31 Aug 2012
It’s the last day of August and I have some chores. Got off work early, the Vols play at 7:30 and I figure I can do some of the work later, I head to Bluff City to chase after the might striper. When I arrive I set out looking for bait. This turns out to be more work than I was hoping for, however I was finally able to boat 8 or 9 gizzard shad. Two of them were nice, about four of them were big, and the remaining two should have been put on the scales.
By this time the cold water was down from the river. Now typically I fish on the warm side, but I had heard rumor that you could catch them on the cold side. Typically I pay no attention to gossip, but it was worth a shot. I float around a lap or so in the warm water, nothing, time to head to the cold water.
I have out two free lines and one of them gets nailed. I set the hook, wrangle him in real quick and see that this was more than a mouthful for this striper. The shad was only half in the stripers mouth, about an 8-10 pounder. I take a pic, or thought I did, the phone was set on video, so no pic on here of that one.
I continue fishing, see a striper come up near the boat and flash away, then boom, second striper. It was in about the same spot and during the fight I tended to drift with the current. Photo taken, fish released, rods baited, headed back to the honey hole. Another pass and another striper. These two were probably around 15 pounds and pretty good fights. I go back to the same spot and I get a run. I give it slack, set the hook, fight for 2.1354 seconds, then it gets off.
Get back to the honey hole, get another run, set the hook and the fight begins. This one is not very big, 8-10 lbs but he couldn’t fit the shad in his mouth. Man these fish are fun, they are extremely aggressive and amaze me at what they will eat. This is the one with the mouthful photo above, great pic.
I am down the the whopper shad, thinking I will get nothing, I head back up to the honey hole, when I do, I get a swirl on one of the big ones, but nothing came of it. I still have a decent size shad out and that one takes off. I go back, set the hook and fish on baby. I wrestle this in and it is the smallmouth above. I tend to worry about hurting the fish and don’t take the time to weigh it. I had hooked it in the tongue and it was bleeding, but let me say this was a nice smallie.
This was a great day on the water, ended with a victory for the Vols. August ended with a bang. Check back tomorrow cause fly fishing took place on the first day of September. Have a great day and God bless.
25 Aug 2012
August is quickly coming to a close and my time on the water has been limited, I should have kept up with my chores. The race is in town this weekend, everybody is asleep, and I heard a distant calling from the South Holston River. I knew I would not be able to stay long, but thought I can give it a good hour and a half. Not to mention I tied me up a new fly I wanted to give it a whirl.
When I arrive at the metal grates near the dam, no one is in my little honey hole and I still have the green weenie on the fly rod. I get real excited and head out. After about two cast, I land the first trout. I miss one or two after this then get another. This one was a little camera shy and jumped out of the net prior to the photo. Within 25 minutes, I have landed 4 trout, all rainbows, and missed a great many more.
The bite slows so I begin my moving. I tie on my new fly, it is a sorry attempt at a minnow and too big for my 5 weight fly rod. I cast it or try casting it for while, and I did end up getting one hit. I was so shocked, I did not get the hook set. I fish a bit longer then get a call and figure it is time to head on home.
Today was a great day on the river. The weather was nice, the fishing was fantastic, and I got to spend some time enjoying God’s creation. This helped me with my fishing fix, but only for a moment, now the excitement to go back is here.
12 Aug 2012
We had a great church service with a message dealing with the greatness of God. We get home, fry up some burgers (we are health food junkies), and the evening service begins at 6:30. It’s almost 2:00, not enough time for the boat, so I check my handy TVA App on my phone, the South Holston River doesn’t generate until 6:00, so I grab the waders and head to the Dam. As one may expect, there were already a couple of anglers that were at this location already. I decided as opposed to standing right on top of someone I would head downstream. I locate a spot that doesn’t have anyone around, I haven’t fished here at least not that I can remember, so I decide to give it a test.
I never really know what I am doing when I go fly fishing. I don’t go enough in the summer to know what the fish are doing to any great extent, but usually I can catch at least one. This day starts off in an area I have not fished and apparently I start by determining everything the fish are not hitting. I see a blue-winged olive hatch and I grab the one I tie. I tell myself it is obviously not the correct size, but myself tells me that it could possibly be your inability to tie a fly that looks like anything natural, I tend not to listen to myself. I am getting deep into the fly box and finally get one bite on a Tellico. I begin to think August I should perhaps not fish and get caught up on chores. I check the clock, it’s 4:05 and I decide to head up, fish about 30 minutes then head home.
I get back to the bridge and remember the little run that I can usually pull out a nice 3” trout every once in a while. I go to my little gnat and cannot locate the eye for the hook. Perhaps I clipped it off when removing the line, not sure, but decide I would try a few others. I reach a point of desperation and try a worm. Think San Juan worm, but consider night crawler color, I throw it a few minutes, decide it is time to go, but then think, well the green weenie has worked one time this year, let’s take 5 minutes and give it a whirl.
Now the green weenie is bright, I can see it going in the current. The first cast I see it get knocked around all over the place. I cast again and bam, I catch one. My goodness, I am excited, I take a photo while it is in the net, it was a brown. I cast another time or two and another hits it. I net up this little rainbow and apparently he was camera shy, he jumps before he says cheese, no pic. I am getting pretty excited by now. I begin casting again and another brown, this one is very camera shy and gets off right at my feet as I am fumbling around trying to net him.
I had seen a larger trout upstream a little, I make a cast and begin to pull in and this trout strikes at my little green friend twice, but did not get it. That was a very nice trout, over 15” but he was only teasing I guess cause he never tried again. I figure I am going to be pushing getting in a shower and going to church so I walk downstream just a bit and think only a couple more cast. I get a big hit and miss it. I quickly cast again and he can’t resist the yumminess that my little green friend appears to be. I set the hook and walk over the bank to bring him in for a picture. This was a really nice fish, at least by my standard. I want to throw some more, I have caught 5, missed quite a few, and all of this in about 30-40 minutes, but I decide to be thankful for what I have and I head home and to church.
It was an absolutely wonderful day on the river. I finally got bit by a few fish, the water was cool and as clear as it could be, and the weather was nice. If you have never fished the South Holston River, you really need to give it a try. Hope you have had a great week and God bless. PSif you want a few flies, try Cabela’s or Orvis, click our banner, they are affiliates with us, this has been a shameless plug.
08 Aug 2012
Now as for this, it is a late entry. I wanted to write up this fishing trip, but it would have turned readers off of coming to the journal. So, I thought I would wait to write it up after I was able to enter another.
The family is out of town for the day, I get off work and should head home and catch up on some things. I did, I decided to catch up on some fishing. I get boat loaded and head to Bluff City. The boat is launched, the schnauzer is happy and I am off in search of some shad. I go to my honey holes, but cannot find any. I consider another spot I tend to catch a few, but there were fishermen relatively close, or at least close enough that I did not want to disturb their fishing. I always try to practice good fishing etiquette.
So I got in search of the shad. I see a few flips on the water and cast my net a while. I catch a bunch of small ones and wonder how they did not slip through the net. After a while of working on my casting skills, I head down the lake. I see some flips and stop in unfamiliar bait catching waters and begin the cast net practice. As I was about to give up, I finally catch some fine gizzards. I decide to fish in a different area and spend a couple of hours proving that the fish in this area were not interested in my shad.
So after a couple of hours of fishing, I load up and head to the house. Now as you can see, there was nothing funny, disastrous, or eventful in anyway about this trip, thus the delayed write up. I did have a great time just being on the water and getting the opportunity to wet a line. I tend to do more fishing than catching anyhow. Have a great week and God bless.
