Smoky Mountain Flyfishing Reports And East Tennessee Tailwaters

Scott Ard and I spent the day on the Watauga River. He had come up from near Livingston, La. and the Watauga River was the only fishable water to be had on this day. It has been producing very well , but a frontal system was moving through and the wind was blowing strong. It made fishing real difficult and casting was a nightmare. Scott gave it a real good Cajun try, but we only were able to get 2-3 fish to take all day long. We really enjoyed our selves and we worked a lot of skills at 3 different locations on the river. We talked to a number of people and it seemed that no one was catching any fish. I think we got Scott's skill level down enough to allow him to go to other streams and fish on his own when he is back in the mountains. I hope he can be back in the Smokies again real soon.

Hugh

Johnny Ladner is a Police Officer from Mobile Alabama. Today was a beautiful day and we found the Watauga River running normal. We made our way up to the Park in the center of Elizabethton, and with a little instruction, Johnny was catching some beautiful fish to add to the beauty of the day. Most of Johnny's experience with a rod had been on salt water, but we turned some of that experience into practical purposes to catch some very nice rainbows. Look at the vivid colors on some of these fish and try to think of anything more beautiful.

Hugh

Jim Davis and I spent some time on the Holston River this afternoon and I wanted to see if the water temperatures are dropping any. They have gone down about 3 degrees and the water seemed to be a little more comfortable to the fish. There has been a new stocking of small rainbows recently and we caught several very nice fish as well. The lake seems to be turning over some now and the temperatures should continue to drop. A good hatch of Caddis and Creme Midges was taking place while we were there so the fish were feeding well on top.

If I can help with a guided trip, just call 423- 586- 6198 or email us here.

I met with Steve and Trey early yesterday morning at the Sycamore Shoals State Park and we made our way to the Hunters Bridge section of the Watauga River. The river is still running a little high from recent rains. We worked on casting and mending skills for a while and then both guys began fishing in earnest. The wind was blowing hard and the first results were meager. We moved to a different area of the river and the fishing picked up a little for Trey. He had a tandem rig of BHPTN and Split Case PMDs. Steve had some strikes here but he did not connect. Both guys were beginning to get their casting techniques smoothed out a little better by now. We had lunch and moved to the South Holston River to try to catch the water as it was dropping from a few hours of generation. The fish were really feeding here and both fellas were into fish right away. We paired up the Tan Wulff and the Stripper Midge for pretty good results. The Sulfurs were hatching pretty good, and as the evening moved on, the Stripper Midge became the fly of choice. There was one time that the guys had a double going and Trey actually had two fish on at one time. One on the dry and one on the dropper. It was a great evening watching both Steve, and Trey take on the fish of the South Holston River during a hatch. I really enjoyed my day with them and I'm hoping they can come back later and fish the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam with me. Maybe they can talk Steve Yates into coming with them. I'm looking forward to meeting him and watch him fish. I believe we would all have a great time.

The Sulfurs are still hatching very well and if we can help with a guided trip to either of these rivers, please call us at 423-586-6198.

Hugh

Yesterday morning I did a wade trip to the South Holston River and the first area that I fished was the TVA section at the end of the Cul De Sac. The fish were feeding there in the early morning on dries and the fly of choice was the Tan Wulff. The next section that I fished was on Big Springs Road. I caught quite a few fish here and the fly that they wanted was the Split Case PMD Nymph. I drove up to the South Holston River Flyshop and my good friend Rod Champion wanted to float the section down to Hickory Tree Bridge. He had just gotten a new Hog Island Drift Boat and I sure was eager to take a ride in it. We did not get very far down the river until I had a take on a Tan Wulff and I broke it off. I did this 9 more times throughout the afternoon and I only caught a couple of fish. There's no denying that I felt badly. Rod connected with a few and the day ended at Jack Prater's house with a lot of good conversation. It had been a great day on the river and my thanks to Rod for his generosity for the trip. He has a great new boat and you should go by and see it, You'll want to take a trip.

Hugh

Kyle Davis is from Macon Georgia. This is his second trip with me this year. Our first one was a mountain stream trip and today, we tried out the South Holston River to give him some experience at Tailwater fishing. The Sulfurs were hatching some when we got into the river and we were into fish pretty quickly. The dry fly that worked was a Tan Wulff. The nymph that worked was a Split Case PMD. Kyle caught and released fish all afternoon. The best part was watching him master the art of casting and mending. This was the major reason that he was able to catch so many fish. I believe he has the affliction completely now and I'm sure I will run into him on the stream again.

