Just got back from an informational luncheon at Bristol Motor Speedway about their Thunder Valley Fly & Wine Festival. With Troutfest not taking place this year, why not come up to Bristol Motor Speedway on May 3rd and 4th, 2013 to support a great organization, Speedway Childrens Charities. There will be great fly fishing personalities, seminars on casting, tying, and lots of other great information to help you in your fishing journey. Check out the link to the official website and keep checking back as the information grows.
I will be perticipating in this event and hope to see you there in support of Speedway Childrens Charities.
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.
That was the question one of my clients asked the other day, I answered “MIDGES”. When you see those little specks of dust with wings then you know its time to break out that special fly box that only measures about three inches by 4 inches and with the center leaf in it, holds over 400 flies. Thats right it’s that time of year here on the South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters where we get serious with small bugs. We usually do a double nymph rig under a strike indicator during these midging trips, but the rewards are great. This year we have started using a new strike indicator that was developed by a fellow guide and it is called the “New Zealand Strike Indicator System” and you can find more info at www.strikeindicator.com
Here is a picture on how this simple system works, it lands softly when casting to those spooky fish and is extremely sensitive to the slightest touch from the trout. As they say in one of the famous marketing slogans “Try it you will like it”. If you local fly shop doesn’t carry them ask them to get them.
Here are the midges we have been having good success with during the midging trips this fall. Get out those 3x cheaters and yes that 7x tippett.
Hope you are enjoying a great day and you are getting to wet a line. Be sure to support your local fly shop and with the holiday’s just around the corner be sure to stop by the fly shop and pick up a gift certificate for that outdoors person this year.
The Fall fishing season is upon us, we are seeing lots of Blue Wing Olives on both the Watauga Tailwater near Elizabethton Tennessee as well as the South Holston Tailwater near Bristol Tennessee. The Watauga Tailwater is also having awesome Cranefly and Caddis hatches during the day. We have been fishing the past week with nothing but dry flies and having a ball. The fish give us all kinds of rises to the dries, from explosive hit and run to gentle sipping “where did my fly go” takes. The folks are loving fishing dry flies all day.
Here are a few of the happy folks from the past couple of weeks.
Doubles on dries!!
look at the tail on this one
A father and son fishing/golf trip, Rich’s first trout on the fly rod, way to go!!
Day two, another good dry fly fish for Dad!!
We can’t forget about the smallmouth and largemouth bass on the Holston Proper
the Todds Wiggle Minnow getting it done!!
The time is now to start thinking about booking your trips as we begin the “Hunt for Troutsquatch” on our Fall and Winter streamer trips, I am already booking dates in November and December for these memory filled trips. Give me a call and get yours booked.
We are also blesses with wintertime smallmouth bass fishing, nothing like catching trophy smallmouth bass in the dead of winter. Give me a call to get the lowdown on this great winter fishery.
What a great weekend guiding the Saluda River Trout Unlimited group from Columbia, South Carolina. We did smallies on the Holston Proper, and trout on the Watauga and South Holston. The fishing was good and the company was great. The TVA made it challenging to get our floats in but we worked around the generation schedules and got in the trips. The weather was great except for right at the end of the day on Saturday, we had to take refuge in a riverside shelter in the Cedar Rapids area while it rained cats and dogs. I think I pumped nearly 4 inches of water out of the boat before rowing out in the dark. Here are some pictures from this great weekend.
Mark your calendars for October 8th and come see me give a presentation to the Saluda River TU group. I will be speaking about how to be more successful on the South Holston, Watauga and Holston Proper rivers when you come to visit out great fishing destination.
I received the new rod last week and after some lawn casting to get the level lines and leaders figured out it was off on it’s first guided Tenkara trip. The trip was with Mr. Steve Hanna and he is wanting to learn all he can about Tenkara style fishing. He has studied and read all available material and now it was time to put some rods in his hand and go fishing.
We tested several rod manufacturers against each other and came up with a couple that Steve really liked. He has spent some time with a western style rod in his hand so doing a rod review was good for him. Here is a video of the new Temple Fork Outfitters Soft Hackle Tenkara rod that was introduced at the IFTD Show in Reno, Nevada last week.
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.
I am starting a new series of information to assist you in becoming a better fly fisher person. This will be an interactive series where I want you to post questions or comments to my blogs. I hope that this will help you in your fly fishing journey.
As we progress into the summer fishing season and the tailwater trout waters get low and clear, you need to think about the newer styles of longer rods. These new design longer rods will assist you in getting better distance on your cast, give you more of a lever to make longer mends of the fly line as you have to fish further away from the rising fish. Yes you do need another arrow in the quiver, you just can’t fish all situations with one rod. Something to think about is that in your daily job you have many tools available for you to use throughout the day to be most efficient at your tasks. Why not have several rods to help you in your fishing tasks.
Yes I am a guide and I have many rods in my arsenal, my wife always asks do you need another one? When you wade or float with me I have many different types of rods ready for all the fishing situations that arise during the day. It all goes back to the Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared”
There are the ten (10) foot 3 weight rods that are great for delicate dry fly presentations with longer than standard leaders. These rods also do well with swinging soft hackle flies to picky fish. We also use them on our multiple micro nymph rigs, nymphs in the size 18 to 28 ranges. The ten foot 4 weights will also do the same fly set-ups along with throwing some smaller streamers in size 6 to 10. The ten foot 5 weight rods can also do the same fly set-ups as the 3 and 4 weights but the better backbone in these rods have made them excellent for the deep nymphing high sticking method used in many rivers and streams all over the world. In many books, magazine articles and other publications it is called Euro Nymphing, Czech Nymphing, French Nymphing, and Spanish Nymphing. When I was taught to fly fish many years ago it was just called ‘high sticking”. There will be more about the rigging and methods of fishing of these rods in upcoming articles.
So take a look at what Temple Fork Outfitters has to offer, there is the 8 foot 3 weight with the conversion kit that will give you two rods at a 30% cost savings. There are the 10 foot 4 and 5 weight BVK rods that have all the lightweight technology. The 10 foot 5 weight Professional is a the workhorse rod in my quiver.
Just some thoughts to ponder as you look to make yourself a better fly fisherman.
Now for a fishing report. The South Holston is slowing down with generation this week, so it will be wade friendly this week. The Watauga will be doing its normal summertime releases so the morning are good for wading up high and then you will move to lower sections for the afternoon. We are seeing Sulphurs on both tailwaters along with a decent beetle bite.
The smallmouth are feeding good all day and poppers seem to be the fly of choice.
Booking Randy Ratliff for
Fly Fishing Speaking, Power Point Presentations & Demonstration Seminars
I’m available for program presentations as well as hosting fly-fishing events/shows. I conduct hands on clinics such as fly tying, casting, and fly-fishing demonstrations. I also have slide show presentations covering various topics related to trout and smallmouth bass fishing. Costs are subject to the length of the program you wish me to attend, the actual classes/clinics within your program, and travel costs. Contact me for availability.
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.
