Short Clinch Trip with a Friend

This past Wednesday I chose to take the afternoon of and meet a buddy on the Clinch.  I left work around noon, and it took a little longer than I expected to get to the river.  However, I was surprised to see only one person wade fishing below the weir dam...  This is usually a bring your own rock kind of place, so this was very strange.  We figured that we had about 3 hours fish, so we geared up and hit the water.  Before long we were wading out to our first spot, and Buzz hooked up before I even had my fly tied on.  He yelled at me that I needed to get my fly in the water and stop tinkering around with my gear.  It was all in good humor, but he was right.  I quickly waded out and made my first cast with the fly rod in about 6 months, and was very pleased to feel the tug of a trout on the other end.  I even took my stringer with me on this trip with the intention of keeping some fish for my kids, but that usually is the death blow on my trips.  When I bring a stringer along, no fish are caught.  The first fish was too small, so it was quickly released.  Unfortunately, about this time I really was starting to regret not having my camera to document what seemed like it would be a fast paced day.  This pace continued on for a while with rising fish all around, and we would pick up a fish every few minutes.  When I arrived at the river I discovered that I was completely out of 6X fluorocarbon tippet, so I had to move on up to 7X (I couldn't buy a strike on 5X).  This turned out to be a double edged sword as the smaller size enticed more strikes, but it also allowed three fish to break me off.  Eventually I got things dialed in and managed to land a 15" rainbow on a very long downstream drift, and it was exciting to feel a good solid tug on the end of the line.  What was most enjoyable about the trip was that Buzz and I were fishing relatively close to each other and were able to carry on a conversation and make jokes about various things throughout the trip.  That is something I have missed over the past few years as either I fishing by myself on tailwaters or when fishing the park streams we are usually too far apart to communicate with each other.   

I am now in the process of restocking my fly box with flies that I discovered I was out of, and replenishing some of those that were broken off while using my 7X tippet.

Of another positive note was the fact that this trip marked the first time I got to wear my new Patagonia Rock Grip wading boots out on the river.  I picked these up over the winter on clearance at about 60% off, and was skeptical about their performance.  I have lots of Patagonia gear and know it is top notch, but these were rubber soled boots and I didn't know how they would stand up to the rock snot in the Clinch.  The night before I chose to only screw in 6 of the supplied studs into each sole, and I spaced them in such a way that I thought would best distribute my weight.  My concern over previous studded soles is that they often left me feeling as if I was ice skating since there were so many studs that the rubber or felt never actually contacted the rock.  These boots were quite possibly the most sure footed boots I have ever worn, or at least they were in the bottom type that we were fishing on below the weir dam.  The next big test would be to try these boots out on either the South Holston or Watauga river with their perfectly smooth and round rocks the size of bowling balls.  That requires a totally different walking technique, and would be a good test for these boots.  Maybe I should take a drive up that way to give it a test, and while there maybe wet my fly line for a few hours.

Thanks for allowing me to ramble on, and until next time...

Tight Lines and God Bless

Clinch River Update 9.20.2014

For the past few months I have heard many reports about how much of a negative impact the stripers are having on the trout population on the Clinch.  I thought it seemed logical because the last three or four trips I have made to the Clinch resulted in low trout/hr catch rates.  However, deer season opens next weekend, so if I didn't make it out this week it could be a while before I return.

I got a late start to the morning after sleeping in, but was surprised to find the river virtually empty when I arrived at 9:30.  I took my time getting ready, and worked my way downstream to one of my favorite runs.  I saw some little brown caddis hatching, and it wasn't long before I was into fish.  In fact, the fish were so active I landed 6 rainbows in my first 20 minutes (almost 20 casts as well).  The first one was a little 7" dink, but the next 5 were in the 11 - 12" range.

First little guy

12" bow

Then, things suddenly stopped.  All I could attribute it to was the fact that the fog had completely burned off, and now the sunlight was bright on the water.  Thankfully, after about 30 minutes the trout adjusted and were back at again.  Unfortunately, apparently everybody decided to float the Clinch today, and for the next 30 minutes I was dodging canoes and kayaks.  I would hook a fish, then a kayak would float through and shut everything down for a few minutes.

I had 4 boats, FOUR OF THEM, float right through the run I was fishing in.  Please note that this run was only about 10 yards wide by 15 yards wide, whereas the river is probably 75+ yards wide at this location...  Only one of the four boats apologized for drifting through on me, and he actually told me to just get ready as there were about 20 other boats behind him coming around the bend.  I managed to hook another couple of fish before I was interrupted again, and chose to call it a day.  As I was getting out of the water, I saw the first of a couple of drift boats coming around the corner.  However, the sulfurs were just starting to hatch, and the fish were very active.  You read that right, sulfurs on the Clinch in September!  Craziness!!!

