Watauga Monster Brown! 1/17/2006

Met up with Doug around 7am in Sevierville. After filling up with gas we headed off for the Watauga. We fished a couple of differnt spots, picking up some good fish almost everywhere we stopped. It had been raining all day so the tribs were pumping a good amount of color into the tailwater. Towards dusk the stream started to look very milky and muddy. After watching some spin fisherman loose a nice brown. We both rigged up streamers and began to work the runs. We both missed some fish almost instantly then it went dead. Working down stream I managed to pick up one small brown. After about an hour Doug fished past me while I was working a deep run. I managed to land a cast at the head of a small eddy on the oppisite side of the stream. I put one upstream mend in the line to get the fly down, then let the line belly out. To my surprise the line stopped. I set the hook and felt somthing very solid. Instantly I felt the thumping of a large fish on the other end. I've caught big fish before but did not think this one was as big as it turned out to be. After a brief fight and some frantic action by Doug I was able to get the Brown into some shallows where Doug was able to grab it. He measured 29.5 inches long and had a girth of 16 inches.

Little River 1/13/2006

Managed to make it to the Little River today. I fished for about an hour before rain drove me off the river. I started out nymphing a couple of deep pools above Metcalf Bottoms. After about a half hour and no luck I drove a bit farther upstream to a big pool called the Baptism Pool. I began nymphing the head of the pool and missed one fish. Then I notice a small riser about 35 feet down from me. I switched over to a size 20 Adams and threw a slack line cast down to where I had last seen the rise. The fly hadn't been on the water more than three seconds and I had a splashy rise to my fly. after a brief fight I had a small brown, about 8 or 9 inches to hand. The brown was a bit of a surprise as I was expecting a small rainbow. After three more casts to the same area a steady rain moved in and I headed back into town. Little River Brown Trout

Hiawassee River 1/12/2006

Great day on the River. I met up with Tim Doyle of and Roy from the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited . Thursday was an incredibly great day, sunny and about 60 degrees. The Hiwassee was pumping two generators, which made for a great float. We started off throwing big streamers and plugs for about the first hour. We had a couple of hits and follows before we switched over to nymphing. We managed to pick up a couple of fish on nymphs, then found a couple small pods of risers. We landed a few fish on size 26 gray midges, although they were extremly difficult to see. Tim and Roy

Watagua River 1/06/2006

Met up with a young guide named Steven Dark to fish the Watagua River on Thursday. It was a bit of an exploratory trip as Steven agreed to show me around. We fished three different access, with limited success. I was really enjoyed the trip as Steven is a great guy to fish with. He is also one of the best casters I have ever fished with.

Clinch River mid Dec.

I made it over to the Clinch for a short day of fishing. I fished around the River road access near Millers island I believe. Not much bug activity except for some very small midges. I picked up fish on soft hackles and size 26 midges.

South Holston River Dec.

Fished the South Holston River for the first time on a Wednesday. I arrived at the weir dam around 10:30am. I picked up a few fish on midge emergers below the weir. Later I went farther down stream and saw my first Sulphur hatch. It was thick but consistent. I was amazed at the size of trout I observed rising to the large mayflies. I was a not prepared for how selective the fish were. I through almost every sulphur fly I had in my box with limited success. After my mediocre showing I collected some bugs and went home to do some tying. I returned on Sunday with a better aresenal of flies. I was able to pick up some fish on the Sulphur flies I had tied the day before. However the hatch was not as good as it had been on the wednesday before. There was a mix of Sulphurs, BWO's and midges. I managed to pick up fish on all three flies. Another fly that seemed to work was partridge and orange soft hackles. Below are a couple of the fish I landed on the second day. South Holston Brown Trout