It’s topwater time in Tennessee
by Josh Pfeiffer on May. 09, 2012, under Fishing Reports, Recent Trips
If you ever wake up early and get all of your stuff ready to go fishing, but don’t know what to throw, go outside and look at your bumper, or as we like to call it, the hatch chart. It will tell you all you need to know (colors, sizes, etc.).
The park has been fishing great with several hatches coming off and fish rising to them. The main hatch is still the Yellow Sallies with a few Golden Stones and Cahills mixed in. If you see lots of bugs flying around and not much happening on top of the water use the Joe Grobarek philosophy, if all else fails throw the adams. Also don’t forget about the terrestrials. Most folks think that it has to be summer before you throw terrestrials, but if they are out crawling around I guarantee that the fish won’t refuse one hitting the water.
We have been spending most of our time lately on the lower rivers fishing for smallies. We’ve seen plenty of topwater action during the day, but streamers have put more fish in the boat. The spawn should be over with shortly and the bigger fish will be hungry and looking for anything that swims, crawls or floats.
Dave and Chris helping us break in our new Sage VXP rods.
Everyone has one of those stories where the big one got away, but I can verify Chris’. He stuck a pig and after a few second it came out of the water only to show us how big he was and to throw the fly right back at us. Chris if you are reading this, I feel for you. After a much needed break to clear his head we were back to fishing and it wasn’t long before they were doubled up and Chris had forgotten all about it.
Check out the size of that Redeye.
When we got to the end of the float they said that it would be cool to catch a few trout, so we rigged up the 5 wts, put on some nymphs and it within a few minutes they were both hooked up.
Dave with a nice Holston bow.
Chris stuck another pig, only this time it was a big bow and with one jump we saw the line curling back and watch it land in the boat . At that point we just laughed and decided to call it a day. These guys were great fisherman and even better company, but the best part about taking a father/son trip is listening to all the trash talk on the ride home.
Dale is from Nashville and has done a good bit of bass fishing and has done some fly fishing, but hasn’t done them both at the same time. It didn’t take ole Dale to long to put both together and start catching some fish. In fact I think it was like the 5th cast and he was hooked up.
Not a trophy, but he hit a popper like he was.
Fishing poppers takes a little time to learn and involves a lot of patience. In fact you really have to believe that what you are throwing is going to work. Sometimes the fish aren’t turned on and they are very selective, but they seem to always be enticed by a topwater fly if presented right. After a short lunch break we switched to streamers and Dale really started working the river. He caught several more and lost some nice ones, but it happens. We had a great day and Dale really seemed to catch on to fly fishing.
Plenty of hatches to fish.
by Josh Pfeiffer on Apr. 30, 2012, under Fishing Reports
In East TN right now our biggest problem is figuring out where to fish, because it’s all fishing great. The Yellow Sallies and Sulfurs up in the park are coming off every day and the fish are definitely keyed in on them. Any yellow pattern in a size 14 or 16 will do and you might want to drop a nymph behind it in the mornings. Staying hidden is the biggest thing when the sun gets over head, so where natural colors. Also be careful where you wade, because we have been seeing a lot of snakes.
Found this guy outside of my usual breakfast stop the other morning.
The tailwaters are having great hatches and there has been some serious dry fly action. The Caddis on the Holston have been fantastic with better than average fish coming to the surface for them. If you find them being finicky, you can always put on a nymph and clean up. The Sulfur hatch on the Clinch has been great and at times I would use the word thick. Some days the bugs will come off from mid morning to evening and other days you won’t see any until the afternoon. Either way, when they do come off you definitely want to have a dry fly on deck. The tailwater fish are generally pretty picky with dries, but the other day they would take a parachute.
This guy fell for a parachute.
Jayson Alexander can fly fish and has caught some nice trout in the park and on dries which is a big deal. He wanted to get into the smallmouth game a little more and since the Little River is his home water we thought it would be a good idea to float it. The river is still feeling the shock from last weeks cold fronts, but Jayson didn’t let that stop him from catching fish. The fishing was a little slow at times, but the size made up for the numbers.
Jayson with a pig that ate a popper.
The smallmouth are starting to spawn in the rivers which means it won’t be long until they are going to be looking for anything swimming or floating. We have been very blessed with awesome weather for the most part and we have been taking advantage of it. If you are thinking about getting a trip set up to catch some of these guys or fishing one of the great hatches for trout give us a call and we can get you out on the water. Thanks for reading and have a great day.