Hugh

Today, I took a young man who has just finished getting a degree from the University of Tennessee to the Watauga River. His name is Albin Kowalewski, and he is from Maryland. He had just a little experience with a flyrod before we met ,so I began working with him on his casting and mending skills at Hunters Bridge. He took a few small fish from this area on dry flies and we moved to the Ball Park in the center of town. This area proved not to be productive and we moved to Blevins Campground. Upstream from the launch ramp is a section that does not get fished as much and we tied on a tandem nymph rig. Albin caught several fish by this method and we then moved farther down river. Take a look at the last 6 pictures and you will see him battling the largest brown trout that I have ever seen hooked in the Watauga. As soon as Albin hooked the fish it was all over the river, but he managed to keep it in check. The big brown decided to go down river and Albin had to start chasing it. The fish ran all the way to the end of the long run that it lived in and decided to stop just before going over a very fast, long set of shoals. The battle went on for quite a while and I was sure that he was going to be able to land the fish. It had begun to lay on the bottom and just bulldog it out with his quarry. You can see how close he had the fish, and yet, it was just not to be. One last quick spurt of energy caused the leader to fail and the beautiful fish was gone. The fish was hooked on a Split Case PMD Nymph. He will be there for another day. Hats off to a 20inch plus fish.

Hugh

Two gentleman spent a day each on the mountain streams and then the tailwaters. The weather left a lot to be desired , but they worked very hard to learn casting and mending skills and I'm sure they were very tired after the two days were over. The mountain streams had receded back to a good level from being very high just a few days before. They managed to catch a few small fish here and enjoy the beauty of the Smokies as well. We then moved to the Tailwaters the next day and it was a tough day, weather wise. Both fellas put their hearts into doing something that was totally new to them. The rewards were slim, but the time spent together was great. I think they are prepared to get back on the stream at sometime in the future and put those newfound skills to work. I hope they enjoyed the trip as much as I did and maybe we will see each other on the stream again sometime soon.

Hugh

There are some sections on the South Holston River that are natural spawning areas for the brown trout. They are so successful in these areas that there are many hundreds of fish in just a few hundred yard stretch. Today I fished one of these stretches and I only caught brown trout, not one single rainbow. They were feeding like crazy and the Blue Winged Olive was the fly of choice. I tied on a Matched Winged BWO and I caught one brown after another. It appeared that the best fish of the day was about 14inches.. I could have caught fish for another two hours , but I thought it was best to give them a rest and let someone else have a good day. If you would like to fish an area like this, please call 423- 586- 6198.

Hugh

Jim Davis and I went to the South Holston River early Saturday Morning to hone our skills and to help Jim learn about fishing this technical water at a very tough time of the year. This trip found us about 1/2 mile below the Weir Dam and the fish were feeding just after the sun came up with a frenzy. We both used Tan Wulffs as our top fly and I used a Stripper Midge for a dropper underneath the Wulff. Jim used a Blackfly as his dropper. The fish really seemed to like the Stripper Midge and I caught many fish on it during the morning. My best fish was an 18inch rainbow and I missed a hookset on a very nice brown that looked like it could go about 20 inches. Jim caught several fish on the Blackfly and we later broke for lunch at Webb's Store. We had a great morning and after lunch it proved to be a tougher day. We caught a few more fish and called it an evening. It had been a very enjoyable one and Jim had learned a lot about fishing the South Holston River. I always have fun when Jim and I get together and today was no exception. He is a great friend and I always enjoy being with him.

If I can help you with a guided trip to this fine river, please contact me at 423- 586- 6198.
Hugh

James Sheaf has recently moved to Morristown from Wisconsin. He has been a flyfisherman for quite a few years and wanted to experience some brookie fishing in the GSMNP. We met at my house and made our way to the Cosby section of the Park and began to fish at the junctions of two streams just below the Campground. James began to get strikes pretty quickly and we fished along this section for awhile until the stream got pretty tight. We began to drive toward Gatlinburg to try the waters of Walker Camp Prong. I wanted to show James as many of the Brookie Streams as I could and I pointed out some small ones on the road over to the next entrance to the Park. We made our way up the mountain and found the area around the Chimneys Trailhead too congested to fish. We drove on higher up the mountain until we were almost up to the Alum Cave Bluffs Trail. After fishing for 2 or more hours and only catching rainbows, we drove back towards Greenbriar and found a place to have lunch. After having a great meal, we drove up the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River and turned up the Ramsey Prong. We fished in a couple of different stretches with James catching fish and missing some as well. It was a lesson all in itself for him to just experience the ruggedness and the beauty of this area of the Park. We were both tired at about 5:00 PM and we left for a visit to Carvers Orchard. This was an experience that was almost as good as the fishing. We looked at all the produce and other things that are to be had for your pleasure and left with a nice cone of ice cream to enjoy as we went down the road. It had been a great day of fishing and just enjoying the time of the year.

