Smoky Mountain Flyfishing And East Tennessee Tailwaters Reports

I have spent the last week looking at new areas of the Holston River to wade fish and guide on. I have found 3 new ones and today, I fished one of them. It is an exceptional stretch of water and it seems to provide a lot of solitude and an abundance of fish that are eager to take the right fly. If you are looking for new wade fishing water and you want to try one of these new offerings, just call me at 423-586-6198. The fly that the fish were looking at today was the Little Dark Olive Caddis.

Dave Reistenberg is a friend and a person I have guided in the past. Today he wanted to try the Holston River for big trout. He put in a long hard day and he caught many , many fish. The big fish were laying low and we enjoyed a record breaking, hot day in early May. We fished dry flies and caught fish. We fished Emergers and caught fish. We fished tandem nymph rigs and caught fish. Dave caught fish until he was tired. We had a great time on the river together and hopefully, we'll run into each other again. Good fishing to Dave.

Hugh

I have been trying to make this trip with Casey since last year and we finally got to complete it today. We made our way to the Holston River early this morning and we were into fish right away. Our biggest problem for most of the day was keeping trash off of the flies. You could not make two consecutive cast without stopping to clean the junk off that was covering the flies and the line. We carried two rods and when the fish did not want to feed on dry flies we would present them with nymphs. This kept fish on the line all day. It was great to be on the river with Casey and we hope to meet again.

Hugh

Bill Bolinger fished the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam today. He captured this scene by an elderly gentleman when he was leaving the river. Bill estimated this brown trout to be at least 24 inches long. I love placing these pictures that I receive from time to time, to show what can be caught in this great river. I'll be on the river tomorrow and I hope to have more good results to show all of our followers. If you are in Little River Outfitters be sure to thank Bill for sharing his trips with you.

Hugh

The best fishing of the year has arrived on the Holston River! I have been seeing a few bugs flying around during the last 2 trips that I made to the river, but they showed up in all their glory this morning. I was fishing a tandem nymph rig setup for about an hour this morning and I began to see hard slashing, water throwing strikes, taking place around me; and in just a few minutes a heavy hatch and feeding frenzy was under way. It seemed like every fish in the river was turned on. I removed my tandem rig setup and tied on a #22 Little Dark Olive Caddis and the fun began. I could hardly throw anywhere in the river without getting a strike. I had my camera but I did not take pictures and you can just mentally envision what the fish were doing. If it's dry fly action that you have been looking for, just give me a call at 423-586-6198.

Hugh

Cody and Conner are both Captains in the United States Army. They have been on a training program and been in Alaska for awhile. Cody had his own Clacka Craft and we had planned to do a float trip on the Holston River. The weather turned sour and we decided to just do a wade trip for as long as the weather allowed. We got a break during the morning and had nice weather for about 5 hours, but our good fortunes went downhill after that. It did not dissuade these guys and they fished in the rain for about 3 more hours. The fish kept on feeding and the guys seemed to enjoy the time spent outdoors. It was great to be with them and to know that we are being protected by great young men. I wish them a great career and good fishing.

Hugh

John and Eddie are Father in law and Son in law. They brought their families up to the Smokies to enjoy all the natural beauty. They wanted to do a guided flyfishing trip for their first experience on the water. We started on the West Prong of Little River and they were getting strikes in the first hole that they fished. They had only gone upstream about 20 yards and they began catching their first fish. They both had fish on in just minutes because the fish were feeding heavily. They got lots of practice on this small stream and we then moved to the Middle Prong. The feeding was even heavier on the Middle Prong than on the West Prong. This continued through the rest of the evening and both fellows caught numbers of fish. We all had a great afternoon and I know they will want to come back real soon.

Hugh

There comes a time each year when all the good positive things come together for the best fishing conditions that any river can offer. We are just about there on the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam. The water temperatures are great, the food is very abundant. The Caddis will start hatching any time this week. The water is turned off at the dam and will be for several weeks to come. We have newly stocked fish, 1 year old holdovers, 2 year old holdovers, 3 year old holdovers and on and on. Expect to see some very large fish if you are a real good angler. The older holdovers are just as smart as wild fish and they can really put a bend in your rod. Look at these fish and imagine your self behind the flyrod catching some just like this.

If I can help with a guided trip to a great tailwater, or to a mountain stream, just call 423-586-6198.

Hugh

IT HAS BEEN ALMOST A YEAR SINCE i HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO FISH WITH MY WIFE! We went to Shoney's and had breakfast this morning and shortly after that we were on the river. One of the first things that we saw as we left home was a nice frost. It didn't take long until the temperature started rising and the fish were feeding like they were pretty hungry too. Since she had not cast a flyrod in months, Carolyn said, "do you think that I will still remember how to do this?" She was doing 60foot cast in just minutes and the fish were cooperating as well. I was really pleased with how fast she started catching fish and I certainly enjoyed a few hours on the river with her.

