Clinch Continues.....

Made it back out again this past Friday, and the fishing is still hot. Continued with the zebra/bhpt double nymph rig that I had so much luck with last time. However, this trip the trout were keying in on the #20 bhpt instead of the zebra midge. These trout were extremely strong, just look at the size of the tail on the one below.

I did not catch the numbers I caught last time, but the quality fish were still there. Ended the day with 5 from 14" to 18", and about 10 around 12". I am giving the Clinch a break for a few weeks. The second weekend of October I have a camping/fishing trip planned for the South Holston, and hope things work out for it. When we went this time last year, it was the transition time between exciting sulfur hatches and superb prespawn brown action. I will post another update after that trip, and until then God bless and tight lines.

Spectacular Saturday

This report is a little late, but at least it is here. This past Saturday, I made it out to the Clinch for a surprising day on the water. I got to the river around 9:00 and stayed until 1:00. What I found upon arrival is a large number of trout eager to eat. This was easily the most productive fishing trip I have ever had. It was getting close to time to leave, but I wanted to catch one more fish to have a nice round number to leave with. I saw a small dimple on the surface and just as I had done numerous times earlier in the morning I put my zebra midge about 2' upstream and threw a mend into my line. A couple seconds later my strike indicator went under and I landed a nice little brown. That took my total tally to 25 for the day. I secured my line and started the journey back to the truck.

Clinch Bow

I managed to catch 2 browns and the rest were an even mix of brookies and bows. The brook trout are starting to really show their colors and are putting on some size. I also managed to land 3 bows that were touching or just over the 18" mark. Never before have I caught that many fish with the quality fish included. I have had a couple other 20 fish days, but the majority of those fish were stockers.

11" Brookie

Throughout the day, I was able to locate active fish and present them with a black/silver zebra midge and they devoured it. I was constantly adjusting my indicator depth to keep my fly just a couple inches above the bottom. Also, I had my best luck targeting areas of slow moving water approximately 4' deep. The best areas also had some wood debris along the bottom and I could watch the trout dart out from under the trash and strike with a vengeance. I did not have much luck with pictures this trip. Due to the areas I was fishing, I was in deep water and did not have any way of securing my rod and snapping any decent pictures. Also, a couple of the large bows were so tired after landing them that I did not want to take the time take pictures, so I promptly released them. However, I did manage to get one decent picture of one of the big bows, and it can be seen below. I had some difficulty handling the fish by myself and taking the picture, so I had to just go with my usual grip-shot.

18" Bow

Looking forward to getting back out there again, hopefully this Friday afternoon. If I do, you can expect to find another trip report shortly afterward.

My How Time Goes By

It seems like only yesterday that we were rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night. Now Trey is over 3 months old, and we are enjoying every minute. He is really beginning to develop a personality now, and every minute brings something new. He is becoming very talkative, if that is what you can call it, and he smiles and giggles quite frequently. So, for a slight change of pace, I am going to post some recent photos of the little man. I am taking advantage of the new camera and snapping shots every chance I can get. Here are some recent photos, Enjoy!

Cheese!

Ceiling Fan Results

Return to the Clinch

Morning Fog






First Fish of the Day



It has been a while since I was last on the Clinch, and I thought it was time I made a visit to my old friend. During the Fall, I find that the number of fisherman drops thanks to football and hunting season. Because of this I chose to sleep in some, so I got on the water around 8:30. True to form, I only saw one other fisherman on the water this morning when I arrived. He was working a decent little run upstream, but that was no problem; I was more interested in what was downstream. I got in and walked downstream about 1/4 mile to a familiar run. On about the third cast I caught a small rainbow. Fished a couple more runs that I was very familiar with picking up a couple here and there, and thought I should try out some new water. There were lots of fish rising all around, and it looked like they were taking some sort of micro-caddis (olive). I tried a tiny elk hair caddis without much luck, so I went with old faithful. I rigged a black zebra midge and a size 20 bead head pheasant tail in tandem with 7x tippet and that was the trick. I immediately starting hooking up. However, I lost quite a few fish thanks to my downstream approach, but I managed to land good numbers. Ended up landing a dozen fish, with 3 being in the slot. The best fish of the day was a 15" rainbow that I had seen rising to the micro-caddis and tempted him into striking. I have talked very disrespectfully about the brookies stocked in the Clinch, but today I caught the most brilliantly colored one yet. It was 11" and had very bright yellow and blue spots, I wonder if they will attempt to spawn this year. There is a home football game next Saturday, and I am already chomping at the bit to get back out there. Hopefully everybody will be at home watching the ballgame, and I will have the water to myself. Until next time....

God Bless and Tight Lines






15" Bow






Small Stocker Bow