution because there is still more flow try to wade areas that you have waded before and know the low water depths of. Particularly this time of year you don’t want to go swimming.
The temperatures have dropped off this week from what we experienced last weekend. I stepped in the water @ 12:30. I rigged up the Winston Biix 4wt with a nymph midge set up underneath of a white thingamabobber. If the light conditions are suitable the white indicator blends in well to other bubbles and it doesn’t seem as off putting as some of the other colors.
I had landed 3 fish in 6 casts right off the bat. Fishing Rio 5x fluoro I broke a couple of better fish off. There were some fish rising to blue wings with some consistency, but I was on a mission to try out some new midge patterns so I resisted the urge to dry fly fish.
As a fly tier, I find it’s important to give patterns an honest test. After breaking my rig off on a good fish. I moved Kevin’s new midge up on point and put another un-weighted midge in behind it. The temperature were supposed to be in the mid 30’s but with the wind blowing across the water it sure didn’t feel like it. Newsflash …..it’s still very much winter.
I caught 25 fish in a 2.5 hours and packed it in shortly after 3. One thing that’s so great about the Soho is that once you get to a spot, you really don’t have to move much. The water was very clear today. I was sight fishing with my nymphs, I would see a fish roll in a spot and sometimes I wouldn’t pull that fish out of the hole for 10-12 casts. A guy that was fishing below me probably thought I was crazy before I left I was after this 13 inch brown that had rolled on my nymphs in and I casted and casted and casted to this fish before he finally took. He was close enough to hear my 13 inch fish celebration, but when you’ve been after a particular fish for a while it doesn’t matter the size you’re just pleased you did. More later…
Tight Lines in 2010
Josh McFadden -Guide
South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.21.10
Feb 21st
February 21, 2010:
What a weekend of fishing this has been. It just kept getting better as did the weather. We were blessed with mid 50 degree weather today & the fish seemed just fired up. We got on the river earlier today than yesterday which allowed us our choice of spots. We picked a spot down river that we don’t fish as regularly as we do some others. But it produced.
Kevin and I split up at the truck I headed of down river with a dry dropper rig and Kevin moved upstream of the nymph rig. As I fished my way downstream through a long run it just wasn’t happening for me on the dry. So I swapped to a Dry Dropper/Dropper rig a little deeper and began catching fish at the bottom of the run. I was fishing a scud pattern and a blue wing nymph under my dry. I hooked into 10 fish downstream before swapping out to a deep nymph rig. I was fishing in a larger tailout at the bottom of a run, it got to be fairly deep in there and with slow moving current there was some subtle takes. As soon as I went deep on my nymph rigs. The fish really seemed to be liking the blue wing nymph so I knew the hatch would be on soon.
Meanwhile upstream I can hear Kevin about every minute on the radio. Fish On!… Dink…..Fish On!…Nice Rainbow ….. Fish on…. Nice Brown…. Fish on…. another nice rainbow. It went on at about that pace for every bit of 2 hours.
I started seeing some rises with blue wings on the water as the hatch was moving up river. Fish were rising with regularity so I switch out to a dry/dry rig. I’ll often fish 2 dry’s of different sizes to help me match the hatch a little quicker today it was a 22 bwo they wanted … the wouldn’t look at a 18 so I stuck with the smaller.
(Meanwhile upstream: Kevin is landing a nice 18 inch brown you’ll see on the video. What a pig.)
I caught 5 fish in a row on the dry one right after another … healthy 10 inch rainbows and browns. Release the fish.. Fanny the Dry….Cast… Set…Fight… Repeat. So I’m doing pretty well until a fella starts casting a spinner in my hip pocket. So back upstream I go. I set my camera down on a rock and take some video, the dry fly’s are continually moving up river. There has to be a fish rising here. I’m watching the far bank where I have seen and caught fish rising before. And sure enough like they were cued to do so a couple of nice rainbows start rising about 40 feet out across 2 current seams. I make half a dozen drifts through there and hook up on one of the rainbows feeding. (Meanwhile: Kevin has railed good fish all morning) so he’s ready for lunch feeling confident he sore lipped every fish in the river. We head to “THE STORE” for a good homemade burger and some tots, before setting up for an afternoon shoot. With an hour and a half left to fish when we got back down river, I decided to take one for the team to get some good video footage. We we’re able to pick up quite a few good fish through the afternoon further up river. All in all a very good day on the river. This river will spoil you one day and teach you something the very next. That’s what keeps us coming back each and every time.
