East Tennessee Fishing Reports

High Water Fishing:

The South Holston has been fishing really good for the last couple of weeks. With TVA running water like they have been we have been fishing alot on high water. The fish have been feeding well on Sulphurs duns on high water. There have been lots of duns and raising fish.

Low Water Fishing:

And when the water is down the Sulphurs have been coming off good. We had a great hatch all weekend. I was on the water again yesterday, and there was a great Sulphur hatch on low water. The fish were rising well to them to. Before the Sulphurs start the fish are eating nymphs and midges.

Good Fishing,

Matt Champion

South Holston Fly Shop

The guides did their thing all week and did it pretty dang good, come to think of it. In the afternoons this week , the sulphurs were pretty strong. Some days they ate the duns better than others.  But all caught plenty of fish. For Matt , on high water, a sulphur emerger we tie worked well on some of the better fish. He fishes it dry and they sip it. The Watuaga fishing today was good also. On a float trip today, Saturday, Matt said there wasn’t a hole all day his guys did not catch fish in. I think they caught a good many fish.

As for me, I fished only twice this week. But it was good both times. I did nothing but skate a dry fly we tie.  Every cast both days was with this skater.  Twitching and twirling a dry fly across the water is a blast. And a very effective way of catching trout.  The neat thing about the takes today were they were so gentle. The fish would just sip the skating fly. There is nothing quite like that.  I missed a bunch today, because of that. I could see the fish coming and opening his mouth, and me taking it out of his mouth. But that is ok, that is part of it.  The biggest fish was a solid  18-19″ rainbow.  I saw nothing but his mouth open and close on the fly. Just saw a set of lips gently sucking in the fly. He was quite a fish, full of fire and gorgeous to boot.  I really am a dry flyfisherman at heart. If there is any chance fish will take on top, I am going after them that way. And as it was today, even with no fish rising and no bugs on the water, skating will bring them up. You ought to try it sometime.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

We have Sulphurs hatches on both low and high flows from the dam right now. Both size 16 and 18’s are on the water at the same time. Split cases are nailing them before the hatch. And Comparaduns + a Sulphur emerger are the ticket during the hatch. Soft hackles, of course are catching fish.

TVA has been releasing water most of the day because of lake levels for the last 10 days. They almost have Holston lake where they want it now. So they began backing the water down this week. I sure hope TVA gives wade fisherman plenty of time this weekend. I beleive they will.

Matt is way behind on trip reports. He has done so many trips  lately , but will catch up with reports and pictures soon.

We hope all have a fun and safe memeorial Day week end.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

We got some Sulphurs in good numbers this week. I went looking for spinner falls last evening and found them in the two areas I looked. There were plenty of Sulphurs hooked up, ready to drop to the water and have their babies.

So if you arte looking for good dry fly fishing, it is starting.

Tight lines,

Rod Champion

Michael, Scott and Austin Murphee came up to fish with me on the South Holston. We meet up at the shop in the morning and headed to the river. When we got to our first stop we got into the water and I sent Michael upstream of us then got Scott started. The fishing was a little slow at first, but then Michael and Scott both started getting into fish. Scott hooked into one big Rainbow that took off downstream and the hooks pulled out. Then Michael got into the action he started working a dry and dropper and hooked into a really nice Brown trout but he came unbottomed. After catching a few more fish we decided to go grab some lunch. After lunch the fishing continued to be good. Michael was catching fish downstream of me, Scott and Austin. Austin moved upstream and was catch fish above us. I moved upstream to see how Austin was doing and saw Scott hook up. I ran back down to help him land a nice 18″ Rainbow. Then I moved downstream to see how Michael was doing and we hooked into what I thought was a big Brown but it turned out to be a big Sucker.

I had a great day fishing with Michael, Scott and Austin.  Good fishing and great company.

If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.

Tight Lines,

Matt Champion

South Holston Fly Shop

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>online casinoon the water at 3:00 and stayed til 8:00.  No dry activity seen where I was. But did see a few sulphurs on the water. It will not be long now. I caught a bunch of fish on a size 16 copperhead and an #18 red ass.  It is funny.  There are wars about who created this fly. As far as I know, it was created in Arkansas a long time ago. It is a pretty simple tie: I make a few wraps of red thread right below the bend of hook.  Then tie in a peacock body. [ I tie with silver bead] Then use a partridge soft hackle and tie off at bead with red thread.  Make sure the fish can see the red thread behind the bead. It makes a difference.

