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October 23, 2012
until the snow is flying. The browns on the Watauga and South Holston are making redds and beginning their spawning ritual. The colors on the browns have been spectacular this year.
Soon it will be time for our Winter Float Trip Specials and you can go sling some streamers for the big trophy trout these tow tailwaters are noted for. Keep an eye on this blog for the Winter Trip Special pricing announcement.
Mark your calendars for November 3rd and 4th, 2012 and be sure to attend the WNC Fly Fishing Expo at the Ag Center in Asheville, NC. It is located across the street from the Asheville Airport. If you want to learn more about Tenkara casting and fishing techniques then be sure to come to the show. I will be giving casting and fishing technique demos on the casting pond throughout the weekend. When I am note giving casting demos, look for me in the A & S Outfitters Fly Shop booth, you may also find me in the TFO, Chota and Flymen Fishing Company booths as well. I hope to see you there.
October 24, 2011
Well the fall colors are absolutely spectacular this year. The rain systems we have been getting are hleping with river flows but they add the needed moisture to make for great colors as the leaves change. We are seeing lots of great colors in the rainbows and browns we are catching as they get fired up for the spawning season so upon us.
 
The South Holston is seeing a good migration of the browns moving to the spawning zones and they are feeding heavily as they travel. The colors on these fish are amazing. They are deep nymphing techniques are working very well in the deep seams, some of the better fish came on “big uglies” this past week. The sulphurs are still coming off sporadically, but the BWO’s are now becoming the predominant hatch.
 
The Watauga is fishing varied throughout the week. Some days the upper section is the best and then the Quality Zone is the best on others. The Craneflies, BWO’s and cream Midges are the main hatches each day. Long leaders in the 6x and 7x sizes are what it is taking to get these spooky fish to bite. But if you get it right there are plenty of nice fish to catch as Mr. Noah can attest to. He caught is personal best brown and rainbow on a recent trip with his dad. He has turned into quite a fisherman and just enjoys the days on the water with his dad.
The Holston Proper is slowing down on the bite with all these cold fronts coming through, but if we get several nice 70 degree days the bite gets active again. On the most recent trip we were getting them on small white streamers representing all the minnows in the waters. You had to work it slow and get it down to the mid levels of the water column but the rewards were great.
We will have a booth at the upcoming WNC Fly Fishing Expo in Asheville North Carolina on November 5th and 6th. Be sure to mark you calendars and stop by to see us. For more info and directions go here WNC Expo
Give us a call or email to get your fall fishing trip in before its to late.
November 8, 2010
It was a good week of fishing finished off by the WNC Fly Fishing Expo in Asheville, North Carolina. Did some smallie fishing on Monday and Tuesday and trout fishing the rest of the time. The smallies were being picky but we quickly zeroed in on what they needed. The trout on the Watauga are being spotty but fish are being caught on BWO and Cranfly imitations.
The Thanksgiving holiday will soon be upon us and I am looking forward to spending time with my family. Now is the time to think about gift certificates for those who love to fish or are thinking of fishing. We have all levels of gift certificates available.
On December 4th and 11th I will be doing fly tying demos at the Fly Shop of Tennessee at 102 Wilmary Road in Johnson City. I will be tying some of the tailwater specials I use in my guiding on the South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters.
 
 
October 12, 2010
Fall is in the air and the leaves are revving up their brilliant colors. We are seeing yellows and crimson reds this week. The fishing has been up and down dependent upon the weather fronts coming through the area. The Watauga and South Holston seem better in the mornings before the sun gets high in the sky. The Holston for smallies is the opposite, it needs the high sun to heat the water and the action is good in the afternoon.
I introduced some new fly fisher persons to their first trout and also spent some time with longtime clients. Here are some samples from the week.
 
 
 
 
October 2, 2010
September 19, 2010
This was a week of trips on the Watauga Tailwater near Elizabethton, Tennessee. The Watauga has really turned around with the cooler temperatures as Fall approaches. We saw cranflies, cream and grey midges, blue wing olives, and some caddis. The fish were flashing and feeding about two to three feet down and with the clear water the clients could see them go after their presentations. There was nothing of trophy size caught, but the numbers were exceptional for each day. Had brothers Chris and Doug from Louisville, Kentucky and they had plenty of double hookups throughout the day. One pocket was holding plenty of fish and Chris got a double hookup as Doug got a single, made for a cool picture.
 
 
I had one day with some good clients and friends, Tim and his son Noah from Raleigh, North Carolina. Noah is an exceptional young man with some serious health risks but truly enjoys spending a day with his Dad fishing for trout. The day was one that will hold a great memory for the both of them. Noah landed so many fish and seeing that big smile on his face each time the fish came to the net makes you realize what the day is all about.
 