East Tennessee Tailwaters 2.20.10
Feb 20th
February 20th, 2010
South Holston River AM Wade Trip
We arrived at one of our favorite spots on the river this morning at 9:30am. Kevin and I decided to split up and fish a couple different areas. There was still a little chill left over from the cold last night. I walked down the trail and there was still frost on the mud lined bank where the water had frozen from the morning pulse. The midge bite was on through the morning and I brought a dozen fish to hand before noon with many more that were on for a short time. I did miss one fish that was on for a minute that was very heavy. I was fishing a dry dropper rig with a blue wing dry on top and a blackfly larvae midge pattern of mine about 2 foot below. I was expecting to see a big hatch of blue wing olives today. It just didn’t happen where I was. Many times when we’re just out fishing we’ll take along the 2way radios so that we can brag on how well we’re doing. Best fish I brought to hand in the morning was a 13 inch brown. The Rainbows are very colored up right now and boy are they hungry. They should be doing their spawning thing very soon. It became almost hot today at times with temperatures near 50. The water was still very cold. Kevin was downstream from me about a quarter mile or so and he was apparently in the right spot.
Feeling confident that we had worked the water over we decided to change spots with more and more people coming out to the river. By 1:00 the river was plum full of people out fishing and enjoying the water. But, that’s to be expected on the first warm saturday all winter long. With most of the good available spots taken we broke for lunch and headed over to the Watauga River to catch the water as it was dropping out for the afternoon.
Watauga River PM Wade Trip
After a short drive over to Elizabethton, we found a good spot to wade while the water was falling. There was some blue wings popping off, but the Midges and nymphs continued to be successful for us. A dry dropper dropper rig was the way to go today.
Blue Wing Olive Nymph
#22 Blue Wing Olive
We picked up a couple more fish through the afternoon, it was a pretty good day out on the water and you just can’t beat a sunny 50 degree day in the middle of February regardless of the fishing.
The caddis hatches will be starting very soon over on the Watauga. They can be blizzard hatches at times. Book your trip now for spring to make sure you can be there for it, you don’t want to miss it.
Guide- Josh McFadden
South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.18.10
Feb 20th
Mike and Bill from Pennsylvannia came down for a day float on the South Holston River. The previous weather was very cold and windy. The warming trend was supposed to start this day and it didn’t happen. The temperatures never got much above freezing, but these guys being from Pennsylvannia it didn’t affect them too much.
With very little bug activity starting off, we used some deep nymph rigs. Bill was the first to strike with a gorgeous river born South Holston Brown Trout. We fished the upper section of the river bringing several fish to hand on nymphs and midges, till the water began to fall a little quicker than expected. The dropping water did produce the blue wing olive hatch and the midges started coming off.
With a brief row through some rocky places too keep from getting stuck, we made our way down river and set up for some dry fly action. With the hatch becoming very steady I swapped both guys over to dry dropper rigs. With a blue wing dry and one of my favorite midge patterns below, both guys continued to bring fish to hand throughout the evening. We decided with the water dropping out early, to fish through most of the day and take a late lunch.
With the dry fly action starting to slow we had a good bowl of home cooked chili (aside from Mike who got stuck with a store bought can of Vegetarian Chili.) After this late lunch, the bugs started to dwindle as the temperatures began to drop so we swapped back over to nymph rigs. Now with the water at it’s lowest point we were able to get out of the boat and really work over some runs. Both Mike and Bill continued to bring fish to the net with nymph rigs. Mike hooked a really good rainbow only for it to pop loose. Despite cold temperatures, snow and windy conditions,
I had a great day on the water with these guys. It was a pleasure to fish with a couple of guys who instantly picked up the mending and getting good drifts. Even though the day had been a little slower than we had liked, it had been a good day of fishing with Mike and Bill.
Even after Josh reminded me multiple times to charge my camera battery, I forgot. Luckily Bill had his camera and took some good shots of the day which we’ll put up as soon as we get them.