My take-away from today's trip is that apparently the stripers have not damaged the trout population as severely as I had been lead to believe, as my hourly average was 5 fish/hr (10 trout in 2 hours)...  I will take those numbers any time of the year, and actually those are the highest Clinch catch rates I have had since 2010 when I had some 30+ fish days.  No big trout landed today, but I did see some large buttery brown heads poking out every now and again.  Thankfully, I only missed two strikes (that I saw) all morning, and only had one long distance release.  I feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to get out today and have so much success, especially considering I had not wet a line since June.

Flies of the Day: #18 BHPT and #20 olive zebra midge.
Catch Rate: 5 fish/hr
Gear used:  Orvis Zero Gravity 8'-6" 5-wt, Orvis Mid-Arbor reel, Rio Grand fly line, SeaGuar FX 7X tippet

Much Needed Fishing Break

My work schedule has been really hectic lately. And even though I had a week of vacation in the past 6 weeks, it really didn't allow me to fully unwind because of knowing what was awaiting when I returned home. Today was the first chance to get back on the water since August 9th, which is a very long drought for me.

Leading up to this morning I saw that the weather was forecasting light showers for the morning. On top of that there was a noon football game and it was the first day of bow season. So, for my first day on the water in a long time, it looked like things were falling into place for me.

I got a late start this morning, after turning off my alarm clock accidentally. So, instead of leaving home at 7:00, it was 8:00 before I left. So, it was 8:45 before I stepped foot into the river, but found only one other person there. I slowly made my way downstream to my usual haunts, and got rigged up with my typical midge rigs. I scanned the area and found a trout that appeared to be rising in a regular pattern, and made my presentation. About 5 seconds later, and fish on. First cast and first fish. I looked for another active trout, and presented a fly to it. Second cast, and another hookup. However, this one managed to give me the shake. Fourth cast and another fish, but this one broke my 6X fluoro after wrapping me around a deep rock. At this point, I was on a roll and thinking it was going to be a fabulous day. Little did I know that it would be an hour and 15 minutes before I landed another fish.



After the long dry spell, I settled into another spot and found the fly and depth that was working. I stood in this one pool and managed to pull about another 15 fish out of this one location. The average fish was around 12 - 14", with three pushing 16".

It was exactly what I needed to unwind from the stressful past 6 weeks at work. Hopefully, it won't be as long before I make it back out on the water.




Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless

Clinch Settles Into Typical Summer Patterns

Fog Burning Off Around 10:00

Made it out to the Clinch over the weekend, and the typical summer techniques and patterns were working well. My typical summer technique is dredging the bottom in slow deep water where midges are most often found. Sometimes I will even change it up and use a scud if there is vegetation present. The key is to be bouncing bottom, and that often requires fishing with an indicator as much as 7' above the fly and 6X fluorocarbon tippet. Also, as the day progresses, the fish tend to change from taking midge larva, to pupae, and then finally to emergers and dries. So, the fisherman needs to adapt to the changing conditions. Below are some pics from Saturday.

My First Fish of the Day - 16" Bow on an Olive Buzzer

First Victim to the Blood Worm

Blood Worm Strikes Again

Same Fish, Slightly Different Perspective

My Best Fish of the Day - 18" Bow

A Successful Release

Ended the day with about a dozen fish in 4 hours. Not what I would call a good day, but it definitely was nice to get back on the Clinch after a 3 month absence. Expect to see more reports from the Clinch now that the typical summer crowds should start thinning out. Plus in another couple months the browns will start staging for the spawn, and you never know when you will tie into a big one.

Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless

Still Waiting on the Sulfur Duns

Scott and I hit the water this morning from 7:45 till 11:00. Saw maybe three sulfur duns and six rises during that time. However, the fish were taking BHPT actively once again. Well, that is until the sun burned off the fog and made it's way overhead. Once that happened I had to dredge the bottom and fish deep structure to pick up any fish. Not too big a deal since that is how I typically fish my midges during the summer and fall anyway. The water was really high, even with the pulse. We fished thru it, but I don't recall a typical pulse bringing that much flow.

