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The mighty Vols weren’t scheduled to play till 7:30 and I didn’t feel much like getting up too early, but wanted to squeeze in a fishing trip today. After waking up, I began getting ready and thought I would go down and check out the boat battery. I had charged the trolling motor battery, but I typically don’t charge the starting battery every trip. I went down and noticed that I had left on the main power and the starting batter was drained. This little mishap put me about 2 hours or so behind, which meant I got to eat breakfast.
I put in behind the airport and headed straight to Candy Creek. Catching shad is sometimes easy and sometimes a pain, this was about in the middle. I caught some shad and headed to the main channel. The wind was blowing with some white capping on the water. Typically this is somewhat annoying and today was no different, but I was still determined to fight the wind till I caught a few.
I put one out about 13′ deep, put out a flat line, then when all was settled, I set one up for flipping toward the bank. On a flip to the bank, Â my shad get hit, I see the boil up and notice that the life is out of my shad. I didn’t get this one, but things were looking pretty good. I pitch it out again and I get nailed, I let the fish run just a second then set the hook. I pull, sudden release of pressure and I begin looking for a hook, that fish broke my line, must have been a weak spot.
As the days events unfold, I have two runs on the back line, but was unable to get them. I had already boated one hybrid and a couple of kayak gentlemen stopped by and as the young feller started talking, I got a run and brought one into the boat. I thought I may just keep them around if I catch another one before they leave. We talked a spell, they were fine young men and wanted to talk about fishing, hopefully they will be sending me some pics soon, good luck guys.
Anyway, I boated 4 Saturday, missed two, had one break my line, and the Vols won the football game. I learned I should check my batteries the night before and I am going to have to pick up some more hooks. I didn’t catch any big ones, but I did realize that if the hybrid came in the 30 pound editions like the stripers, they would be a big fight to get into the boat. It’s been a great weekend, send us in your fish pics for Tennessee: tfr@tnfishingreport.com
  
  
  
  
  
15 Sept 2012
Saturday morning is here and the TN-FL football game is tonight. I have plumbing issues and many chores, but the lake is starting to drop, this will be my final trip to Bluff City this year. I head out in the morning and see some shad flipping when I arrive. The water is lower, not much for the lake, but this is at the river and I am thinking wish I would have gone to the main lake. I begin with searching for bait and with the activity I am certain that it will not take very long.
I find out that the only ones that appear to be in schools are the tiny shad that get stuck in my net, we commonly call them “head pinchers” cause there heads are pinched in the net. I end up catching 5 nice ones and head to the mouth of the river. This was a nice trip, the cold water was down pretty far but with no heavy current. Then enabled me to see the floor of the lake/river where I usually fish. It also allowed me to see that my honey hole had no fish in there are all. I begin to just troll back to the ramp, as I do I take a few pics.
The one with the empty train track is far enough back to capture the swinging bridge, it is a pretty good shot for a phone pic. As I get to the tracks I see a striper chasing shad near the bank. I head over, flip my shad in front of the striper and can only figure he got his fill on the shad he was after. He never appeared to even glance at mine. This sounds bad, but about 20 minutes earlier I had texted wife telling her that I think the stripers have moved out.
As I continue my journey a train came by above my head. As I was uncertain if I would have fish pics, I snapped a few of these. I thought they were pretty good considering if we are near the tracks and the kids are with me, at least one of them wants us to move, they don’t like all that weight above our heads. I don’t really blame them for that.
I continue on toward the ramp and see a flip in front of me. I grab my net, make a cast and catch about six really large gizzard shad. I keep them just in case I get on a bunch of fish in a few minutes, it could be anytime. As I get to the unused trusses, I begin to flip. Suddenly I get bit, give slack and then see my shad slowly floating up toward the surface, it did not turn out very well for him.
I put on a fresh one throw it next to the truss and boom, fish on. I pull in this nice smallie and grab a quick photo. Starting to feel pretty good about the day I continue trolling. I fish another 45 minutes with nothing biting. I figure that it is my last day at Bluff City this year. I was blessed to catch one and think I am going to have to head to the main lake or river for the rest of 2012. It was a real good day on the lake, some great photos, and a ballgame coming up. The game we shall leave for another venue, but all and all, this was a fantastic day.
  