Guide,
Kevin Lowe
“Kevin,
Thanks for a great time fishing last week. Mike and I had lots of fun reminiscing about the day’s events during our drive over the mountains to Charlotte. We certainly enjoyed our time on the river and definitely would book with you guys again and will recommend you to anyone we know headed that way.”- Bill
South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.14.10
Feb 20th
February 14th, 2010:
While many would be concerned with going fishing on Valentines Day, we decided to throw caution to the wind for the chance at some fish on a quick float before the water was cut off for the afternoon. The weather was clear but chilly so as the water was falling fish were rising everywhere. I was trying out some new emerger patterns with good success to match up with the Blue Wing Olives on the surface. We caught fish well on nymphs and on drys as well as a few good follows on streamers.
After the water fell out, we were able to head back up river and do some wade fishing up high. We picked up several more fish before calling it a day. With time enough left over to pick up flowers on the way home it was a pretty good day on the water. I really look forward to what this spring will bring.
South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.6.10
Feb 20th
February 6th, 2010:
With the winter storms that pounded the North East with snow, came to us in the form of cold rain. We decided to get in a quick float on the South Holston River, before long there was some fish rising to blue wing olives in spite of the rain. We picked up several fish on deep nymph rigs and some on the drys. But it was just no where near what the previous weekend had promised. Leaving the camera at home we didn’t get any good shots of the day. But better fishing to come.
Josh
South Holston River Fly Fishing 2.1.10
Feb 4th
February 1, 2010
The spawning areas that have been closed for several months are back open for fishing. We and put the hyde in the water around 9am. We had great expectations for the fishing. The fishing proved to be very good. The fish in the newly opened water were very hungry and acted as though they hadn’t seen a fly before. The morning was very cold in the 20’s with wind. We fished nymphs down to the cul da sac with good numbers. As the sun heated the water as expected the blue wing olives began to pop. Like clockwork the fish began to rise to the emerging duns. There is just nothing like dry fly fishing on the first of february with no one else around. This river is most definately one of the best trout fisheries in the South East. Where else can you think of can you go catch wild trout on a dry fly in the dead middle of winter. If you have not fished the South Holston River before you have got to get up here soon and take a trip. You just don’t know what you’re missing. As you’ll see in the video it’s the ones that you don’t catch that you know are trophy fish that just keep bringing you back.
Jan 23-24 Team Practice/ Tuckaseegee River
Feb 4th
January 23- Headed down to Bryson City, NC for a casting clinic with North Carolina Fly Fishing Team Member Mac Brown. Mac is not only a team member but a FFF Certified Casting Instructor. Mac showed us some techniques for target casting in windy conditions as well as did some refining in distance casting techniques as well. If you ever have they opportunity for a session with Mac, he comes highly recommended from all of us on the team. We had taken the hyde down with us in tow to hopefully get some fishing in during the weekend after practice. We had gone down with hopes of evading the rains that had pounded East Tennessee as well. After a great practice with Mac and the team we decided to get in an afternoon float on the lower Tuckaseegee. The lower tuck is more of a Warm Water fishery with many smallmouths and some trout. The coming storm had effect on the fishing, but it was still good to get out. We had some follows on streamers but the fish just were not cooperating.
January 24th
We woke up trying to decide weather to chance the float or not with flash flood warnings that the night rains brought. After checking the weather and having breakfast, we headed out to float the upper Tuck Delayed Harvest Water. We met up with a larger group of guys floating, a few North Carolina Team members. Paul Bourcq was taking some clients down the river for a fundraiser trip. Fishing started off somewhat slow, but we were fishing behind the team guys so fishing behind them is going to be tough on anyone. Once we got the rigs and the depth figured out we began catching fish with regularity. The fishing was steady for the next several hours. We caught quite a few fish just not the size of fish we were expecting to be fishing a D.H. water. The rig that proved to be the most effective was a dead drifted white wooly bugger with a nymph dropper. White just seemed to be the color of the day. When rains came in and the river started to rise and the water clarity became murky. At that point the fishing had slowed and we still had a long drive home so we rowed out and called it a day. This is definately a river we’ll be floating again. We’ll look forward to exploring more of the tuck as we come into the early summer.