Hugh

Frank Smith lives in West Knoxville and he decided to meet with his friend David Anderson inside the Park to do some flyfishing. They had both done some float fishing on a tailwater and this time they wanted to learn about Nymph fishing inside the Park. We began at Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and worked on casting and mending skills. We them moved to another nearby section and actually put these new skills to the test for awhile. With one small fish caught here we then moved to the section of Little River above the Crusher Hole. The fish were feeding better here and both fellows caught browns and missed some strikes. After eating lunch we moved to the West Prong of Little River where the strikes came much faster. Several fish were caught here and finally we moved to the Middle Prong of Little River. After both men catching a few more we called it a day. It was a good day to be in the Park with two nice gentlemen. They learned well and I know they will be back at it soon. Good luck to them.

Hugh

Robert Sewell and his son Ryan had come to the Smokies to share some time together and they brought their Father-in Law, Merle Baker with them. They wanted to learn the art of Flyfishing and they did it in a big way. We arrived on the Holston River this morning and after a short time of explaining the techniques of casting we moved downstream to some feeding fish. This was about as good of an example of how people who are just beginning can get into some nice fish as any trip that I can remember. When beginners are catching 17 and 18 inch fish within 45 minutes of being on the stream, I consider it a good day. Everyone had fish taking flies right away and then the big boys started showing up. Look at these beautiful fish and decide if you would like to give this river a try soon. We had a great day and I really had a good time with all of them.

If I can help with a guide trip, just call 423-586-6198.

Hugh

I had the privilege of spending time with two fine gentlemen from Memphis yesterday.Bill and Jody had come from the other side of the state with a desire to learn the art of flyfishing. We worked on casting skills and after moving to the West Prong, we began to get some strikes. The flies were hatching just about as heavily as I have seen before, but we were not able to get to many to take our flies. They did manage to get a couple of small fish and this boosted their morale. They should be on the stream tomorrow and I wish them luck.

Hugh

Daryl Cruz decided that he wanted to try an Advanced Nymphing Class on the Holston River and we sure had a great day. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be on the river and it seemed like that Daryl learned tons through the course of a full day while taking the class. We did a lot of work thoughout the day on casting and mending skills and refining his hookset. They really paid off for him. We fished 3 different stretches of the river and our biggest problem seemed to be getting the water to run down when it should have. I really enjoyed seeing Daryl catch as many nice fish as he did and I believe that he will almost every time that he is back on the river. He brought out one of his own flies that he had tied and it worked great. I hope to see Daryl again and good luck to him through the season.

Hugh

March 30, 2010

BILL BOLINGER BACK ON THE HOLSTON RIVER

Bill Bolinger and I have been trying to get together for a trip for almost 3 weeks and we finally got to make one on the Holston River. We've fished together several times and he is an accomplished artist on the river as well as being extremely knowledgeable about the flyfishing business. It was a pleasure watching Bill land so may fish. We nymph fished through the early part of the day and in the afternoon we fished streamers that were just as successful. Bill is one of the smiling and helpful faces that you will see when you stop in at Little River Outfitters. Say hello to him when you make a visit there.

Hugh


The water was off on the Holston River today and I ran down to there early this morning. The water was pretty low and wading was easy. The fish seemed to really be hungry and I caught many small rainbows in the first 1/2 hour. I fished to the other side of the river and then moved upstream to the next run. The fish did not seem to be feeding much through the next section until I got to the upper part of the run. I heard a fish splash and when I looked up to see where it was I saw a huge fish come out of the water to take a fly. It appeared to be 25 inches or better and would have weighed over 5 pounds. I tried and tried to get the fish to hit and it would not move. After many cast I moved back to the other side of the river and started fishing downstream using curve casts and downstream drifts. On the last cast of the day a huge fish took the BHPTN and the fight was on. He was all over the river and he took advantage of the current like an old time pro. I could see real fast that he was one of the largest fish that I had ever had on in this river. He was just man handling me and all I could do was to give him line and try to move down river with him. Within 5 minutes he had all of my flyline and 1/2 of my backing off my reel. I kept on moving downstream slowly and trying not to put too much pressure on him. He got into the current and rolled and dug in for a long extended battle. After about 20 minutes I began to gain line back somewhat and he began to work back up stream toward me. It took about 25 minutes and 100 yards downstream to finally get him where I could get my hands on him to photograph and release. It was my best brown trout ever from the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam and he is still there to give someone else a great time. We are seeing a lot of large fish like this. If I can help with a guided trip, please call 423-586- 6198. Hugh

I thought that you might be interested to see some of the things that are happening on the stream and in the office where we put together our little stories of the trips we do and of the flies that we develop. Recent trips to the Holston River show some of the fish that we are catching and in the 2nd picture you can see what was hatching off in the rain yesterday. These are the first that I've ever seen on the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam. You don't hear of the BWO being one of the flies that inhabit this river, but a pretty good hatch was taking place yesterday. It was hard to get a good picture in focus while holding the camera and a flyrod as well as trying to hold my hand still and not shake at all.

