20 Hour Day - The South Holston

A trip to the SoHo we had planned for so long
Waking up at the butt-crack of dawn
Cruising to Bristol at eighty-fo in the Pilot
The Gubna and Doc, planning a riot
Arrived at the river not a moment to spare
Dog doo on Doc's shoe, but I don't care
Wading the SoHo, sulphers abound
But just one small brown on Doc's hook could be found
Meet up with Clint, he'll be our Guide
Get in the boat for the float in a Hyde
Started out slow, but fish are everywhere
Small ones, big-uns, pigs here and there
Chuckin dries, with a midge on the back
Can't get these fish to frickin attack
Finally.... the perfect cast and drift
See him come up, moving so swift
Got him to net, a beautiful brown
Yellin so loud, like a red-neck clown
On down the river, I landed another
Mr. Brown's cousin, or maybe his brother
That makes two, but it's been a struggle
Doc's line goes tight, and after a tuggle
Another colorful brown, safely to net
The fish of the day, the best one yet
The sun has now set on our day on the river
Could have been worse, but could have been better
A long ride home with blood shot eyes
Talking and planning, this river deserves many more tries
We'll be back, to the SoHo again
Doc and Gubna, let the adventure begin!

 Click here for more pics:

Too Warm on the HI

Went to the Hiwassee River for a couple of hours tonight with Streamer Rob.  We were hoping to catch the hatch at 7:00 p.m. when they turn the water off.  I got there about 20 minutes early and landed a small brown on a lightening midge.  It was a wild brown, which is somewhat unusual for the HI.  The water dropped and Streamer Rob joined me on the river.  The water temp seemed very high; I would guess above 65 degrees.  The fish were rising for a few minutes when the water turned off, but then they hunkered down.  I ended up with 2 browns and 2 bows, but they were all lethargic, small, and thin.  This doesn't bode well for the HI this summer.  We'll see how the DH does this Fall.

Big Creek

I decided to take my 2 year old son on a hike on Saturday.  I've been wanting to explore Big Creek, located in the Big Frog Wilderness Area, for quite some time, so we packed up the backpack, and just in case, I threw my rod and reel in the car.  It took us quite a bit of time traveling on a forest service road to find our destination, but we eventually started hiking upstream on a forest service trail.  We hiked for about 2 miles and the creek was suddenly undeserving of its name.   Nevertheless,  I rigged up a very large stimulator, and with my son on my back, creeped to a small pool.  I couldn't cast - the conditions were too tight.  I used the bow and arrow method and right when the fly hit the water, something came out of the water.  It wasn't big, but it was definitely a trout.  A few more attempts and I got one to take.  One fish was enough for me, so after some more exploring, we hiked back to the car and drove home.  It's not often that catching one fish will make for a good trip, but this is a trip I'll never forget! 

Don't leave me Hi; don't leave me Dry

I was able to make a quick trip to the HI after work on Friday.  I knew they were running one generator every couple of hours, so wading would be perfect.  My goal was to catch the sulfur hatch in the evening.  This was a last-minute trip, so I wasn't very prepared and didn't have a lot of time.  I started at a spot where I usually finish: on the road side of snake island.  On the way towards Snake Island, I saw fish feeding on the surface.  I had an old Cherokee Leader on my 5 weight, so I grabbed the biggest dry fly in my box, and started chuckin.  The fish were hitting it with abandon.  I tried a dropper when the fish stopped feeding, but after snagging a fish, I ditched the dropper, and tied on another gigantic dry fly, the name of which I do not know.  I caught about a dozen in the first hour, and then made my way over to the run above snake island.  I tied on a wet Ted's Stone Fly, and caught one, but the fishing went cold.  I worked my way up river, and then the water came up.  I waded up to a large pool and tied on the largest streamer I could find.  I fished for about an hour using a couple of different streamers, but except for missing a few fish, I didn't catch anything else. The water came down after an hour and I worked my way back downstream hoping for the evening sulphur hatch.  Much to my disappointment, I saw only a couple of sulphurs.  There were, however, quite a few bwos and what appeared to be cahills.  I tried both flies, but didn't have any luck.  I also tried sulphurs without success. A pheasant tail nymph caught a couple of more fish for me, but it was otherwise slow.  The real hatch was extremely small midges; probably size 30-32.  Interestingly, the fish really weren't feeding after 6 p.m..  I ended the day with about 15 to hand, but all of the fish were SNITs except one that was close to 12 inches, and all rainbows.  I must admit, it was a little disappointing except for the first hour where they were hitting the dry flies.  I'm still waiting for the time when the HI will once again produce more quality fish.

The Big Easy at the Nationals

I was out of town during the national fly fishing competition in North Carolina, but Brown Trout Zilen a/k/a The Big Easy went and served as a Judge during the event.  Here is a short summary of his report:  As expected, the competitors used long fly rods, long leaders, and homemade competition flies of small size and weighted.  The technique of choice was the euro high sticking method.  The fly line very rarely touched the water.  The leaders were often of different high visibility colors, which apparently served as a strike indicator.  The zones for fishing were extremely small.  Brown Trout Zilen is a dry fly master, but I have a feeling I may see him dredging streams and rivers with nymphs and long leaders in the future.  I wish I could have gone - sounds like a great learning experience.

Against the wind. We were casting against the wind.

April 15, 2011, 20-40 mph winds, and a float trip on the HI.  Not a lot of fish, but a good time with Streamer Rob and Doc.  The following photographs show the best techniques for fishing in such conditions (click photographs to get a better image of shooting fly line/crazy loop):