TVA website shows a pulse today at 7AM of 3385 CFS as compared to the typical pulse of 1200 to 1500 CFS that I usually fish thru. Do they have one small variable flow turbine and one large constant flow turbine? Just trying to figure out how they are able to have flows in the 1500 CFS, 3400 CFS, and then 6700 CFS. Or is the 1500 CFS number just a short 30 minute pulse kind of like what I have been told the SoHo does at times?

No big fish were caught this morning, as most were in the 9 to 11 inch range with the biggest fish being around 13". However, I did land my first brookie in a long long time there, and it was a decent little one. Surprised to see four other people on the water with us this morning. However, it is a holiday weekend, and that combined with the storms predicted for this afternoon contributed to our decision to head out early in the morning.

Good Morning to be out

I usually get off work on Fridays at noon, however today I flipped my schedule. I went to the river first thing and then went into the office. Note to self: just take a vacation day since you didn't feel like doing anything after an excellent morning of fishing.

I just have to tell this little story before getting to the fishing report:

Scott and I arrived at the river around 8:00, and proceeded to gear up. We walked down to the river and strung up our rods and tied our flies on. About 8:15 we heard a car pull up and didn't think much of it. I finished tying up quicker than Scott, so I started making my way downstream. About this time I look up and there is a guy walking quickly along the bank above me. He then slides down the steep bank (not at the access point I must say), quickly says I will go down here out of your way, and starts walking downstream in front of me. Keep in mind that I was already walking downstream. This guy had to have set a land speed record trying to beat me to a particular quality piece of water. Now, just for the record, I have to add that the particular location he was in a race to is a nice little section of water. It is not uncommon to have 25 or 30 fish days in this little 50 yard stretch of water. However, the vast majority of the fish there are small, in the range of 8 to 11". Scott was with me, and I wanted him to get into some action quickly before taking him down to some more technical water that tends to hold larger fish. Needless to say this guy streaked straight for this particular section without even having his rod together, and it was obvious that he had his mind set on fishing this particular location. We let him have it, and he didn't move from it for over 3 hours. I just wish the guy would have shown some common courtesy and etiquette by asking where we were going since we were there first. I wasn't even going to fish that section, I was going to send Scott there. I have met many different people on this little section of the Clinch, and this is the first time that I have encountered this type of behavior, and I hope it isn't a developing trend.

Now to the fishing:

The river bottom was covered with a thick layer of silt due to the lack of generation lately. The floating scum that was present during the last outing was not such an issue this time. I don't recall seeing a single sulfur hatch, but that didn't seem to bother the trout. They were aggressively taking BHPTs in every run we fished. We ended up catching plenty of fish, and of those a high number were in the slot. I counted 8 fish over 14", and 2 at 17". Before leaving I took a temperature reading, and it was a surprisingly high 63 degrees. I looked back on my fishing log for the past two years and don't see the Clinch hitting that temp until August during that time frame. Not only that, but the water was up over 10 degrees since my last outing just over a week ago. That is an alarmingly fast warm rate, and I feel that TVA needs to do something to slow this trend. The lake is nearly to full pool, so maybe they will start generating soon. I took a few pics, so I hope you enjoy.

My First Fish of the Day - 17" Bow

Scott with a nice 13" bow

Until next time, tight lines and God bless.

And So It Begins....

Made it out to the Clinch today for a few hours. When I arrived at 1:00 there was no surface activity, but that didn't keep the fish from actively taking a #16 BHPT in the pocket water and runs. However, most of the fish in this water was of the small variety, averaging around 10". They sure were colorful though.



Finally, around 2:00 some larger heads started poking through the surface sucking down sulfur emergers. I took this opportunity to try out a new pattern I have been working on, a cripple/hackle stacker combination. I was quite pleased with the results and eventually the fish started focusing on duns, so I switched over to a #17 sulfur thorax for those fish. Very few fish were taking dries, so I had to did quite a bit of stalking. I would take a break and have a drink and snack while watching for the most consistently rising fish. I would then coat my fly with frog's fanny and slowly move into casting range. It wasn't uncommon to make probably 10 drifts over the same fish before it would take. However, it sure made for some very rewarding fishing.



Just as quickly as they started rising to sulfurs, they quit. About 4:00 things really slowed down. Not long after that a couple other guys showed up and slowly started moving downstream toward me, so I leapfrogged them upstream into some historically less productive water. I piddled around there with no success, and so I elected to call it a day.

Until next time, tight lines and God bless.

