Brief Update

I haven't been on the water since my last post, but that doesn't mean the fish aren't biting. Just take a look at my message board buddy David's blog over at The Trout Zone. He continues to light them up on the Caney, I really need to get back over that way again soon.

I was planning a trip to the South Holston this week for Friday, but the weather I think has other plans for me. On Monday the forecast was 46 degrees and cloudy, now it has been revised to 34, with a 30% chance of snow, and 15 mph winds. I think I may save myself a doctor co-pay and stay at home Friday. Until next time....

Tight Lines and God Bless

Warm Weather Extension

The warm weather in East Tennessee continues to hang around, so I took advantage of it. Today, I made it back out to the Clinch to see if I could continue with the success I have had this year. Within the past week or so, the foliage along the river has totally changed. The trees along the river have lost nearly all their leaves, whereas the ones away from the bank are still holding on to the lovely gold and red decorations.

Fall Foliage

Last report I mentioned seeing some active redds and big browns, today there were easily 4 or 5 times the number of redds in the area I was fishing. Lots of small 10 to 12" browns and bows hanging out downstream of the redds. I caught about a dozen fish and all but one were browns. The lone bow was the largest fish of the day, but all the browns were colored up beautifully. I continued to see some absolute bruisers cruising around, but most of the large fish appeared to be hens hanging out on the redd. I did see one fairly active male that appeared to be the dominant male in the area and he was protecting his ladies from all the smaller males. If things go well, I may be able to make it back out again next week, especially if the weather forecast holds true. Not long till the cold weather sets in and I expect to have things completely to myself then.

Small Brown

15" Clinch Bow

Until next time, tight lines and God Bless.

Weather Conditions: Sunny, Slight Breeze, 73 deg F
Water Temp: 56 deg F (up from last trip)
Successful Flies: #20 BH zebra midge, blood midge, & olive biot midge

Spawning Time on the Clinch

I have had the itch to get out to the Clinch again and reconnect with a river that has been very good to me this year. I have been on the Clinch easily 25 or 30 days this year, and have yet to get skunked (most have been multiple fish trips). So, I got up Saturday morning and made it to the river at 10:00, and was surprised to find the lack of people on the river. Finally, maybe with hunting season being here the pressure will slack off. I had about 3 hours to fish before I had to be back home to help Amy with Trey, so I tried to make the most of my time on the water. I immediately walked way downstream to a very productive run I found on my previous trip, and immediately hooked up with a couple small bows. That was a little surprising since I usually catch very good quality fish out of this little run. I worked my way downstream picking up fish here and there on a #20 brassie. As time was drawing near for the pulse to be coming through, I made my way back up to the run I mentioned earlier. Not long into the pulse, I noticed a large pod of fish swirling just upstream. As I approached, I was very excited to see a school of browns in pre-spawn mode. There was no redd, but a group of very active male browns apparently hunting a hen brown. As I drifted my fly toward the rear of the pack I had a large fish inhale my fly. 15 minutes later I was looking at a 22" brown. However, I was unable to take a picture since my net was too small to hold the fish and its head and tail were both hanging out of the bag. While trying to take the fly out, it flopped one good time and out it went into the current and drifted downstream. Due to this, I am looking for another net. I ended up catching this little brown before having to call it quits.

Small Brown in Spawning Color

Sunday, I got my buddy Scott to come along with me and we got into them once again. The brassie was still producing for me, and the first fish of the day was a 17" bow that put up an amazing aerial display.

First Fish on Sunday

Later, we checked out the pod of fish we found the day before, and over night they had fanned out a bed. There was a big hen sitting in the middle of it, and there were lots of fish downstream of the nest. I drifted the brassie downstream of the nest and into the awaiting pod of smaller fish and hooked into another good brown. This one did not fight nearly as much as the fish the previous day, but luckily Scott was there with his net to help me land it. He was only 16", but very chunky and in full spawning colors. Ended the day with decent numbers once again.

16" Clinch Brown

We did find a couple of other abandoned redds in the area, so apparently the spawn has been going on for a couple weeks now. Hopefully this year there will be a success. I had heard reports that last year there was a successful spawn, and the brookies should also be ramping up for their first attempt in the Clinch. I am looking forward to my next chance to head back up that way, but it may be a couple weeks before I get another chance. By then it should be full on midge and BWO season, so I better start preparing my fly box now.

