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March 25, 2010
I had the great privilege to take legendary smallmouth fisherman Bob Clouser on a float trip down the Holston River near Kingsport, Tennessee. As you would guess when you get a call like this you become very nervous and over think everything. When we met this morning he put me at ease pretty quick. We loaded all the gear in the driftboat and off down the river we went. He is a master at casting whether it is forward or backhand and has pinpoint accuracy. Can you guess what fly we used, one of his hand tied Clouser Minnows. It took some time for the air temperatures to warm and once we felt the warmth so did the fish and they started feeding like someone had flipped a switch. We caught some nice smallies, biggest being 20″ and several largemouth as we worked out way down the river. Here are a few pictures from the day.
March 21, 2010
Had a great time on trips down the South Holston near Bristol Motor Speedway and the Watauga Quality Zone near Elizabethton, Tennessee. They were sluicing on the South Holston and the BWO’s and Blackflies were very abundant. Taking new fisher persons out on guided trips to introduce them to the wonderful sport of fly fishing and let them see the beautiful southern appalachian scenery of my office. It was a great day putting these folks on to fish and seeing the joy on their face as they catch their first flyrod fish.
On the South Holston it was a trout crack midge nymph and the micro mayfly nymph doing most of the damage. Seeing those beautiful golden flashes from the browns as they sipped the nymphs in and then it was fight on with the new Orvis Hydros rods. Enjoying the great sunshine after this tough winter and catching those South Holston Tailwater born browns makes for a memorable day.
The Watauga Tailwater finally got a day of slack water with no generation, so it was off to the Caddis Riffle and Quality Zone. The upper stretches of the river did not produce very well, but once we hit the Quality Zone it was like a switch had been thrown. I had the clients deep nymphing with the Hydros 6 wt rods and as you can tell by the smile, she was very pleased with her first trout on a fly rod. We used Copper Johns and Micro Mayflies most of the day. There was some success on streamers but the deep nymphing rigs did the best.
We didn’t see but a couple of caddis popping off but it is still a couple of weeks early. My calendar is getting full for April and May with folks wanting to fish the Caddis Hatch and the start of the smallie topwater fishing. There are a few dates left so give me a call or email and lets go fishing.
Thanks
Randy Ratliff
March 18, 2010
It is Nascar race week here at the “worlds fastest half mile”, Bristol Motor Speedway and the TVA is doing one of its sluicing weeks. The fishing is phenomenal. The river is doing 800 cfs and it is like half throttle on generation. The fish love it and so do I. The fishing is BWO’s and Blackflies with fish feeding all day on the surface. If you don’t get out there you will miss a great day of fishing. You can NOT wade the river during this sluice, so a boat is the way to go. I have three days of floating this water starting today and I can’t wait for my clients to experience this amazing type of fishing. Stay tuned for updated reports.
March 11, 2010
Do you want to test your sight fishing skills going after large trophy class trout? We have the waters that will give you this opportunity. About one hour from our base in Kingsport, Tennessee, in the quiet scenic mountains of southwestern Virginia, are nearly 15 miles of private water on 5 streams. These waters hold some of the biggest, hardest fighting rainbow trout found anywhere. Commonly seen and sometimes hooked in these trophy streams are rainbows upwards of 15lb. Sixteen to twenty inch fish are plentiful and fish in the twenty to twenty-six inch class are caught repeatedly. These fish are in tune with their environment. What makes it better is you don’t have to travel to such out of the ordinary places to fish for them. You will have the opportunity to work streamers, indicator or high stick nymph rigs through the runs, and entice them with dry flies on occasion. Take a trip with our Orvis Endorsed Guide Service for a day of southern private scenery with the opportunity to land the fish of a lifetime. Come give these waters a try, you will be planning your next trip back before you are done with this day.
March 9, 2010
Been on the water with clients the past few days and it has been good, weather and fishing. The Watauga is fishing great on both low water and under generation. The BWO’s are coming off in droves and the feeding frenzy is on. Today was good numbers and some big fish thrown in for good measure. The browns were fighting hard digging deep as you fought back, and the rainbows were up on the surface giving those great tail dances. The South Holston is fishing extremely well while wading and the BWO’s really come off good in the mid afternoons. The weather was nice Sunday while floating the Holston proper for smallies, but the water below the Holston Army Ordinance Plant was still pretty cold, 45 degrees in the mid afternoon. The upper section we float through the Eastman Chemical Company is warm and some nice 4 to 5 pound smallies are being caught. While doing this float you have the chance to catch a 3 to 5 pound trout above the low water dam and then once we slide over the dam the warm water discharges take the river to 60 degrees and the smallies are stacked up in this section.
How are your sight fishing and casting skills for trophy class trout? Want to try you hand at casting to a tight target where rainbows that can go upwards of 15 pounds will only move 6 or 7 inches to take your presentation. We have almost fifteen miles of private waters on five different streams. One of the streams has the second highest biomass on streams in Virginia and another is number five in the state. Some folks who have fished all over the country for trout say this water ranks highly on their list of places they prefer to fish. If you are interested in fishing these waters give me a call and get hooked up with a catch of a lifetime.
The Nolichucky muskies are starting to move around this week. These are some of the greatest freshwater predator fish I have ever chased. They are proving to be a worthy adversary. It is a day of 10 weight fly rods and big flies, but the rewards can be so sweet. This type of fishing requires a different mindset because it can be a day of hard fishing just to see a follow, but those who have the obsession understand. I grew up fishing for these as a teenager on lakes in the northern states, I had a uncle who shared the passion. Keep and eye on this blog for more updates and pictures as we start spending more time hunting these great predators.
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