Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you have a great 2013
Here is the first newsletter for the year, it contains all our trip specials and what shows and fly shops we will be at. Check it out and let us know your thoughts.
As you gather with your family and friends I wish you a joyous holiday season. Thank you for being part of my life and making it so rich and rewarding.
So you want to target big browns with streamers, we can make it happen. It doesn’t matter if you have never thrown big heavy flies on sink tips or sinking lines. I have developed the right rod, reel and line systems that make it possible for everyone to have a chance at one of these big trophy browns that the South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters are known for. Here is a sampling of some of the fish from the past week.
Don’t forget about the Winter Smallie Floats, yes thats right smallies in the dead of winter. A float this past week yielded 30 smallies and some nice rainbows all in the same stretch of water. If you want to try some winter smallies, I am having a introductory price for these new floats, $295 for a trip down this awesome section of river. Here is some of what’s available.
We are launching a new website after the first of the year and are already promoting it on Facebook, click here: East Tennessee on the Fly click on the like button and be sure to send your friends to like it as well.
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.
The lower Watauga Quality Zone float has become home to some big stripers, the fishing is tough as the smaller fish are very weary of these mighty preditors. Today while floating at the start of the ledges, Bill was saying we need a twenty incher today and BAM!!!. As he was working and fighting this rainbow a big hungry striper cm charging after it and was only inches away from attacking when Bill lifted the fish away from him and worked it to the net, It was great fight and Bill and his brother John were very excited. I promised them to put them on my blog with the “Hero Shot”
The past couple of weeks have been a little more technical, so this week lets take a break and have some hero shots from the trips. The trips have been good, doing some early morning floats, putting on at 6:00 am and being done by lunch before the heat sets in, and some have been late evening putting on at 3:00 and floating until dark. The bite is good even in the stained water using the techniques discussed last week. Now for some “grip-n-grin” shots.
Today was a smallie float and used a old/new fly design on the Holston Proper and the smallies were all over it, got a new weapon on the arsenal. Got more smallie trips this week, looking forward to the week.
The rivers of East Tennessee are rocking with great fishing. The South Holston is giving us better float generation schedules and the Sulphurs are hatching all over the river. The Watauga is getting into consistent summer terrestrial beetle and ant patterns. The smallies and carp on the Holston Proper are awesome!!!
Just remember when you come to fish the South Holston during the wade generation schedules on the weekend, be prepared for the big crowds. Here is a shot from the weir area bridge last Friday.
Stay cool this weekend, we are going to have record high temperatures so be safe and drink plenty of fluids while enjoying the outdoors.
The fishing is awesome. The past week has been spent working with and teaching folks some new ways to fish the tailwaters and rivers of East Tennessee. From custom built bamboo to lengthy low line weight all the way to Tenkara rods, the South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters are giving us many options. The Holston Proper is in a post spawn feeding frenzy and the big boys are HUNGRY!!!!.
The sulphurs and blackfly adults are coming off heavy on the South Holston, we are using parachute sulphurs when the hatch is in full swing and when you see the bulging rises add a size 22 Rainbow Warrior hung about ten inches off the bend of the hook. The Watauga has had the cicadas singing their mating song along the river and the browns really seem to like them when they fall out of the trees, a few pig rainbows also wanted to gorge themselves on them as well.
The post-spawn feeding frenzy is in full swing on the Holston Proper. They spent a couple of weeks recuperating and now they are hungry. The bite has been on minnow and crawdad imitating streamers, we are getting them all throughout the water column. Mr. Bill “Nick” Boyd of the “Dubbing Teasers”, you can watch him tie at Troutfest as well as during the Fly Tiers Weekends at Little River Outfitters Fly Shop. Here he is holding is TWRA Angler Recognition 22″ smallmouth bass.
Nick said the big ones are nice, but it doesn’t matter the size its the tug that matters. The other member of the “Dubbing Teasers” that was along on the trip, Wendy, was enjoying fishing with her Walter Babb custom built bamboo rod as well as what she called “Tourist Mode”
Tourist Mode
Be sure to tune in again when we will be covering some leader techniques and fly selections for Tenkara fishing in East Tennessee.
The past week has been a bunch of smallie and trout doubles for my clients. The trout on the Watauga have been on fire for zebra midges most of the day. Jim and Susan were constantly hooking up on doubles as the fished the Upper Watauga near Wilbur Dam and Bee Cliff Cabins. Casting accuracy was needed as we work the midges in tight places to get the bite, their patience and excellent casting skills helped them throughout the day.
Then it was on to smallmouth bass on the Holston Proper and they excelled at teasing those stubborn smallies into biting in some tight cover. The barometric pressure was all over the map that day making the fish very lethargic, but their ability to hit small targets and making their flies look so life like helped them get the bigger smallies to bite. The Double G was the best topwater fly and the Tequeelly was the best streamer for the day.
A father and daughter duo from Cincinnati, Ohio had another great day on the Holston Proper. They had never fly fished for smallmouth bass or thrown streamers and big popper flies, so we had a little casting lesson first thing that morning and then off to fishing. Hillary picked up on how to fish for them quickly. She really got a nice smallie as her first about a hour into the float. After landing this hard fighting smallie she said, “this is absolutely awesome and I will be back to do this again SOON”. She became very good at sight fishing, seeing the bass in the shallows and casting her fly to the best spot and enticing the bass to eat. Dad was just happy to clean up any fish that she left in the spots.
Well this coming weekend is Troutfest. I will be in the Temple Fork Outfitters booth with my good friends, Rick Pope, Bob Clouser and Lefty Kreh. Be sure to stop by and register for a float trip with me. There will be an old wicker creel with sign up slips on one of the tables in the booth. Hope to see you there.