BHPT Feeding Frenzy

My mom kept Trey Friday night, so that gave me Saturday morning free. I checked the generation schedule, and TVA was turning on one generator at 7AM, so that would give me till 10:30 to fish. I also figured since the window was so small combined with the cold temperatures there would be limited numbers of people out to start the morning. I was correct, only saw two other fisherman in the two hours and fifteen minutes I fished.

I started fishing in a run that my buddies were catching fish out of on Wednesday evening using a #16 BHPT and a #20 midge larva. After the first couple of fish attacked my BHPT, I cut off the midge and continued to catch a total of 8 fish out of the first run. After about 45 minutes, I couldn't get any more takes so I moved downstream to a couple places I know that typically harbor some pigs. I managed to catch a few more on my way, also on the BHPT before reaching my destination.

Average Rainbow

Before making any casts I checked my fly and found that the last fish had completely destroyed it. So, I figured this would be a good time to try out a slightly modified split case pattern that my buddy Brett Romer had some influence in.

I spotted a fish cruising around actively on the other side of some large rocks, and slowly fished my way out to him. Eventually I made my way to within casting range, and he inhaled my nymph offering on the first drift. He vaulted out of the water, and I could tell he was a very nice rainbow. After a brief fight I landed him, snapped some pics, and released him to catch another day. The fishing was phenomenal nearly the entire time I was on the water, with a total of 14 brought to hand, two break offs, multiple misses and long distance releases.

16" Bow

16" Bow

One unusual thing I witnessed on Saturday morning was three different rainbows clearing redds at the tail of one pool. I have watched browns clearing redds on the Clinch before, but never saw rainbows doing it. I have noticed that some of the smaller 6 - 8" bows in this area are brightly colored, refer to some previous posts. I wonder if we are seeing some reproduction taking place for once. Next time out, I will look again to see if the redds are still occupied. If TVA does maintain the current generation schedule, these fish are not sterile, and people leave them alone I would venture to say that this year could have some river born rainbows added to the mix.

Conditions:
Weather - Sunny, Calm, 37 to 60 degrees
Water - 51 degrees, clear
Flies - #16 BHPT & #16 Split Case

Clinch Sulfur Preparation

Fished the Clinch yesterday late afternoon, and the trout are beginning to move out of their typical winter/summer lies into typical sulfur holding spots. I also started picking up some fish yesterday on pheasant tail nymphs, whereas I have had to use midges all spring so far. Water was up another couple degrees to 50, so we are only about 5 degrees away for full on sulfur hatches. Can't wait, so I am going to tie up more pheasant tails, sulfur emergers, thorax duns, and comparaduns in preparation.

Here are a couple of my best from yesterday, around 14" each:

Clinch is Coming Out of Hibernation

Dave and I went back over to the lease yesterday to see if the warm weather over the past week has made a difference. I arrived with the water still high, and a couple of other people were gearing up. Dave showed up about an hour later. Surface activity was virtually non-existent when I got in the water, so I went with a double nymph rig.

The River

It didn't take long to hook up with my first fish, a nicely colored 8" rainbow. The coloration was much more fitting of a smokies rainbow of this size than a clinch bow. Not long afterward I tied into the largest fish I have hooked all year, and it absolutely man-handled me. I could tell that it has been a long time since I last tussled with a 16"+ fish. The 9 to 12" fish I have been catching recently really have not helped me stay on my game.

My Best Bow

Between 2:30 and 5:30, I had only landed the one little fish and had two break me off. However, at 5:30, it was like somebody flipped a switch, and there were fish rising everywhere. I was getting a take on nearly every cast, and it was a nice ending to a beautiful day. However, in the back of my mind there was still that one nice one that got away. Oh well, I know where he lives, as it isn't the first time I have had a fish break me off in this one run.

Dave Landing One

Dave Landing One

Last Fish of the Day

Skunk Off! Clinch Treatment

Made it out today from 3:00 till 5:30, and managed to catch 4. They were very tough again today. I would watch for a consistently rising fish and have to put it right on his nose before he would take. The first fish probably required 20+ drifts before it finally took my blackfly larva. The others didn't require as much effort, but still demanded a perfect presentation.

Water temp was 42 degrees, and the wind was brutal for strike detection. Made for a tough day, but at least I got the skunk off after last trip. A steady dose of blackfly larva is just what the doctor ordered to relieve the pain and irritation of a skunking.

The Clinch is fishing really tough right now, and is showing it's bipolar characteristic. Some days people are lighting it up and others you have to force feed the trout.