 
The upcoming week will be spent on the trophy waters in Southwest Virginia. Be sure to check back and see all the “PIGS” that will be brought to the custom built “Nes’s Net’s”. The trips are booking fast for these trophy trout trips so be sure to give me a call or an email to get your trip scheduled on these excellent waters.
July 15, 2010
Today was a different kind of day on one of East Tennessee’s best warmwater rivers, the Pigeon River. The clients caught some nice walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, and lots of redbreast sunfish. It was a bluebird sky kind of day and the river was stained from the recent rains, but the fishing was excellent. The walleye were firsts for Paul and John, a couple of cousins from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. It was great to be able to talk about home, as this is where my Mothers side of the family is from, and where I spent my summers helping the family with the tobacco farms. It was hard work but there are many memories to go along with it.
Back to fishing, here is a pictorial on some of the catches from today.
If you are vacationing near Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, or Sevierville, give me a call and get yourself booked on a float down the wonderful Pigeon River.
July 6, 2010
What a great 4th of July, celebrating our countries birth and having great trips with clients. The weekend started with Sam and Kathy C. on a Watauga float through the Quality Zone. The fishing was great on the usual Watauga Tailwater summertime patterns, nymphs until you could see the noses as they fed on sulphurs and sweat bee dries.
Then it was two great gentleman who were childhood friends taking another memory filled fishing trip. Buzz and Gren talked about the old days as they fished and had a great time fighting those Watauga Tailwater attitude filled bows.
Sunday July 4th was Scott and Sarah B. from Atlanta, GA. It was Sarah’s first trout fishing trip and she worked hard at getting the cast down and was rewarded with many bites on her presentations. It was truly enjoyable to watch Sarah become a great fly fisher person as the day progressed. The folks on the “Hooch” better watch out.
Then it was back with Sam and Kathy from Richmond, Va on Monday. We fished the South Holston near Bluff City to start the morning off and it was a spectacular day for them on the South Holston Tailwater. We put the wooden driftboat in the water and rowed to the proper spot and in the first ten casts, landed six beautiful South Holston brown trout. The sulphur hatch during the afternoon generation was like a blanket on the water. Watching those fish splashing and slashing going after all those bugs was nothing shoer of amazing. We finished the day with a flurry of better than average browns on dries.
Then it was on to the Holston Proper for some smallie action with a gentleman who had never caught a smallmouth bass. The weather was hot and the fish were everywhere. Working with his cast with the heavier weight rods only took a few minute to get him into the rhythm then it was lets catch some fish. He talked about the hard fight the smallies put up and from the many deep bends in the rod today he got more than his share of the excellent fighting ability of the Holston Proper smallies.
I hope everyone had a great 4th and is staying cool in the summertime heat. Its a couple of days off and time for some driftboat trailer maintenance and then back on the water for a good set of trips for trout and smallies.
May 12, 2010
Here is a sample of the great fishing the clients are having this week. Some pigs on the trophy private water, sulphurs coming off yesterday afternoon on the Watauga Tailwater, and today off to fish for some Holston Proper smallies.
 
 
January 21, 2010
Well my good friend and fellow guide, Patrick Fulkrod and I took his new drfitboat down the South Holston. It was cold and rainy but that didn’t seem to bother the fish, they were already wet. We put in at the weir boat ramp just outside of Bristol, Tennessee and were going to spend the day floating all the way to the ramp on Rockhold Road near Bluff City. That is a good all day float on some very productive waters. We started off deep nymphing and tossing bunny streamers. It was kind of slow until we got between the power lines, fish taking BWO nymphs in the slack pools along the edges. We were getting some good follows on streamers but nobody really committing to the bite. We came the first closed spawning section and put the rods down. As we floated towards Hickory Tree Bridge it started to rain harder. We pulled in under the bridge to get dry and have a little soup to warm us up. The rain slacked off so we started to float again just using streamers, Matt yells fish on and a nice butter belly brown comes to the net. We tried some more deep nymphing for the next couple runs, but no luck so we figured it would be streamers the rest of the way. All through Cedar Rapids and down through Big Springs Road it was fish after fish chasing streamers, way cool. When we came to the slow pool on the lower end of Big Springs Road near the house on the island at Webb Bridge we started seeing rising fish to the BWO’s that were coming off. Tying on a small parachute emerger then doing an air mend to get it to land right in the sweet spot was the ticket. A nice rainbow crushed the fly. After floating through the second closed spawning section at Weaver Pike Bridge we went back to the streamers with success the rest of the way. As we came to the Rockhold area, the Tennessee Tech University fisheries biologist were shocking the river doing a study. We spoke for a few minutes and they told us they shocked up a couple of nice fish earlier that morning. It was a cold wet day with some friends and nice fish to boot. Ready to go again.
 
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