Hugh

The time of the year has come to switch to the South Holston and Watauga rivers and to give the Holston River a rest until the water temperatures become more comfortable for the fish to survive. I have made several trips to the South Holston River in the last week with a couple of friends. I have been checking out the insects and many different sections of the river to see how to best provide great fishing experiences for my clients this Fall and winter. All of these trips have found the fish feeding on small midges and they were quiet skittish. It seems that heavy generation schedules have chilled the water temperatures and early morning trips have not been as productive as mid morning or later in the day. If we can help you with a guided trip to either of these fine rivers or to a trip in the GSMNP, please contact us here.

Hugh

I met with Rick Parris, from Anniston Alabama yesterday. Rick is an actual real bearded Santa Claus in real life and he does lots of picture settings for children and parents at several locations during the season. He is a retired Highway Patrolman with a vast amount of experience with people during his lifetime. He wanted to learn about flyfishing as a true retirement time sport so we spent awhile working on casting and mending skills and then we hit the stream in pursuit of the wary trout. We found some fish feeding in the Elkmont area but they were pretty smart as I had told him that they would be. We watched some real nice fish and later tried another stream. We gave Rick a lot of coaching and stream side experience during the day. I hope that he gets back to some moving water real soon to practice his skills. I wish him a good Santa season and I hope to see him again real soon.

Hugh

Chad and Tiffany Tigert are from Winston Salem, N.C. Tiffany's father is from Onieda, Tn. They wanted to learn the art of flyfishing and we all worked hard at it. The water had warmed in the river since I was there just a few days ago. It seemed to affect the insect hatches and the fish did very little feeding. Never the less, they caught some fish and missed several strikes. I was very pleased with the way that they progressed. I was particularly happy with Tiffany's casting abilities by the end of the day. I hope they are able to get out on the river frequently since they now have these new skills. I want to thank them for allowing me to guide them today.

Hugh

Raymond Brown is from Calhoun, Ga. He is the epitome of what every flyfisherman would like to be as they approach maturity. We all want to be able to get around on the stream when we are 80 years of age. Raymond is 78 and he can get around better than I can. A lot of his fishing experience has been on float trips on western rivers so we started at the Elkmont Campgrounds and worked on different types of presentations with a dryfly and nymph dropper. The water was still a little high ,but we caught fish and later had a fabulous lunch at the Little River Tubers Restaurant. The Bar-b- Q was great and the blackberry cobbler with ice cream was fantastic. We then drove to the West Prong of Little River and Raymond had lot of fish to take his fly. Sometimes he hooked up and sometimes he was a little late on the hookset.
It was a great day and Raymond has my admiration for being in such great shape. I wish him well in the future on the stream.

Hugh

I have had some days this week that I made short trips to the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam and I love to show everyone just what this great river is producing. Carolyn and I only had a couple of hours before the storms came but we were able to catch some fish and one of mine was a beautiful rainbow. Carolyn took the camera and captured the fight from start to finish. We keep encouraging some of you that love to get into some great fishing to let us take you on a guided trip for some of the best fishing in the Southeast. Take a look at these pictures and see if you can match this size of fish anywhere nearby. We catch fish of this size and even larger quite frequently. Don't let this summer slip away and not get to try for one of these beauties. Call us at 423-586-6198 and get a few hours in on this water.

I met today with Chandler Grenier, from San Francisco, California. Chandler had fished some streams in California but this was his first time in the Smokies. I worked with him for a little while to get him used to "high stickin" and we went to the Middle Prong of Little River. The stream was in great shape but, it did not produce any fish until we switched to the Smoky Mountain Blackbird Softhackle. On the first cast after changing flies Chandler was into fish. We went right on upstream and he practiced all the casting techniques that I had showed to him. He was getting strikes from almost every hole and he was taking fish from most of them.
Chandler was a great student and he caught on very quickly to everything that I showed him.
Most of the fish were small as I told him that they would be, but he enjoyed the half day that we spent together and he was looking forward to going with his young son again the next day. Good luck to both of them and my thanks to him for allowing me to guide him.