Conditions:
Weather - Cloudy, Breezy, 46 degrees
Water - Some discoloration, 42 degrees, receding water level
Flies - midge and blackfly larva

Taking the bad with the good

Made it out to the river this afternoon around 3:45, and was very excited about the possibilities. Dave hooked up with two bows within the first 10 minutes. However, we didn't realize that it would be 2 1/2 hours before another fish would take one of our offerings. The trout were rising quite regularly taking adult blackflies, unfortunately I did not have anything that they thought looked tasty. I fished for three hours today and never even got a single strike, I can't remember the last time that happened. It has been more than two years since I have been skunked on the Clinch, so I guess I was due. I threw everything I had at them, including streamers, with absolutely no interest. I took a water temp reading before leaving and it was 42.5 degrees. Surprisingly that was 1.5 degrees colder than when I last fished the Clinch two weeks ago. The overcast skies for the past couple days apparently have slowed the water warming trend.

This only adds fuel to the fire for my return trip.

Conditions:
Weather - Cloudy, Calm, 52 deg
Water - Clear, 42.5 deg
Best Patterns - ?????
Tackle - 9' 4 wt

Is Spring around the corner?

It appears we will have some decent weather for a few days. Has winter loosed its strangle hold on us finally? Winter is my least favorite season, and this past has been the longest, coldest, and wettest I can remember. Bring on the spring weather, flowers, birds, and good fishing.

Speaking of fishing, I made it out to the Clinch today for a few hours. I expected to see all the parking lots full, but was surprised that it wasn't all that bad. The generation schedule kept me off the lease, so I was limited to fishing near the dam. I have an area below the weir dam that I fish when I am forced to stay in that area, however it requires quite a long walk. I have never seen anybody in this area, so you can imagine my surprise when I showed up there today and found three other people fishing. So, I forced myself to get in amongst everybody below the weir dam. I tied on my clinch river typical tandem with a #18 midge pupae and a #20 midge larva point fly. I quickly picked up two fish, and then the wind started blowing. The waves created by the wind were so large that they easily overtook my little poly yarn indicator. Add to the fact that it was very chilly, and I chose to try my luck in another area I am familiar with.




I got out of the river and hoofed it way above the weir dam and got into a section of river that was deserted. I then strung up my sinking tip line and an olive streamer. Not long afterward I was into some more fish. I fished the streamer for about another 45 minutes before calling it quits for the day. My final tally for the day was six. Four bows and two browns, however none of them were of any significant size. The largest bow was about 12", but I did see some larger fish working the weir pool. Also, there was not much surface activity today, and I was a little surprised by that as well since I expected the sunshine to spark lots of midge activity.

I met six fishermen walking out today that all had limits of trout with them, and most of the fish were in the 12 to 13" range. This along with the number of fisherman just reminded me today why I prefer to fish down at the lease. The peace and quiet along with the quality of fish is just so much better. I am anxious to get reacquainted for the first time since probably August.

Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless

January Day on the Clinch

Today I was heading to north Knoxville to pick up my son, and took along my fishing gear just in case I had time to fish the Clinch. I fully expected the river to be a mad house since it was the first Saturday that the generators have been turned off. My thoughts were confirmed when I came upon the parking lot at the weir dam. There was not a single open space, and I have never seen it that crowded. I made my way on up the road to where the horse trailers park and made my way into the water there. There were already 4 people fishing in this area, but I managed to find an open spot slightly upstream of them.

Very Healthy 14" Bow

I spent some time watching the water and saw a good amount of surface activity and chose to try a midge pupae and larva tandem. It didn't take long for the fish to tell me that they approved of my selections. I only fished today from 3:30 til 4:30, but managed to bring 8 to hand in that time frame. That is one of the most active days I have seen in a long time, and I am anxious to return. Talked to some others at the river and results were very wide ranging. Some had a terrible day, and others were slaying them. I think the biggest mistake newcomers make on the Clinch is they fish flies that are way too large. Basically they are failing to match the hatch. I talked to one guy there before who was very frustrated, so I asked him what he was using. He replied with San Juan Worm, #12 BHPT, #10 hare's ear, #14 Copper John, etc. I then told him that I never use anything other than streamers on the Clinch larger than a #16 and usually my choices are more in the #20 - 22 midge range. Which is exactly what I was fishing today.

First Fish - 12" Brown

Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless

Recent Clinch Outings

I have been on out on the river twice in the past week now, but there hasn't really been much to report on. The first outing was immediately following a heavy shower and the river looked like chocolate milk. I only fished a little over an hour with a big wooly bugger, and managed to stick one hefty fish. However, I never saw the fish before it broke off my 4X tippet, so it could have even been a carp for all I know. Shortly thereafter I left the river and found my truck was short about 1/3 tank of gas. Apparently somebody thought they would help themselves to some free gasoline. Don't want to dwell on that for now, just know I will pay more attention to the cars around me from now on.

