The South Holston is starting to heat up. Sulphurs are definitely on the menu, especially in the afternoon. The hatches are varied in intesity, but the fish are looking up for them. The river seems like it could blow up any day now. The morning nymph bite has been good, with fish eating a variety of flies. With June right around the corner expect some high water, but for now low water has been the story.
Stream Reports
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - 11:40am
The Watauga has been fishing very well lately. Because of that i've been spending most of my time there. The quality of the fish is amazing. The fish are fat, fiesty, and pull like crazy. The primary bite has been on nymphs, but dries and streamers all also putting fish in the boat. The sulphurs are rapidly declining, but small caddis and baetis are taking over. A little more rain and some cooler temps would probably do it some good.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - 10:50pm
The Watauga is finally at fishable flows and the weather has been very kind. The caddis bite is over, but the fishing hasn't slowed down. Sulphurs, BWO, and some small black and tan caddis have been active most days. The nymph bite has been great and if you catch it right some dry fly stuff too. The surface bite should improve over the next couple weeks. If we keep getting good weather, it's a great time to be on the water.
Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 1:10pm
Mother Nature and TVA finally let us have a little fun on the Watagua Saturday April 18. The break in the rain and lower flows coming from the dam made for our first real Mother's day Caddis fishing of the year. The bugs are out in force and should only pick up for the next week or so. The nymph bite has been fantastic, with hard fighting rainbows testing my clients and tippet to the limits. Fast water and fat fish make for some rod ripping fun. With any luck we will be able to finish out...
Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 12:43pm
Mother Nature has been doing her best to make it difficult to be a guide this April. We've been getting it done though despite her best efforts. To compound the issues all the dams in our home waters seem to be having issues, so it been adding to the variables. The South Holston has been our saving grace and keeping us fishing. The high water bite has been decent, but not great. The good news is the fish are starting to look up and dry flies are putting fish in the net. Low water on...
Monday, April 6, 2015 - 1:57pm
Sunday April 5 was a beautiful spring day, another great day to be on the water. I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but the Watauga is fishing very well right now. If you enjoy nymphing it's the place to be. Even when there are solid hatchs the surface activity is minimal at best. The underwater game right now is lights out though. More bugs today than on Saturday. A nice BWO hatch mid afternoon, made good fishing even better for a few hours. Still no Mother's day...
Monday, April 6, 2015 - 1:37pm
Friday night rain had the water up and a little colored on Saturday April 4. It didn't seem to bother the fish though. It did however impact the hatch activity, but the bite was still solid. The fish are fired up and hard fighting so don't be surprised if you get worked by a few.(Right Bob?) Pretty much the best fishing of the year right now, if you're not on the water you should be. Oh yeah, still no Mother's day Caddis.
Monday, April 6, 2015 - 1:28pm
Spent Friday April 3 on the Trophy section of the Watauga River. It was a damp and cool day, the perfect spring fly fishing day. The morning bite was slower, but still productive. Early afternoon into evening was lights out. The baetis, little tan caddis, and a few hendrickson start moving and get the fish going. The quality of fish seems to get better everyday. Still catching lots of solid rainbows with a few solid browns thrown in. Still no Mother's day Caddis. I've opened a few...
Friday, April 3, 2015 - 12:13am
The Watauga is still fishing well, even after the drastic change in water volume. Going from 700cfs to 140cfs has changed the feel of the river dramatically. The 140cfs flow is little lower than the normal flow and feels pretty skinny. The bug activity took a little hit as well, there was a noticable decline in hatch activity. That doesn't mean the fishing is bad, just different. The CFS has been bumped to 200ish, which is a litttle more in line with the normal minimum flow. Variety is...
Monday, March 30, 2015 - 4:52pm
Sunday was a much more pleasant day to be on the water. The higher air temps improved the bite considerably. If getting ripped on by 14-16 inch rainbows in fast water is your thing, the Watauga River is hard to beat. Things are just getting rolling in the Trophy Section. As the weather steadily improves so will the bite.