Hugh


We have shown you in the past couple of years just how good the fishing is in the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam. We want to give you some pictures again this year to remind you of the size and quality of the fish that are available to you, if you want to take a guided trip at this time of the year. The generation schedules have kept us from being on this stream as much as we would like to be, but there are a few days that we can get in at least a 1/2 day trip and you can see from the two hours that we spent today, August- 11th- that it doesn't take long to get into fish so nice that your arms are aching after catching 3-4 of these beauties. Every fish that we caught measured at least 13- 20 inches. Our fish were all rainbows but we watched another gentleman catch a brown as we were leaving that measured 19 inches. If you would like to try to arrange a trip to fish for these outstanding fish you can call us and we can tell you what the probable generation schedule will be in the late afternoon on the day before the trip or you can click on our Resources Page and check the generation schedule to see if there will be a window giving us a few hours to get onto the river. We would love to show you what fantastic fishing there is on this fine water. Please consider it and give us a call at 423-586- 6198. A full day is $250.00 and 1/2 day is $200.00. It will be money well spent and you may catch the biggest fish of your life. Hugh

Saturday, August 8, 2009 was to be the last filming of the Heartland Series on Channel 10. At least part of it was done at the Museum of Appalachia. We were invited to go to see it by some friends and we arrived at about lunch time. This turned out to be one of the largest crowds ever to visit the Museum. The Heartland series is one of the longest running TV events that I can remember and it has always been extremely popular with the people of East Tennessee. It is about our native culture and we can all identify with it. I sure hate to see it leave. It has outlived many of the people who helped to make it be what it was. My thanks to Bill Landry and all of the crews who have been involved it making it through the years. It covered the history of several generations of people who have made their marks on this great section of the country. I leave you with many pictures of the event and hope that it helps you to reminisce about a part of your past. A salute to our past and a launching board to our future.

Hugh

The Reverend Richard Powers and his son in law T.J. came down to visit the Smokies from Ohio. Richard has a large congregation with many outreaches ministries that emanate from their church. It was good to get out on the stream with them and to share many personal things as well as the advice on flyfishing. The fishing was sort of slow and the numbers of tubers was maddening. Richard caught some small fish starting off but the day did not produce much for him. T.J. was more experienced and he did hook a few, but the day was still not as good as some that we've had in the last few weeks. We spent as much time dodging tubers in the last half of the day as we did fishing. at the very end of the day it began raining. I hope they can make it down for another attempt soon.

Hugh

It has been a very busy 2 weeks and to try to cover as much of it as I can, I have tried to show through the pictures that I made, some of the places and great people that I have had the opportunity to spend time with and learn from as well as to give guidance to. These pictures include trips to the GSMNP, the Davidson River, the South Holston River, and the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam. You can see that almost everyone caught fish and learned many of the casting and mending techniques that are so important to this sport. My thanks to all of them as well as the Davidson River Social Club for sharing time with me. I hope to see many of them again in the near future.

Hugh

Carolyn and I had the day off so we decided to see how the South Holston River was fishing. It turned out to be a real good day for us. We started the day out at the Bend of the River using Beadhead Pheasantail Nymphs and after about an hour we saw Sulfurs hatching and we tied on the Snowshoe Compara Dun and a Rockhold Sulfur Emerger as a dropper. They jumped all over the Rockhold Sulfur Emerger. Carolyn caught about 5 or 6 in a hour with an occasional take on the dry fly. The water came up and we went down to Big Springs Road which was being pounded pretty heavily. We found a spot where someone was just leaving and walked out into the river. I felt like the Sulfur hatch was about over in this stretch of the river and I tied on a BHPTN. I EXPECTED TO CATCH VERY LITTLE BECAUSE THE RIVER HAD ALREADY BEEN FISHED HEAVILY JUST BEFORE WE GOT THERE AND I WAS SURE WRONG. Carolyn got into the river a few minutes before I did and she had the dry and a dropper still on. I walked in above her and I had the BHPTN on and the fish just seemed to be waiting for this fly. I caught 6 fish within 20 minutes and 2 of them were 15-16 inches long. When Carolyn walked up beside me I exchanged rods with her and she began to catch fish just like I was doing. She caught 6 fish real quickly and then a thunderstorm came up and drove us off the river. It was a great day. Boomer gave his approval to it all.