Caught a ton of 8″-10″ wild browns with a few  14″ browns thrown in  batch. Then around 7:00 , I put on a size #20 copperhead. The size of the fish went up quick. No monsters but each each brown went from 14″”-16″ .  Not a small one in the bunch. This was quite, slick water. And the good fish ate the smaller fly, fished 18″ down.

Tight lines,

Rod Champion

Bob and Gail came into the shop on Thursday so we got everything together and headed to the water. When we got to the water there was some fish rising. So I started scanning the water and saw the fish were rising to Blue Winged Olives. There were fish rising to the dries, but they were really feeding on the BWO nymphs. The fish were hitting our nymphs regularly and we were having a great time. Bob worked his way upstream of me and Gail, and started hooking up on fish. Bob hooked into two really nice Rainbows out of the run that both pulled the hook out after a hard run downstream. Gail had moved up to fish a run above Bob and hooked into a nice Rainbow out of that run, but it also pulled out. It got time to call it an afternoon so me and Gail started back for the truck. Bob stayed to fish a few more minutes in the run he was fishing. When he got back to the truck he said that he hooked five more fish out to the run before the left.

Man the fish were really feeding good. We only fished about 200 yards of water all afternoon.

I did see a few Sulphurs start mixing in with the BWO’s so it will not be long before the Sulphur hatch will be on strong.

If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.

Tight Lines,

Matt Champion

South Holston Fly Shop

It all begins the second week in April. These Big Caddis’ are quite an event on the Watuaga . The bigger fish do back flips for them… literally. We still have some openings for those two weeks. It is a float in only deal on the quality section of the Watauga river. That Tailrace is 20 minutes from our shop. This hatch will fill the boat with caddis’. It is that big of a hatch.

At that time, the sulphurs should have begun here on the South Holston river. These are the size 16 yellow olive sulphurs. They look very much like a PMD. That is the beginning of the Sulphurs and the bigger fish feast on this early hatch.

If you wish, call me for more information.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

Fished yesterday form 3:00 til 7:00 . Tons of midges on the water. And fish were eating them. So gave them a diet of loop wing midges- olive body.  They ate them up. Caught several 16″-18 ” browns  and several good rainbows. The bows are not only fired up in fighting. But their colors are so red… definetly outiftted in the spawning colors… gorgeous!  Both browns and rainbows will rip your arm off right now… they are on fire.

Today, I got to fish from 3:00 til 5:30. The BWO’s came out to play.  And the trout decided to play with them. Many BWO’s lost today… Smack, slurp.. pow. That is what it sound like for a couple of hours.  The olives were small. The fly of the day was a #22 thorax BWO with cdc wings. The wind was blowing. The rain was falling . And the temparture plummeted. Text book condtions for BWO’s.  I got cold, but the action was hot. I dressed for 60 degree weather, with a light rain jacket.  But conditons changed fast.  Of course, no gloves were brought by me. But what is a little cold for this kind of dry fly fishing. Once the olives popped to the top, dry fly fishing is all I did.  Fish rose to a natural.  They rose to the fake . Almost every time. Toward the end, fish changed to midges.  I left to get warm. But man, what a day…

If you are afraid of a  race traffic this weekend, come to the river the Roan Mountain way. Slip in the back door and enjoy the tremendous fishing  that is going on now.

Tight Lines,

Rod

Jason and Rex came over to fish the S. Holston for the first time. We meet up at the shop at 8am and headed down to the river. We drove down the river to our first spot, and I saw fish midging when we got out of the truck. So I tied both of the guys on dries with a midge dropper. We headed out into the water and hooked into some fish right away. After the sun got up good the fish stopped rising so I changed the midge dropper out to a nymph dropper. Then we really started catching fish. Jason was the first to start getting into them good, and after landing a nice 15″ Brown trout he was into them all afternoon. Then Rex got into the action. We were catching fish one after an for the rest of the day. It was a great day on the water, and I could tell that Jason an Rex really enjoyed the S. Holston.

If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.

Tight Lines,

Matt Champion

South Holston Fly Shop