What happened to Spring?
by Josh Pfeiffer on Apr. 23, 2012, under Fishing Reports
Well, a week ago we were looking at abnormally warm temps for Spring, but this week we are getting some really cold weather. Oh well, these are the things we deal with in the Spring time and it makes us better fishermen for it. Before the big jump in the weather, the fishing was great. In fact the topwater bite is already on for smallmouth. We have been floating and wading the local rivers with poppers and they are definitely producing.
SLABS!
It’s great to see fish coming completely out of the water to kill something they don’t even want to eat. We had several fish go after the flies so hard they turned flips. The best thing is that it’s just now April, so we have a long season of smallies ahead of us. We haven’t noticed any fish fanning out beds but the ladies are full of eggs and we are seeing a lot of buck bass around them. Buck bass are what we call smaller fish around 12 inches. That’s a pretty good sign of pre spawn activity.
This guy ate a streamer right at the boat. Look at the thickness.
Now the cold fronts have severely dropped the water temps in the freestone rivers and the service temps on the tailwaters. It is supposed to warm up towards the end of this week though, so give it a few days and the fishing should be back to normal. We have several smallie trips coming up and we are getting pumped. This is our favorite time of year, the beginning of smallmouth season.
I did catch a funny looking smallmouth the other day and after looking at the photo several times and talking with my dad, the smallmouth guru, I realized he had his back broken at one time and healed up just fine. That’s how bad these fish are, they aren’t going to let a broken back stop them from doing their thing.
We have noticed that the fish have wanted the fly a little slower than usual and could hang back and watch it for a while before devouring. We are planning to put up some more reports on the Smokies and tailwaters for trout this week. They have been fishing really good too with tons of bugs hatching and nice fish being caught. Thanks for checking out the report and hope it gets you fired up to get out on the water.
All around goodness
by Josh Pfeiffer on Apr. 15, 2012, under Fishing Reports, Recent Trips
The fishing in the park has been different lately, now I didn’t say bad just different. The water is where we like it and there have been great hatches everyday, but the fish can be kind of finicky at times. This time of year, finesse isn’t the word I would normally use to describe the fishing in the park, but lately the fish have wanted the flies completely still on the water and we have had to stay low so they can’t see us. Sulfurs, Yellow Sallies, Tan Caddis, March Browns, and Golden stones are what we are seeing on the water throughout the day with terrestrials around the banks.
Here are Danny and Mike with their first Smokies trout. Both were Methodist pastors from GA with a passion for the Lord. It was great to talk about fishing and to fellowship on the river.
Passing fly fishing on to the youngsters is very important and when they get into the sport it’s pretty awesome. Kids are like sponges and they hear and process everything you say for the most part. They ask questions and you can tell they really think about the situation. Well that was the case for 11 year old Ryan and his mom Maureen while they were on the stream. Both were great and really got the idea of staying hidden from the fish and getting a good drift.
Check out the colors on this fish that Ryan caught on a Sulfur. Way to go Ryan.
The tailwaters are fishing great and the changing weather doesn’t seem to affect the fishing. We are still seeing short bursts of caddis hatches during the day on the Holston. They are feeding on dries in spurts and nymphs all day long. Chuck from Nashville has never done a float trip and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. When we got to the the river a few caddis were hopping and the weather was very nice. It didn’t take Chuck long get used to fishing from the boat and we were hooked up!
Getting off to a good start.
A double nymph rig was the charm, but we noticed the fish eating quite a few on top and Chuck wanted to try his topwater skills. Chuck was getting a bite to eat and noticed a fish keying in on adult caddis. He put down the sandwich and grabbed the rod to make a cast, SET!!!
We wanted to throw some streamers for smallmouth, but spent too much time on the upper side of the float and had to get down river. As we got to the bottom we found a pod of nice fish sipping bugs of the surface and had to stop.
One more nice fish at the bottom ramp and Chuck said “I’m Done”.
The Clinch is fishing great too and the Sulfurs have started hatching on the lower side of the river. I thought the fish would refuse dries at first, but they weren’t shy. The Sulfurs were about a size 16 and school bus yellow. The average size of the fish caught were around 12 to 16 inches and some from 18 to 20.
Chunk!
The generation came up and slowed down the fishing for a short while, but even then you could get the nymphs down and see some love. Your basic Sulfur nymphs will do and a size 16 yellow dry fly on top. The generation on both the Holston and the Clinch looks good and it will probably stay that way for a while. The Sulfur hatch is great, but it just doesn’t last long enough. If you are wanting to float the Clinch during this hatch give us a call.