The last 3 pictures are of a new computer that I purchased this week. It is a new Dell 8100 with a 24 inch monitor. It has the new Windows 7 with a Terabit of space. This should give us all the space we need for our programs and lightning speed to work with. We should now be able to start showing videos as well with our reports. As I mentioned, we are beginning to do some trips, but the weather and water levels have really made for tough guiding. We're looking forward to some nicer weather.

Hugh

Ronnie Roberts and I spent a day and 1/2 together on the Holston River and the West Prong of Little River in the GSMNP. We were not quite able to finish a day out on the tailwater and we finished it up on the West Prong. The weather has been pretty rough, but Ronnie got right in there and put his new skills to work and caught fish in both streams. He really caught on quickly and overcame tough fishing conditions. The last part of Saturday found the fish feeding heavily on Blackflies. We caught about everything on BeadheadPheasanttailNymphs.
It was a big change to go from a tailwater to a small mountain stream, but Ronnie adapted nicely. It was great watching him go from practically a beginner to catching fish in both settings real fast. It was a great start for him. We look for him back in the Park soon.

Hugh

My friends, Jim Davis and John Bell called me after lunch yesterday and they wanted to take an ATV down to the river on a farm that is about 2 miles downstream from the dam. I knew it was awfully cold but I put on all the clothes that I could walk in and away we went. The water was off until 4:00PM and we had that section of river to ourselves. I had barely gotten started and I hooked a very nice rainbow. After about 10-12 minutes I landed a beautiful 16 inch holdover. He fought like a mule and it really felt good to get my first "nice fish" of the season. I caught several more that were in the 10-12 inch range and John Bell caught quite a few on a streamer. Some of his fish were nice and slightly above 12 inches. Jim caught several smaller
fish and we were all so cold by the time 4:30 rolled around that we were glad to get back into a warm house. This has been a very cold winter and I guess that spring is supposed to be here now?? The fishing is picking up and I've had several people to tell me about catching nice holdover rainbows in the last 3 days. The biggest one so far was a beautiful 18 inch rainbow caught by Bill Bolinger of Little River Outfitters. I talked to another fellow yesterday that passed by in a boat that had taken a 17 inch bow.

As we started to leave the farm yesterday, this beautiful eagle flew into the tree just over our heads. It is rare to get a picture of a wild Bald Eagle that is only sitting about 50 feet away. That seemed to be our gift of the day. Call me at 423-586-6198 if you would like a guided trip to the river.

Hugh

Carolyn and I went down to the middle of the Holston River again today and ran into some clients that I had guided last year. The first two pictures are from the trip last year and the 3rd and 4th are from today. This is Ian Greer and just look at how he has grown. He has matured with the flyrod and was catching fish when I got there and when I was leaving. It made me feel good to see young people both yesterday and today on the river practicing their skills. The river is full of very nice fish and I hope they all had a great day.

Hugh

I have been on 3 different tailwaters in the past 2 days and I wanted you to see the difference in in Upper East Tennessee and the middle of the Valley. They were still having winter conditions on the South Holston and Watauga Rivers just a couple of days ago. Today in the center of the Valley the weather finally warmed up. I spent the day on the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam and it started off pretty cool this morning. As we began our fishing this morning we were joined by two beautiful young ladies who lived on the farm that we accessed the river from. We just thought it was great to see young people who had an interest in fishing so we asked them if we could photograph them. They graciously agreed to let me take their pictures and place them with this report. The water was pretty cold when we first began fishing and the activity was slow for a couple of hours. We took a lunch break and the water temperature had risen by a couple of degrees by the time we got back into the river. The fishing was picking up as the insects became more active. We caught several fish at this location and then we moved down river to our last spot. The fish were almost in a frenzy by this time and we caught so many fish that we both got tired. It was great to be back on the river and I hope that I can help some of you that might be interested in fishing this tailwater soon. Just give me a call at 423-486-6198.

