We floated today for smallmouth, and what a day it was. The topwater action was definitely earlier in the day and it didn’t take long for the fish to get back into hiding. They were willing to eat though. We caught a few fish early on top and around 9:00am they were all in the hard to get places. Lee Whitehead didn’t have any problem getting into those places because he wore them out.

The are definitely on the craw bite too because we caught way more of our fish on craw patterns than baitfish flies. They were pretty picky too on how they wanted the fly presented. It didn’t take us long to figure them out, but when we did it was game on. Lee is a big trout guy, but is reconsidering his favorite species after today. The weather is great and the water temps are perfect, it really doesn’t get any better than this.

We also got to see what high water and not paying attention can do to a boat on this river. I hope that whoever was in this boat got out safely and is ok. Keep in mind that this boat is made of metal.

I had to get a shot of the raft sitting in the riffles when we got out and wade fished. It was a great day on the river and the Lord blessed us with great fishing. Give us a call for some of this incredible smallmouth action while it lasts.

We have been fishing all over lately from the park to the Tailwaters and even the lakes. So far we haven’t found bad fishing anywhere. The Holston River has been on fire with this crazy caddis hatch. We have been catching a lot of fish and some really nice ones. Today (Muffie) and I floated the holston and did really well. This was her first time fly fishing for trout and she did good to say the least. These fish are so active, they are slamming caddis on the top and eating anything under the service. These are some nice fish that were caught today.

With all of the water that has gone through this river it has made the fish super strong and they put up a great fight. Mix that with an average of 12 to 14 inch fish and you can have a pretty fun day. We hooked up with some very nice fish, but then had some L.D.R’s (long distance releases). That is what makes it fun though. Call us today for a float trip on the Holston to get in on some of this action. The National Park and the smallmouth are also fishing good. Don’t forget about troutfest this weekend in Townsend, TN. We will have a booth set up and we hope to see you there.

Yesterday we hit the river for some more smallie action and it was good. The fish were very active and they didn’t hesitate to eat a fly. TVA has had great schedules on all of the smallmouth waters and we have been taking advantage of it. Alex caught some nice smallmouth on the float and boy were they pretty. This one looked like he cross breaded with a tiger. We also threw some white bass in the mix.

The wind blew all day on the river which made casting kind of tough and as soon as we got to the take out it was like glass. That always seems to be the case. Next weekend is Troutfest and we will have a booth set up, so come and say hi and talk about fishing, or share some lies whatever you choose. It looks like tomorrow is going to be cold and rainy so I will probably spend some time behind the vise tying some smallmouth flies for our up coming trips this next week.