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Fishing Report for Late Dec '07/Jan '08
Big Water Rainbow Floats
Float with one of our
guides casting big streamers to big rainbows, and don’t expect a
bite from a trout less than 16 inches. One of our wintertime
floats (down a river we wish to keep nameless) has produced some
extraordinary streamer action. This is a big water float,
fishing with big flies, for big trout. Call our fly shop to
check on our discounted rate for this trip. This opportunity
will last until March.
South Holston Tailrace
Midges, blue
wings, and scuds have been the dominant forage for the South
Holston trout, outside the eggs from the spawning fish. The
bite has been hit or miss in low water levels. Dry fly fishing
opportunities have been sporadic, however, when the blue wings
hatch, nice brown trout will let down their guard, and sip
emergers and duns. Black fly hatches are most abundant below the
dam. The blue wing hatch usually occurs around 2pm lasting till
dark; however, this will depend on temp and light conditions.
Fish sipping blue wing emergers can be very selective. Swinging
tiny olive soft hackles down and across on 6X fluorocarbon is an
effective technique used by our guides. Scuds are very abundant
this time of year in patches of river grass. The scud bite has
been best around midday for our guides. Look to fish size 16 to
20 scuds in gray and olive.
Watauga Tailrace
It is a great time
to float the Watauga tailrace. During the week you will have to
the river to yourself. The bite is very consistent, with high
numbers and good size being caught on every trip. Blue wings,
midges, slate drakes, and blue duns are the dominant hatches,
with mixes of stonefly and caddis flies fluttering about.
The fish will not move far laterally for the fly, however,
correct presentations in obvious feeding lanes will produce
fish. Look to use lightweight nymph rigs in shallow riffles to
catch good numbers of fish. Some of your bigger fish will be
holding in deep slots and tail outs and are easiest to catch
with stained water conditions. Swinging scuplin patterns on
sink tip line is a great way to catch these brutes.
Watauga Delayed Harvest
Most of the stocked
fish are spread out, having moved into typical feeding lanes.
Good numbers of wild brown trout can be caught throughout the
entire river. A few big browns have been caught at the junction
of creeks and in deep holes or slots. White has been a good
color when choosing streamers to catch big fish. Small bead
headed nymphs such as copper johns, micro mayflies, or BH prince
nymphs are producing well subsurface. Griffith’s knats and
parachute midge patterns are good dry fly choices this time of
year. A few of our regular customers in the fly shop have been
wearing ‘em out on these patterns. Midge and small stonefly
hatches occur daily from noon to 4pm on the Watauga DH waters.
Local Small Streams
The best time to hit any small
stream, this time of year, is the early afternoon. When the sun
hits and warms the stream, the stoneflies and midges will emerge
and fly about. The midges’ range in size from 18-24 and the
stones are size 14-20. This is a good time of year to target
sunny plunge pools, tail outs, and deeper riffles. The fish will
not be very active, so hit them in the nose with the fly. A few
days of warm weather will result in more actively feeding fish. |