 8 Sept 2012
Saturday morning has arrived and the weatherman said rain today, this means I am going to keep the boat in the garage. My plan for the day was fishing and searching. You will notice that the pics above are of the river, that tells you that I did a lot of fishing and just a little catching.
Initially I headed to the Dam, this was intentional, thought I would pull in a few take some pics then start my walk-a-bouts just looking for new fishing spots, less folks. I begin fishing with last weeks flies of the week for me and I get a grand total of 1 bite. I fished two pretty consistent spots and I determined that I did not come armed with the proper flies.
As I get out I meet a gentleman and his son. We talked for a while and had a great conversation. They were both obviously much more impressive at fly fishing than myself and I always like getting input from others. After talking I head downstream.
I pull over and prepare my equipment then get in the water. I fish a few minutes and then look downstream, a gentleman is fishing 30 yards or so downstream. I apologize and he says there are plenty of fish here. I was fishing upstream, fished a few more minutes but then my conscious got the better of me. This angler had been here, so I left to go searching.
I find a spot and then just start walking and fishing. The top water activity is almost non existent and I am sticking with nymph type flies. But as I start walking finding a spot and fishing I have a realization. This is when I took the above pics. As you can see no other anglers are here and I just decided to take in all that I see. I begin fishing and walking and just enjoying. The fishing became secondary and I think I found a really nice place with not too many folks that will be in the area.
I continue fishing a while, get a couple more bites but catch no fish. I think I have found a spot that may beat the crowds on the weekends and realize I am going to have to expand my fly tying to find what the fish are hitting. It was a great day on the river and I realized that catching fish is simply icing on the cake.
  
  
03 Sept 2012 Labor Day
Labor Day has arrived and the plan for the day is a golfing trip with the son. Since we were going to get on the course early afternoon I figure that I can squeeze in a little fly fishing. I head up to the South Holston River, but decide to go about halfway up. I don’t fish here very often but wanted to check the green weenie in other areas.
I begin looking for some moving water, near grass, or possibly an overhanging tree. The fishing begins and I end up going through a few flies. I decide to go back to my game plan and begin moving. Finally, after moving downstream a bit, I get a bite. The fight is now on and as you can see from the first brown above, it wasn’t a long fight, but it was fun. Within five minutes of that fish, I get another bite, this time, I did not get a good hook set, fish off.
I begin moving again and another hit comes, it is the rainbow above and a nice little trout. I miss another one and the the monster bites. I set the hook and this little guy is fighting with all he has, it just isn’t much yet. As I was pulling him in, I saw a couple of nice trout trailing him.
I look at the time and I need to go on to the house to get ready for the golf outing. The entire morning, I could not see another angler where I was fishing. The fog was on the water and just a very nice peaceful setting for a great morning. It has been a great start to September so far. If you have any pics from Tennessee fishing, email us, we will post it on the site: tfr@tnfishingreport.com
  
   01 Sept 2012
It is the first day of September and a cross country meet has been scheduled for 11:00, it’s being held at South Holston Dam. So, I get up and get up early and figure I can get in a couple hours of fishing. When we arrive, the water is down and the honey hole is open, fly rod is still sporting the green weenie and I figure to slay about 5 in the next few minutes.
I begin fishing and miss about 7 with the green weenie. I fish a bit longer here, but the bite seemed to slow so I head down stream. I walk a pretty good piece and see no place to fish. Now I probably could have squeezed in there some place, but I tend to like to have a little bit of room and demonstrate some etiquette.
I walk back up and begin replacing my green weenie with something that will be more effective. I try some random flies. I get some hits on a few, then I switch over to a pheasant tail. On the first few cast, I get one, a small rainbow. I remove the hook, pull out the phone, fish jumps out of the net.
I throw back in and another hit, this would be the pic above, this fish are not wall hangers, but they are pretty nice for me. It is getting close to time for the race and I decide to call it a day.
All and all, it was a good day, I had forgotten my belt for my waders, had to use the one I had for my britches. I had lost quite a few of my flies I tend to use more often off of my vest and had to back track to the truck due to my absentmindedness. The race went well, the fishing was good, and September has started off nice. Hope your Labor Day is going great and you have great time fishing. Good luck and God bless.