Small Brookie

Scott Re-Tying

Saturday Conditions:
Weather - Cloudy, upper 50's
Water Temp - 53 degrees
Productive Flies - #20 brassie
Sunday Conditions:
Weather - Sunny, breezy, upper 60's
Water Temp - 54 degrees
Productive Flies - #20 brassie

Tight Lines and God Bless

Fall Is Here

Amy, Trey, and I went to Townsend on Sunday to take in the beautiful day and do some leaf gazing. The weather didn't disappoint, but the leaves still haven't turned as much as I had expected. Amy's family also came along, and it was a very enjoyable day for all. The trees are still another week or so away from popping, so maybe I will fight the crowds again for some good photo ops. Anyway, below are just a few pics from the day, hope you enjoy.

Fence In Cades Cove

Old Barn

Blue Sky Day

My Lovely Wife

Amy, Trey, and Old Wagon

Upper East Tennessee Weekend

This past weekend Scott, Jacob, and I headed up to the Tri-Cities for some fishing on the South Holston and Watauga. It had been over a year since I last fished the Watauga and about 5 months since I was last on the South Holston.

Day 1 - Thursday Oct 9th
Plan: Float from Blevins Rd access to Watauga starting at 9:00 AM.

Report: We got a late start to the day, and didn't leave K-town until around 8:15. Upon our arrival at the Blevins Rd launch area, we were surprised to see extremely high water. A quick call to the TVA lake info line, and they were still reporting no generation at that time. While standing there a local gentleman came by and informed us that they were sluicing over the top of the dam and that the schedule is very erratic. Due to this we chose to head on over to the SoHo and set up camp.

Setting up Camp

Playing With Fire

When we arrived at the river, I was chomping at the bit to get out there and fish, but we needed to take care of camp first. Weather we very comfortable and there was lots of cloud cover helping to bring the fish to the surface. I was quite surprised to find a good number of sulfurs fluttering around. I tried to match the hatch, but I was either doing something wrong or just didn't have the correct size fly on. So, I went with another very reliable pattern, the stripper midge. This was the ticket, and the browns were crushing it. I would look for rising trout and cast to them and I had a lot of success using this approach.

12" SoHo Brown

Day 2 - Friday October 10th

SoHo 180 degree Panorama (Click for larger image)

I got up around 7:45 and was once again very anxious to get to the fish. I hurriedly got into my waders and took my old faithful rig from the previous day out to see if I could pick up where I left off the day before. I did. From 8 til 11, I easily caught 2 dozen trout by using this same technique. I found that using 7x tippet greatly increased my strikes, but it also caused me to break off a couple of decent fish. Because of this I had to set down and tie up some more midges quickly during lunch.

After lunch Scott and Jacob wanted to retry our failed Watauga float trip. We launched the canoe and pontoon and headed down stream for the old River Ridge campground. During my last trip to this area, the rainbows and brookies were absolutely killing blood midges. We fished this area without any success, and because of our very limited schedule we had to press on for other water before we ran out of daylight. Eventually Jacob and I caught up with Scott downstream at another run and he had gotten into a decent little sulfur hatch and the trout were willing to eat a #18 sulfur thorax. This was a very nice section of water that would definitely warrant a future visit. It was getting dark as we approached the take out, and we found ourselves securing the canoe to the roof in the dark. Once we returned back at camp we anxiously awaited our deer tenderloin and baked potato dinner. It had been a long day, we were hungry and tired. Almost nothing tastes better than a good steak dinner when on a camping trip.

Campfire Deer Steaks

Day 3 - Saturday October 11th

I got up at 7:45, and started to the river. However, after finding the river mainly empty the first two days, I was disappointed to find fisherman everywhere. The runs that I had been slaying fish on the first two days, now had people crawling all over them. Nevertheless, this caused me to fish unfamiliar water, and it didn't disappoint. I only fished until around 10:00, but once again the stripper midge proved the best choice. At 10:00 I came back to camp to start breaking down and get prepared for lunch. Today's lunch consisted of deer burgers, and they were also very tasty. After lunch, we began the drive back home, but I was looking forward to seeing Trey for the first time in three days.

Brown Reflection

The South Holston really should start seeing the pressure in another month as the big browns start making their run upstream. I would like to make my way over there sometime in December and get into a couple large pre-spawn browns. It was nice to be out under the stars once again and spending time with good friends while fishing.

Deer Burgers

God Bless and Tight Lines

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