Finally on the water again....

Well, I managed to get out on the water again today for the first time in what seems like forever. Where did I find water at levels suitable for fishing you may ask. Well, the only place I could find that wasn't pushing as much water as possible was the Holston. And thanks to me having to travel to Missouri this past weekend, I had this beautiful Wednesday off work to go fishing.

I got to Nance's Ferry around noon, and immediately could see fish rising from the parking lot. I got rigged up and walked way upstream to my favorite couple runs in that area, and tied on a sulfur thorax dry. Nothing! So I tried a black EHC, and same result. So I decided to switch over to a beadhead hare's ear and a BHPT dropper. I immediately started hooking up. At one time I had caught 4 fish on 4 consecutive casts. It was one of the most spectacular periods of fishing I have ever had. In a matter of about 1.5 hours, I landed over 20 fish. Keep in mind that none of those fish were larger than 13", but it sure made for an enjoyable day on the water.


After having caught my fair share of trout for the day, I switched over to streamers in search of smallies in the area. I tried out the old faithful olive slumpbuster with some success, and figured it was time to try some new patterns out. So I tied on a new yellow popper I had tied up, and had some strikes. However, I guess my adrenaline was pumping so much that I kept pulling it away from the fish. Later on I also tried a copperhead, hoping that it would be a successful pattern. That did not work out for me, at least on this day.


My next trip I am hoping will be to the Clinch. It seems like an eternity since I have fished my old stomping grounds, and until TVA stops pushing water it will stay that way. I just hope that the spilling over the top doesn't harm the sulfur hatch that appeared to be coming back last spring. Only time will tell, and hopefully I will have a report for you in the next week or so.

Fishing Summary:
Water Temp: 63 deg F
Weather: 75 deg F, sunny
Productive Patterns: BHPT (#1), BH Hare's Ear (#2), Olive Slumpbuster, Olive Wolly Bugger.
Technique: Across and down approach below shoals to rising fish. Also stripping streamers in the tails of large pools, and looking for obvious fish holding structure to strip the fly by.
Total Fish Count: Somewhere around 25

Holston Mixed Bag

I took today off work to unwind from a very busy and stressful past couple of weeks at work. After doing my work around the house, I loaded up and went to Nance's Ferry. I had originally intended to go to the Smokies, but we are going tomorrow. So, this gave me a chance to try the Holston out again. When I arrived, the parking lot was deserted. I geared up and made my way out into the river watching for risers as I went. Not long after my first cast 4 vehicles pulled into the parking lot, so much for solitary fishing today. Oh well, I just went a significant distance upstream and the new arrivals never got within a couple hundred yards of me.

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

Nance's Ferry Midges

Due to the crazy generation schedule on the Clinch, I chose to hit up the Holston at Nance's Ferry. I got to the river around 1:30 to a flurry of surface activity. I didn't even rig up until I waded out into the river and studied the water for about 10 minutes. The fish appeared to be taking midges, so I went with my trusty brassie/zebra midge combo. I hooked into a fish shortly afterward, and they proved to be very cooperative for the next 3 hours. There were 4 other fishermen on the water, but they were all focusing on swift water and riffles. I took a different approach and went to the relatively smooth water that midges are present in. Once again, I don't know why some people continue to get into a pattern of going to the same type of water regardless of time of year or condition. The water these gents were fishing is prime caddis water in the late spring and summer, but this time of year midges are the primary hatch.

It was a relaxing day on the water. I didn't rush my casts, or try to pressure the fish. A couple times I just walked to shore and took a break to warm up my legs, and watch the others fish. I noticed one guy below me land a couple decent size fish using a streamer. However, other than that the guys in the riffles were not having much luck. Oh well, each to his own I guess. Later on, I walked farther upstream to a deep slow pool and fished a #18 BHPT/#20 stripper about 5' deep. I was surprised at the number of fish I got on this rig, especially since the Holston is not considered to be a mayfly tailwater.

Best fish of the day were a pair of 15" bows that put a deep bend in the 5 wt ZG and 6x tippet.

Trip Summary:
Water Temp: Low 40's
Weather: Sunny, Breezy, upper 50's
Best Flies: #18 BHPT, #20 stripper
# of fish landed: 6 (probably twice as many long distance released due to a bent hook)