There were lots of fish rising to what appeared to be midges, and I checked the water temp. It was in the low 50's, that was very surprising. I guess the past couple days of warm rainfall had spiked the temps. Not only were fish rising everywhere, but carp were up in the shallows jumping. I guess 50 degrees is the temp where they begin to get really active. I saw a couple that would have easily been 25 or 30 lbs.
Now to the fishing....
After getting my indicator depth set correctly, I began to pick up fish. Most were about the same size as last time, 12 - 14". However, this trip there was a surprise waiting for me. After catching my first few bows on a zebra midge, I switched to an olive slumpbuster in hopes of finding something larger. What I found was a shoal that was jam packed with eager to eat smallmouth. These guys were absolutely crushing the slumpbuster as I stripped across the end of a large pool. In this same pool, I also caught quite a few more bows on the streamer. The smallies just put up such a fierce battle everytime, and a couple treated me with an aerial display. I can see why smallies on the fly can be addictive, I may have to try this again in the future.
Holston River Smallie
Another Shot
Until then, Tight Lines and God Bless
Trip Summary:
Weather: Cloudy, Windy, Low 50's
Water Temp: Low 50's
# of fish caught: 20-ish
Best Fly: Olive Slumpbuster
Technique: Stripping slowly along the tail of pools, and at the head of runs.
Bold Colors
1 comment:
I know what you mean about smallies on a fly...last year while trying to catch some of the large stockers put into the Nolichucky and got into some smallies like you described and it def made me forget about the stock trout I was pursing
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