South Holston River & Watauga River
Posts tagged Rainbow Trout
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 2.1.10
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.