This guy ate a dry.
Thanks for reading this long overdue fishing report and we hope to see you out on the water. Have a blessed day.
Tailwaters
by Josh Pfeiffer on Apr. 08, 2012, under FA News, Fishing Reports, Recent Trips
The Holston River has been fishing great and we are seeing sporadic hatches throughout the day. Dry fly fishing isn’t quite there, but we have stuck a few with them. Nymphs are still the way to go. Wednesday, Kevin from Detroit wanted to do a float so we headed to the Holston only to get there and see a river of chocolate milk and not the low fat kind, but the real stuff. Rescheduling for the next day sounded better. Thursday morning when we got to the river; the color was back to normal and fish were eating midges.
Kevin is a steelhead fisherman so throwing tiny flies for sipping trout took some getting used to, but it didn’t take him long. Fish like this one were caught fairly often.
This was a common sight from the bench.
The fishing was pretty good for most of the day and the bug activity was consistent. Again it was mainly midges, but plenty of them and no shortage of fish. Kevin is a great fisherman and I look forward to future trips with him. We have been dealing with a lot of rain lately and every day has had some chance of thunderstorms. We got through most of the float and didn’t see a single cloud and within minutes the sky was black and the rain was there. It’s like we have skipped Spring and gone into Summer.
One more shot of a very colorful male bow.
Have a great day and Happy Easter everyone.
Back and forth
by Josh Pfeiffer on Apr. 01, 2012, under Recent Trips
We have been fishing the park and floating the Holston all week. The park has been good with March Browns, Gloden Stones and Yellow Sallies. Matching the hatch isn’t as important as staying low and getting a good drift. Yellow Stimulators, Tan Caddis and an Adams will all be good choices to throw. We are finally seeing some steady water levels in the mountains after a very wet start to our Spring.
Sean with his first fish in the Smokies on a dry fly. Bill throwing at a rising fish.
If you decide to fish the park, be careful and keep your potatoes peeled for snakes. We were surprised to see the guy on the left sitting on a rock at the waters edge and almost stepped on him. A lot of folks mistake this Banded Water Snake for a Copperhead and although they look kind of similar they are way different put together.
The Holston River has been fishing great and the Caddis have started to hatch. The water is in the upper 50′s and the fish are sporadically taking dries, but most have been on nymphs. Cherokee Dam has been keeping a constant flow all day and pulsing 1 generator every 3 hours which has been great to float. I got to take 2 of my buddies out for a float this past Thursday on the Holston and we did pretty good.
This was a pretty common view from my seat all day. Bill with a nice bow.
The action lasted pretty much all day and the fish were bulked up from the Winter. I don’t think you could compare the fight of a Holston fish to any of our other tailwaters in our area. We didn’t fish for smallies much but Hugh did catch one on a dry. Hugh pretty much stayed in the back of the boat batting cleanup and shooting video which you can find on his site (smokymountainflyguide.com). Towards the end of the float we got to see one of God’s most beautiful birds.
Seeing them in pictures doesn’t even do them justice. Bald Eagles are huge birds and fun to watch while floating down the river.
We were back on the Holston today with some local boys from Knoxville and had a great time and the fish were definitely turned on. Some were beginners and others had done it quite a bit, but they all had a blast and caught fish, so what more could you ask for. If you decide to head out don’t forget the rain jacket, because you could run into a pretty nasty storm at any time. I hope you get the chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather and if you would like to book a trip please call or email us. Thanks and have a great day.
A delayed bite
by Josh Pfeiffer on Mar. 28, 2012, under FA News
The fishing in the National Park has been pretty good with March Browns, Hendricksons and Tan Caddis. We have been seeing a lot of Yellow Sallies, but haven’t noticed any on the water and no fish eating them. Also, the tailwaters are running good schedules and the fishing has picked up on them too. As for the smallmouth bite, it hasn’t quite picked up as much as we had hoped for this spring. It’s still really early and the water levels and temps have been so scattered, that the fish are kind of confused, heck so am I. This is one of the best times to catch a big fish during the pre-spawn stage though and fish the fly SLOW.
Ashley and I got out for a float last week before the T-storms got us.
As for the Park, it can be tricky one day and great the next. The water has been high for the last week and cool nights in the 40′s keep the trout on edge. If the previous night is cool, fish in the afternoon and if that’s not an option for you, get nymphs down to the bottom.
Here is a Big March Brown that got caught in an eddy. About a #12, but keep some #14′s on deck.
