I had the afternoon off so I headed up to the shop to get a new 8wt line for an upcoming smallie excursion and hooked up with Matt Guinn to float the afternoon. TVA started the generation late today. I was curious to see how the later generation schedule would affect the sulphur hatch. Matt and I fished nymph rigs through the upper stretch for a few minutes while we waited for the bugs to start and picked up a few fish. After a few minutes of working down river we started getting into some sulphurs with risers on them. At 5:30 we tied on Dry Fly rigs and never looked back. Matt was having success with a cripple pattern of his, while I fished a #16 CDC Comparadun. We continued picking off risers until it was too dark to see or take pictures. We stayed right on the bugs for the majority of the float. There was not as many sulphurs as there would be on a day where generation started at 1 or 2. But there was just enough on the water so that the fish would eat them without discriminating much at the sulphurs with hooks in them.
We had a great evening of dry fly fishing.
I just love to watch them take a dry fly. There is something about seeing wild fish sweep up off of the bottom move 10 feet and sip in your dry fly. In that moment….. time stands still… It’s just a worthwhile pursuit that continues to keep me coming back time after time to see it and experience it.
Book your dry fly extravaganza.
Available Dates this week.
Sat July 3, Thurs July 8, Friday July 9th
Guide- Josh McFadden
423.367.8618
guide@hatchhunters.com
