| February 20, 2012 |
THIS IS MY FIRST TRIP TO THE SMOKIES IN 2012 AND THE QUILL GORDONS ARE HATCHING |
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Today, I made my
first trip to the Park and the Quill Gordons, Brown
Stonflies, and BWO's were really coming off in the middle of
the day. I started the day off with tandem nymphs because
the water was so cold. I did not get a strike and at the end
of the first section of water that I fished I began to
see some feeding on top. I switched to a Quill Gordon dry
fly and the strikes began immediately. I spent all of my
time on the Middle Prong of Little River and the fish that I
caught were the nicest that I have seen in this river since
the drought hit 5 or more years ago. They have really come back.
Just take a look at how nice all of these fish were.
The water temperatures were pretty low and there is still
snow on the mountain. Winter is slowly leaving us. If you
want to get into some great dry fly action with the first
hatches now taking place, just call 423-586-6198 for a
guided day on the river. Hugh
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| NOVEMBER 29, 2011 | LATEST UPDATE ON THE HOLSTON RIVER, BELOW CHEROKEE DAM |
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I received notice this
morning that the TWRA had made it's first stocking for the new
year, 2012. It was apparently a small stocking and possibly a
total of 3500 fish were placed in the river on this date.
I was also told that TWRA will try to stock more brown trout
this coming season and that will be good news to most fishermen
on the river. The water temperature at mid river was 57
degrees on Sunday. That is getting real close to optimum and I'm
sure it will fall more this week. I am looking forward to a
great year on the Holston and I want you to be sure to get your
name on our list as soon as you can get your self free to make
this great trip. We have lots of big holdovers again this year
and you can expect to see fish measuring over 20 inches while
fishing this season.
These pictures are from a trip to the Holston River on 12/2/2011. There were Caddis and midges hatching . The water temps were 54degrees. Another update from a trip on 12/6/2011: Josh Pfifer and I fished mid river and we caught several real nice rainbows and browns. The largest fish was a brown that looked to be at least 23 inches long. I played the fish for several minutes and Josh was making his way to help me with a net . The fish tangled in a long bunch of grass and I just kept moderate tension on it until Josh got to me and when he reached down with the net the fish bolted. That was the last that we saw of a beautiful highly colored brown in full spawning colors. He looked to be a 4-5 pound fish and maybe someone will be lucky enough to get him to rise to a dry fly again. He took a size#20 Little Dark Olive Caddis. This latest trip was on 12/19/11 and it was a short one. I managed 3 fish and my first fish was a brown. The next one was a very nice rainbow that was stocked early this year. Each time that I have fished this section I have caught browns. It is very encouraging to know that we have quite a few that are in the river this year. In the last two months there have been 3 browns caught that were trophy fish. One fish was 28 inches, another was 27 inches , and the last was 23 inches. I have seen several in the last few weeks that were in the 10-12 inch range. It sure looks like a very promising season ahead for 2012. The water temps are now around 50 degrees at Mid river. Take a look at Harry Crotzer on the last day of the year. He is hooked into a real nice rainbow and it looked to be about 18 inches or better. He played the fish right up to him and the hook tore out. Just look at the size of that submarine in the water in the last picture of the first row. He'll get another crack at him. He caught fish on the Black Rabbit and the South Holston Miracle Midge Little update, Harry sent me a picture of another nice rainbow that he caught after I left. It is the 2nd picture of the first row. Another update: Brian
Ray braved the wind on Sunday the 1st and caught several of
these
Latest update:1/5/2012 I was told today that TWRA had made another stocking in the Holston River. We are really seeing some nice sized fish and the season should have a lot to offer.
Today, 1/5/12 was a day to make a grown man cry. This morning I drove down to one of my usual fishing spots that I have leased to guide on and there were at least a 1000 Seagulls all over the river feeding on something. I didn't know if they would have any effect on the fishing or not , but I got right into the river and started fishing an Elk Hair Caddis with a midge dropper. I did not get any strikes and I didn't see any feeding on top so I changed over to a BHPTN with a South Holston Miracle Midge as a dropper. I was on the far side of the river and I worked as far as I could go before I needed to cross some shoals. On my last cast I had a solid strike and when I set the hook I felt some real strength. I knew that I had some weight on. I had just changed to new sections of Seaguar 5X tippet and I hoped that I did not have a repeat of a few weeks ago when I had another large brown to tangle in weeds and finally break off. The fish made some short strong runs and turned toward me making a strong charge. It came out of the water right in front of me and there was a fish that all men dream of. A huge brown almost 30 inches long and spoiling for a fight. He was still wearing his spawning colors and man, what a fight he put up! For the next 15 minutes he was all over the river and after a strong battle, my right arm was wearing out. He probably went a good 100 yards down the river and then turned and started back upstream. This was probably the strongest fish that I have ever had on and he was not tiring at all. He finally found some long grass under water and wrapped himself in it. I tried tapping on the rod and giving some slack and nothing worked. Finally, the BHPTN flew back in my face and the battle was over. He had broken the dropper off and that was the end of the battle. He beat me fair and square. I am now 0 for 2 with big browns this year. It looks like it is time for 4X tippet. Hugh
If we can help with a guided trip , please call us at 423-586-6198. Hugh |
Phone Number: 423-586-6198 or
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