I hope the weather stays warm and the rain goes away for a while, because we could be in for some epic fishing this year. Oh yeah and we also got in some new gear for chucking big flies. The VXP series from Sage is an unbelievably smooth casting rod that’s really light with a price tag that’s easy on the the wallet. So no more ramen and beanie weenies.
Smallie fishing so close
by Josh Pfeiffer on Mar. 17, 2012, under Fishing Reports
We are teetering on the edge of our smallmouth season. The weather is fairly consistent for the most part and the highs are around 80, but right as everything looks like it’s on track, we get a lot of rain and it messes things up for a couple of days. Yesterday Ethan and I had planned to fish the tailwaters, but the weather channel called for 50 percent chance of thunderstorms and it was a no brainer not to go. The weather did a complete 180 and was warm and sunny, plus there are only so many flies I can sit down and tie so high water or not we loaded up the raft and floated the Little for some smallies.
It wasn’t a day for numbers, but Ethan did manage to pull this brute out of the river. Notice the color and flow of the water, not great for fishing. Great to be out though.
The fishing in our area will get better this coming week for sure, but we are going to get caught up on some flies for when it really gets hoppin. Also the smallmouth will probably be looking for a slower, easy to get meal before they spawn so have some craw patterns on hand when you go. On a brighter note the tailwaters (except for the Clinch of course) have turned off the water and are running good schedules for wade fisherman. Always check the schedule first though before you head out. We hope you have the chance to fish this week and hope to hear some good reports. If you would like to book a trip call or email us and we would be glad to set you up. God bless you.
A very warm March
by Josh Pfeiffer on Mar. 15, 2012, under Recent Trips
Here in East TN the weather is very nice with the temperatures staying close to 80 every day. The fishing in the Smoky Mountains has been great and the tailwaters are getting a break from the generation for a while. I had the opportunity of showing Steve Liptak how good the fishing is yesterday. We spent most of the day around Elkmont and fishing dries. The first half of the day fished pretty good, but the second half was on fire.
Steve is used to fishing pocket water in the mountains of West Virginia for Brookies, so he was right at home in the Smokies. Here he is high sticking a good looking run where a fish was rising to some Blue Quills.
We stuck with a parachute adams for our dry in the afternoon, because they were all over it. Sometimes just keeping it simple is all it takes. The Blue Quills were hatching on and off all day which kept the fish wanting more on top. Towards the end of the day though, the fish seemed to be swatting at the fly more than actually eating it, so we went to a smaller size and started getting more love.
Although we did catch a lot of fish, this one was the biggest and to boot, it rose to a dry.
The March Browns will be the next big hatch and we have already been seeing them. Everything in our area is about a month and a half early, so if you love to fish those big dries in the Smokies don’t let it pass you by. Have a great day and be safe.
Spring is definitely here
by Josh Pfeiffer on Mar. 08, 2012, under Fishing Reports
Since the weather has been so nice and the air temp has been really warm, we have been watching the smallmouth waters around here in hopes that the water temp would stay in the 50′s. The last couple of days the water temp has been teetering around 50, but we have had some cool nights which has slowed the fishing down a bit. Today it was just right and I got away from the vise for a few hours and got to jerk some jaws.
The first smallies of the year. Gosh it feels good.
The fish weren’t real active and I had more love when I fished the fly pretty slow. When you get a strike this time of year, don’t expect a slam either, because more than not your line will just get tight. All the fish I caught today were thick and healthy which means they are bulking up. If you look at the second fish’s tail it kind of looks like he has been fanning a bed, it would be super early for that, but I wouldn’t doubt anything after what we have already seen this Spring. That is something I think is pretty cool about smallmouth. The male is the one who finds a spot to spawn, then fans it out and after the female lays the eggs the male stays back to protect the nest.
I guess you could say that smallmouth are the gentleman of the fish world, unlike trout who make the female do everything. The next few days are only going to get warmer and the fishing should be amazing. We are getting a good amount of rain right now and it is supposed to hang around all day tomorrow.
This guy was routing around in a shallow eddy and took a crawdad.
There was another carp in the same pool about twice as big as this guy and I lost him due to the tip of my hook being bent. Oh well, that’s fishing. We have been filling up our boxes with streamers and topwater flies and it’s awesome that we are finally getting to use them. Stay posted for some more smallie action as long as the weather stays nice. For those of you fishing with us this season we have some new flies in store for you to try. Have a great day and be safe on the water.
