Recent Warmwater Outings

Not going to post a full report, but I have been primarily fishing for smallies, redeye, and carp the past few weeks. Below are some pics. Hopefully, I will be able to make it out to the Clinch again soon for a reunion. I also picked up a new 8-wt and reel after assisting with a flyfishing class at the Orvis in Sevierville today, and I plan on posting an evaluation after using it today for some Little River smallmouth.

Independence Day at the Park

Saturday we spent the day at a local state park where we rented out a building to celebrate July 4th. This small local park is probably the place where I officially learned to fish, and I don't visit it often enough. When GSMNP is overrun by tourists, this small park is just about perfect. Yes it does get a little crowded, but not nearly as smothering as the droves of people who swarm on Townsend and Gatlinburg.

Below are a few pics from the day, and I do plan on going back much sooner than later.

We Cooked Hard

We Ate Hard

We Napped Hard

We Even Caught Some Bluegill

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

First Smallie Attemp

Well, I have been hearing lots of reports about amazing local smallmouth fish, so I thought I would give it a try. The weather was absolutely phenomenal, beautiful blue sky, low 80's, and not much humidity to speak of. We don't get many days like that in August. I got off work on Friday around noon and headed for Townsend. Since this was my first attempt at smallies, I was somewhat lost as to where I should begin my search. I knew of a public access area just past Walland, and figured that would be as good of a place to start as any. When I arrived there were some people there playing in the water and another guy just upstream fishing. I got geared up and made my way into the water fishing downstream as I went. Not long into the day, using a tiny chartreuse popper, I hooked into my first rock bass. Not big, about the size of a bluegill, but a decent fight nonetheless. So, I continued to work my way downstream and picked up a couple more rock bass on the popper. When things began to slow down, I checked the water temperature and it was around 79 degrees. Wow, I couldn't believe it was that warm. I chose to move farther upstream looking for cooler water and a little more privacy. Unfortunately, I found neither, and needless to say no smallies. Well, after talking to Daniel and Bill at LRO, I learned that I was probably out there at the worst time of day. They suggested that I give it a try during the two hour window around sunrise and sunset when the smallmouth are most aggressive. Well, the opportunity to get out and enjoy the mountain scenery was nice, and I am looking forward to my next smallmouth trip. I plan to do some more research into locations and how to approach this wary fish.

God Bless and tight lines to all.

Annual Fairfield Glade Fishing Trip

For the past 5 years my cousin and I have gotten together for a weekend of fishing in Fairfield Glade. Originally, it was just the two of us, and it grew to include his wife, then my wife, and now his daughter. Typically, I am a catch and release fisherman, especially when trout fishing, but my wife loves to eat bass and bluegill. So I usually try to bring some home from this trip, and since we are fishing for food I will even use bait to keep her happy. On Friday, when we arrived the wind was howling and the conditions were not looking too good. Because of this, I chose to leave the fly rod in the car and break out the finesse worms. First cast, bam fish on. A 14" largemouth, that did a nice tail dance across the surface. It had been a while since I had used plastic worms, so I was quite surprised that I hooked up so quickly. Since there is a slot limit on the glade lakes, I had to release it. We continued to catch another dozen or so bass is the next couple of hours, all just inside the slot. We ended the day by getting some barbecue at Big Boys BBQ, which is always nice.

On Saturday we planned on targeting bluegill to fill the wife's request, and then we would have some fun with bass. Another day, and another bass on the first cast. A little different than I had planned, but still much welcome. I am looking into buying a 'toon, so my fishing buddy Scott let me borrow his to see what I thought. Since I was unfamiliar with it, I spent around 30 minutest putting it together, the finished product can be seen at right. The wind made controlling it a little difficult, but with an anchor it shouldn't be a problem. Also, it was nice being able to access water that is normally inaccessible to other. My primary use for a 'toon would be on some of the local tailwater, mostly the Clinch and Watauga. I had a few concerns/complaints about the casting deck/lean bar, but those should be remedied in the one I am looking at. North Fork Outdoors, Fish Cat, and Outcast make toons with sliding casting platforms and fold back lean bar. After taking it out and playing around in it for awhile, it was back to business.

We broke out the crickets and crawlers and continued to catch about a dozen slab sided bluegills before lunch. I am talking about rod bending, pan filling, hungry gills. At lunch we went back to the room to relax and replenish our bait supplies, and managed to snap this quick pick of a future fisherman.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chasing bass, and catching up on one every so often. I think the approaching frontal system had put the lock jaw on the fish because previous patterns had became unproductive. We ended up calling it a day and spending the rest of the day hanging out just enjoying the evening. This time next year there will be two more added to the annual trip, my son and my cousin's baby. That should make for an interesting trip, but I am still looking forward to it. I am very thankful for the opportunity to take this trip every year, and I hope to keep this tradition alive for years to come.

Next up:

May 1st and 2nd camping trip to the South Holston. I have some private property access that allows us to camp, and the sulfurs are hatching. This will be my last camping trip for a few months, so I am going to make the most of it. Should be an exciting trip, and I hope to have lots of pics and stories to share.

God Bless and Tight Lines

Seeing Yellow

Made it out to Melton Hill tailwater today for some white and yellow bass fishing. Very Windy day today ahead of the front and storms moving in this evening. Fished for about an hour before the wind got too strong to cast, even with the 6-wt. Landed 3 yellow bass on a conehead white wooly bugger. No pics since no significant catches to speak of, but looking forward to getting out again with a sink tip line and trying for some white bass deeper and maybe even some skipjack on top in the coming weeks.