Hugh

Kyle Davis is from Macon, Georgia and he and his family were visiting the Smokies for several days. He had been looking forward to some time on the beautiful streams of the Park and I advised him of where to fish on his own yesterday. He only caught one fish all day. After some casting and mending advise this morning he was catching fish within 30 minutes. We began our day at Metcalf Bottoms and then worked up toward Elkmont. When we started at the second location for the day, it was just minutes until Kyle was catching fish and that went on for two more hours. Just one after the other. By lunch time he had already had the best day that he had ever had at flyfishing. He had begun to use the techniques that I had showed to him. After lunch we fished one more section of the East Prong of Little River catching a couple more fish. We then moved to the West Prong of Little River and finished the day there. Kyle had more fish to his credit by quitting time and he told me that it was the most enjoyable day that he had ever had on the stream. It was great watching him progress and I know that he will be able to do the same thing on his own the next time that he is on the stream. Good luck to him as he finishes out the week in the Park.

Hugh

Terry Leonard is vacationing from Detroit Michigan and his son, Mike is starting school at the University of Tennessee on a Baseball Scholarship. They had been staying in Townsend and they decided they wanted to try flyfishing. We agreed to try the Holston River, below Cherokee Dam since the water was off for the first time in a long while. It was raining lightly when we first arrived but it stopped and did not rain any more until about the time that we were finished for the day. Terry was a little more experienced than his son, and after a little bit of work, I allowed him to start fishing on his own. Mike was totally inexperienced and we worked all through the day. He did catch a nice fish very early on and then he had a dry spell for quite a while. It started slow for Terry but he just kept on catching fish until the end of the day. Terry finished the day with quite a few fish. Both Father and son had enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Holston River and Mike will want to get back on the river as school and baseball allows him the time. I wish him luck in his career, and to both of them I wish a lot of time on the water.

Hugh

Tyler and Marlissa have only been married for a couple of weeks and they were spending their first vacation together in the GSMNP. They were trying to get in as many exciting things as they could while they were on this trip. They had done whitewater rafting the day before and tomorrow they were going to experience a trip to a new Zip Line in Wears Valley. The day had barely gotten started in Metcalf Bottoms until a bear made a raid on a picnic table right beside the one they were sitting at. That got the excitement level up in a hurry. We went on through the day and they started to catch fish pretty quickly. As you can see by the pictures, the Isonychia Nymph is hatching off and the Smoky Mountain Blackbird was the fly of the day.
I was really pleased that both of them were catching fish and adding to their skill levels as the day went on. By the afternoon, both of the young flyfishermen were tired and they had both had a great day fishing. I enjoyed their company, and their youth and enthusiasm was a breath of fresh air. Good luck to both of them as they start their journey through life. May they catch many fish over the next few years.

Hugh

Harry Harden and I fished together last year and he decided that he wanted to get a refresher course again this year to see if he had developed any bad habits. We began at the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and he caught the nicest rainbow that I have seen this year. After about 2 hours there and several fish later, we decided to move up river. This proved to be a little bit difficult because the rain last night had brought the water up and it was a problem to wade in.
We chose to move to the West Prong of Little River next to see if the water level was better, and it was. Harry really did some great fishing here and he caught another 11inch rainbow while we were on the water. He ended up with a number of fish and the we called it an early afternoon. He had told me that he wanted to show me his new house on Big Round Top Mountain that is located in Wears Valley. Since I have many clients that want to know about Real Estate in that area, I felt like showing some pictures of his house and the general surroundings would benefit a lot of interested people. Harry and his wife have graciously said they would allow interested visitors to this area the opportunity to visit their house to see the design that they chose to use in building a log home. They took me on a tour through it, and I must say that it is a gorgeous piece of art in design, and yet it looks so comfortable at the same time. There is property for sale in this same area and I'm sure they could advise you about other
locations nearby as well. If you would like to take a tour of this beautiful home to see the design and the setting that it is located in please contact Melody Harden at: 865- 908- 3671 OR 704- 756- 9743. IT WILL BE WELL WORTH YOUR TIME AND MAKE YOU VACATION COMPLETE TO JUST SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL HOME IN SUCH A BREATH TAKING SETTING.