Also managed to get on the water yesterday morning. I took the day off work and wanted to take advantage of a little Friday solitude on the water. The water still had some stain to it from the runoff I mentioned above, but it didn't look all that bad. I rigged up with a double nymph rig and started probing the typical runs. Nada. Switched over to a streamer and fished these same runs, still nothing. I slowly made my way to the flats where I saw some big browns spawning last year, and they were untouched. So, I checked the water temp, and found that it was around 55 degrees. That is about 5 degrees warmer than this time last year, so that could account for why the fish are not where they were this time last year. I left the streamer on and went up to the slow deep water and started probing the bottom for some brownies. I managed to pick up a couple fish doing this during the heavy rainfall, but they were rainbows. So, I continued to look for that brown. I continued to stick some and miss some when just upstream from me I heard a terrible commotion. I looked up just in time to see a rainbow probably 8 or 9 inches long jumping out of the water and right on its tail was a brown trout probably 10 pounds. I immediately pulled up and fired a cast in its direction, but knew that I probably did not have a chance. Oh well, at least I know there are some big bows in there, and I think they are staging for the spawn. I hope to make one trip a week over there for the next month or so until they do start to spawn. However, I think I will shoot for afternoon fishing instead of morning fishing, as long as TVA cooperates. It just takes so long for the fog to burn off and the fish to get active in the morning, I am about to rule out any more morning fishing trips to the Clinch until next spring.



Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless

A Little Saturday R&R

I have been planning on heading to the Smokies for some fishing the past two Fridays. Well, both times outside factors have influenced my plans, and prevented me from going. Yesterday, I did manage to make it to the mountains with Amy and Trey, and I even brought along my rod for good measure. At one point, Trey was asleep and I crept out to do some fishing while Amy set with him. Just as I closed the door, I heard "Daaadaaa?". So, I got back in and carried on with our driving and sight-seeing. On the positive side, I did manage to see my first ever bear in the Smokies. Hard to believe that after making hundreds of trips camping, hiking, and fishing that I had never seen one until yesterday. No pics of the bears(my 50mm lens just didn't have the reach), but maybe I will post some other pics from that trip later. Enough talking about yesterday, this post is supposed to be about today's fishing adventure.

I have been really wanting to get back out to the Clinch again after the last few barn-burner trips. The previous trips I had fantastic days, and seemed that I could do nothing wrong. Not only was the fishing good, but the quality of fish was not bad either. So, I woke up this morning at 6:00 and headed out the door around 6:20 to get to the river. When I arrived at 7:00, I found the parking lot empty. PERFECT! That is what I like to see. I enjoy fishing with friends and offering advice to people usually, but sometimes I just enjoy the solitude of the river and the fish. After gearing up and walking about 1/2 mile downstream to my favorite areas I began fishing around 7:45. There was absolutely no surface activity when I got to the river, but that didn't affect my game plan. Today my plan was to work some deeper runs in an attempt to pick up some of the larger fish that broke me off last time. So, I put on my double nymph rig, set my indicator around 5', and started probing the deep runs. The water was still extremely high since TVA did not turn off two generators until 1AM, so the water level was still a bit tricky to navigate.

Private Driveway to River

Things started off a little slow, but I managed to bring my first fish to the net around 9:00. It was a very nice fish of around 17", not fat but long. As the day progressed I began to see some other people making their way into the river well upstream of me, and another older fella who came in below me. He was also hooking up frequently as well, and they all appeared to be the average 11 to 13" bows that this area is loaded with. During the next three hours I managed to land about 5 more fish, and had a couple more break me off in the tangle of log jams that cover the river bottom in this area. My numbers were off a little today, but the quality made up for the lack of quantity. I ended up landing 6 fish today, 2 of which being 17" and one pushing 16". The others were the standard sized bows and even a 10" brookie thrown in for good measure. I really tried catching a decent brown today, but it just wasn't meant to be.

First Fish - Skinny 17" Bow

Another Good Rainbow

Can't wait to get back out there, and hopefully TVA will offer up some better schedules to allow me to fish some on Friday afternoons. Hopefully all the rain this year will not lead to a poor spawning season due to high water flows. TVA has another couple months to get things to normal before that becomes a concern.

Until next time,
Tight Lines and God Bless