I met up with Don Weinreis for a day of fishing on the South Holston River. We met up early at the South Holston River Fly Shop. Don had come down from Indiana for the Bristol race with a crew of folks and wanted to get some fishing time in. This was my second time out with Don. We always have a great time out on the water. We got a few necessary items at the shop before heading out to one spot that has been very productive in the last couple of weeks.
I had been talking with Don for several weeks about the generation and the possiblilty of the extra flow. TVA had scheduled 800 Cfs Thursday, 700 for Friday, and 500 for Saturday. 500cfs would be an ideal wading trip conditions in my opinion. Though you have to play the hand that your dealt so the 800 is what we had to deal with.
A full day wading trip in this 800cfs sluice flow is not for someone that doesn’t enjoy fishing. You have to have a passion for it.
Right off we step into the water and start with a couple of casts in the most likely seams. Bam! Fish on. A healthy South Holston River rainbow in full spawning colors. Don brought 6 fish to hand in the morning session and narrowly missed quite a few. We had worked last year on stack mending while fishing across and down. Don was making beautiful drifts all morning. Most of the fish we caught during the morning session was caught on Kevin’s midge. That fly is just deadly.
We headed down to Webb’s Store to pick up some sandwiches I had called in. Then we took lunch along to a sunny spot on the river to warm up and to help to dry my fleece which became quite water-logged during the morning wade. After lunch and a thawing out of toes, we headed out to fish a streamer for a while. Don mentioned that he hadn’t had the opportunity to streamer fish before so we had to give it a try. After swinging a few streamers in an area that was little good for much else because of the extra flow, We headed up river for the afternoon. The sun was good and warm by this time and we found some good productive riffles to fish with the nymph rig. We caught 12 fish during the afternoon and missed too many to count. A couple of the fish that we had hooked in the afternoon were real bruisers that we never got to see just burrowed their snouts in the didymo and rubbed the flies off.
The extra flow is really conducive to a float trip if you’re thinking about heading up this way to fish. Though the river can be waded take note of the points of interest on my last report for further information.
Spring is officially upon us and this is a great time of year to hook into some quality fish on the South Holston. The extra flow does afford you the opportunity to step up to 5x fluorocarbon and to fish closer to the fish than you might think. Don caught several fish during the day that weren’t much farther away than the tip of the rod. One very good thing about the flow is that the takes seem to be very solid there’s no mistaking when the fish grabs your nymphs.
As always had a great trip out on the water with Don and look forward to seeing you next year.
“Tight Lines in 2010″
-Guide Josh McFadden