Hugh

June 30, 2009	BILL MOYER AND SON IN LAW, JOHN

Bill had very little experience at trout fishing, but John had been a few times. I worked with both gentlemen to help them with their casting and mending skills. It seemed that John was able to catch a few fish right away and after a little while Bill sort of came into his own and redeemed himself. They worked very hard throughout the day and they were able to show a few trout for their efforts. The numbers were off a little bit for this day but the tubers and swimmers were pretty thick and it caused us to have to move around a lot without a lot to show for it. Both fellows will do well when they get back out on the stream. My thanks to them for allowing me to guide them during such a busy time of the year. Hugh
JUNE 29, 2009	ADAM AND STACY HORNE


Adam and Stacy were giving it their first try in the Smokies. Neither had any experience to speak of and we worked for awhile on those pesky casting and mending skills to get them to the point that they could start fishing on their own. The biggest problem that we had was losing fish when they had hooked them. They just did not want to stay connected this day. Both young fishermen seemed to have a great time and enjoy the beauty of the Park. I hope they can get back down to Tennessee soon. Hugh

BRIAN LILLY HAVING MORE FUN THAN A PERSON SHOULD HAVE

Brian Lilly is full of life and he kept me laughing all day. We did an Advanced Nymphing Class together and we just had ourselves a time. Brian had almost zero time in on mountain streams so we began from scratch. He has been a tailwater advocate from sometime now, but he decided it was time to learn about mountain stream fishing. We began with casting and mending skills and soon I had Brian to move downstream and start fishing in earnest. The fish were biting and as is usual for newcomers at nymph fishing, he was slow at hookset. He missed or lost a number of fish and a few were pretty good size. We kept going until lunch and them made our way to Townsend for a good meal. Brian showed me how to make Pecan Pie and vanilla ice cream disappear and I showed him how to make Blackberry Cobbler and vanilla ice cream disappear. It was downright sinful.
We moved back to another section of water and this time Brian began to connect with fish. You can tell by the laughter on his face that he was having fun. He had begun to put all the things into practice that I had taught him that morning and his hookset and timing were coming together. It made this old guide feel good to see him connect and land several fish.
We had gone through most of the techniques of fishing without an indicator and we finished the day up by using an indicator and a nymph underneath. He is now ready to hit the water on his own and fish a number of different ways that can be productive. My thanks to Brian for allowing me to have so much fun and teach at the same time. Good luck to him on the water.

Hugh

John and I looked over the high water situation early Wednesday morning and decided to try the West Prong of Little river first because it looked the safest of the three. We started with a Stimulator and John was getting a lot of strikes, but he was not connecting. I changed his setup over to a BHPTN and a strike indicator to see if that would help and it did. He began to catch fish after fish and we worked our way upstream to give him lots of opportunities. He must have caught at least 10 - 15 fish in this stretch of water. I wanted to give him a little experience at different sized streams so we moved to the Middle Prong of Little River and he continued to catch even more fish there. We decided to break for lunch and had a great meal of BBQ Pork and we finished it off with Blackberry Cobbler and vanilla ice cream. How's that for a great East Tennessee lunch. We finally moved to the Elkmont area and although, he caught even more fish there, the water was pretty high and the tubers were out in force. We made a day of it and finished at about 5:30. It had been a great day and John said that he had caught more fish than he had ever caught before. I had a great time guiding him and he put a lot of the skills and techniques to good use that I had shown him. I hope that he is back on the stream today.

Hugh

Jed and I met at Little River Outfitters and made our way to Metcalf Bottoms to work on casting and mending skills, as well as learning to tie new knots. After a few minutes of this Jed made his way to the top of a long run and began to fish in earnest. It only took a few minutes to land a couple of fish and then we moved to a section with different types of water. These different runs of water gave him a chance to practice many of the skills that I had showed him and he had a few more fish to take. The biggest problem that he had was being quick enough to connect with fish after getting strikes. We worked this new section for about an hour and broke for an early lunch. We moved to the Elkmont area and fished for awhile there until tubers drove us off. We moved even higher on the stream and then a thunderstorm hit.. After the storm moved through, we fished the Middle Prong until late afternoon. The fish were small and Jed missed several strikes. This is always the case for most people to not be able to connect with fish as well as they will a little later after more practice at timing and hookset.
We had a great time and Jed mastered many of the skills very well. He will do fine on the stream on his next few outings. My thanks to him for allowing me to guide him.

Hugh

Dry Flies	Nymphs and Emergers	Nymphs and Emergers - Page 2	Wet Flies/Soft Hackle Flies	Tailwater Trout Flies
Realistic Flies	Tailwaters Hatch Charts	Smoky Mountain Hatch Charts	Fly Tying Tutorials	Flycasting Lessons

Dry Flies	Nymphs and Emergers	Nymphs and Emergers - Page 2	Wet Flies/Soft Hackle Flies	Tailwater Trout Flies
Realistic Flies	Tailwaters Hatch Charts	Smoky Mountain Hatch Charts	Fly Tying Tutorials	Flycasting Lessons