Hugh

As winter holds us in a tight grip, not giving us any decent places to fish for several weeks, the other needs of this guide seem to fit right into a period of time inside, behind the flytying vise. I have worked on some of the most popular flies so that I can have lots of them ready for sale and to use on the stream when mother nature cooperates. Yesterday, Ernie Roberts came over for a few minutes and we shared a little time on how to tie my new version of the Split Case PMD and we worked some on a Hans Weilenmen version of a Snail fly. I have been trying to tie different patterns of the Snail fly that is found on the Holston River, right here where I live. You can see pictured in this report several photos of both flies. The Split case PMD has already proven very effective on the South Holston and Watauga Rivers during this past Fall. I will be giving the Snail fly pattern a good workout as soon as the water generation schedules begin to moderate. The Snail fly pattern is weighted very heavily and will bump the bottom most of the time. If you would like to have a few of these patterns on hand, just send an email or call 423-586-6198. I think that you will like them.

An update on the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam: I was at the dam this morning and I talked with a few fishermen who revealed to me that 25,000 fish had been stocked last week in the river. Many of these fish seemed to be in the 12-14inch range. This combines with several thousand smaller fish that were stocked in November. The fish of the first stocking are at about the 9-10 inch range. They should be approaching the 12 inch length by about the month of April. Add to this the fact that almost all of the fish have carried over from last year and we should have a very large number of big fish and a huge amount of medium sized fish all through the early summer. It sounds like a great season coming up.

Hugh

The water temperatures are becoming a little warmer and TVA was showing a small window this morning to fish for awhile in the mid section of the Holston River. I looked at the generation schedule for Cherokee Dam last night and again early this morning and it showed the water coming on at 9:00AM and off at 12:00 PM. I arrived on the river at 8:30 and began fishing. In just a few minutes I had a decent fish on and it turned out to be about a 13inch rainbow. This continued on for about 2 hours with a number of smaller fish being brought to hand. Two other fellows had gotten on the river just after I began and they had worked downstream toward me. I did not see either of them catch a fish and shortly, they got out of the river and left. I had worked back upstream to where they ended their time and cast a few times when I noticed that the water was picking up speed. It was not supposed to be where I was fishing until about 12:00 PM and it was not quite 11:00 AM at the time. I walked over to the bank and I could see that the water was rising fast. I climbed on up the bank to my car and took my gear off to stow it in the back. When I started to leave I looked down at the river and it was running strong from one side of the river to the other. It took me about 20 minutes to get home and upon checking the generation schedule it was apparent that TVA had changed the schedule from 9:00AM until 8:00AM with 1 generator running full. This could have been taken as a pulse or as a 1 full generator run . This makes for a very dangerous situation on the river and I hope that no one got caught off guard by this sudden change.

The fishing conditions were good today and, if we keep getting good schedules and warmer weather, we should start seeing larger fish being taken. If I can help with a guided trip, please call 423-586-6198.

Hugh

As the temperatures begin to warm back up and the generation schedule become a little more angler friendly, I wanted to start checking out the rivers to see how the fish were doing and whether they had settled back into a good feeding mood. They have had a lot of high water and cold temperatures to contend with for the last month and 1/2.
The first trip that I made was to the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam with Jim Davis and John Bell. The temps were just beginning to moderate and the fishing was tough. We saw no fish feeding and we did not get any strikes at all.
The next trip was to the South Holston River and I arrived just as the water was starting to go down. The fish began to feed right away and I had met a friend from the Little River Outfitters board who goes by the board name of No Hackle. We fished together for awhile and he seemed to do very well. I photographed some of the fish that he caught as well as some of my own. After fishing there for a couple of hours I decided to move to them Watauga River. I drove to the Ball Park in the middle of downtown and got into the river hoping that I might have similar luck here as I did on the South Holston. The water temperature was apparently colder here because of mountain streams that were coming in so the fish were just not feeding at all here. I finished the day and moved on toward home. While driving back I passed by the Nolichucky River and it was partially covered with ice in many spots.
The streams should continue to fish a little better as daytime temperatures rise and I'm looking forward to getting back on the streams with clients. If you want to get in on a wintertime trip, just call 423-586-6198.

Hugh

Dry Flies	Nymphs and Emergers	Nymphs and Emergers - Page 2	Wet Flies/Soft Hackle Flies	Tailwater Trout Flies
Realistic Flies	Tailwaters Hatch Charts	Smoky Mountain Hatch Charts	Fly Tying Tutorials	Flycasting Lessons

Dry Flies	Nymphs and Emergers	Nymphs and Emergers - Page 2	Wet Flies/Soft Hackle Flies	Tailwater Trout Flies
Realistic Flies	Tailwaters Hatch Charts	Smoky Mountain Hatch Charts	Fly Tying Tutorials	Flycasting Lessons