21 Dec 2013
Christmas is closing in on me, I still have done no shopping. The downstairs room is close to done, but still have a few hours of work left to get things in good enough order to use. The rod blank kits that I had ordered arrived today and the list continues to pile up. I go outside and feel the unbelievable weather we are having and decide to put it all on the back burner and head to the river. South Holston is generating starting at 10:00 am, Watauga River however is not. I have only fished this river once and it was muddy and I didn’t have any idea where to go, but off to Watauga I went.
My first trip there put me in downtown Elizabethton and I figured I would go upstream this trip. Having no clue where to go I finally found a pull off. There was a small side stream of the river and an island so I figured I’d have a walk a piece but no problem, nice day. As I get to this small creek part of the river I toss in my egg as I walk. The egg has to get wet to sink much and figured I could have it soaked by the time I reached the river. Bam, just like that I caught one, released and fished my way out of this stream. In this one stream area I caught about 6 and missed quite a few more.
As I reach the main river, folks are fishing from there property on the other side. I decided not to bother them and headed back down. I go a bit downstream of the little creek area and there is a slightly deep little run. I pull about 5 or 6 out of this run. One nice one took my peach egg, the knot came untied and the biggest being maybe 12″. I was having a ball and thought, let’s go downstream.
I jump in the truck, head downstream to the next pull off and get into the main channel. there is a very small island and I begin to fish the current. A couple of cast, hook a fish. This happens in this one spot for about 5 hook ups with one being a big trout. But I didn’t get any in so I begin moving around the island.
This day was about as good a day fly fishing as I ever had, I ended up landing at least 20 fish, missing as many as I caught. Early on I had cast off my strike indicator, this hurt my efforts somewhat. As I was fishing I thought to myself, this must be how the guides feel all the time. Catching fish like this does not happen with me very often, but mercy it is good when it does. I must have gotten 5 knots in my line that I had to undo, hung up on three trees, and at times felt like “Dorf does Fishing” was being filmed with me as the star. However, with the way the fish were biting, in the words of Arnold “I’ll be back”.
The second trip to Watauga, I saw no one else wading, the fishing was amazing, and it was only 3 miles longer than my drive to South Holston. I have to ask myself why have I not done this sooner.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, my fishing may be done until after the 25th. However, take time to remember what this Holiday is about. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus the Savior. Have a Merry Christmas and God bless.
  
  
30 Dec 2012
I am a little late with the entry, but the holidays are a little busy as I am sure you all understand. With the above thought in mind, I will keep this a little short, even though it shall be the final entry in the 2012 Journal.
After church I ate a bite and headed to the river. Â To be perfectly honest, I cannot remember how the day went. I ended up catching 3 trout, all were on a red egg pattern. I saw an angler catching a few with a yellow egg, but don’t tell him I told you.
I must apologize for my lack of memory, however, if you know me you are probably use to this type of behavior. I know the red egg is the pattern I used due to the pics above. Â I did go the next day and the generators started about 30 seconds after I got in the water, be sure that you get out of the water when the water gets released. I was skunked and ended 2012 not catching a fish.
However, I will get started soon on the first day of the year fishing trip and I was able to land a fish or two. I hope 2012 was a great year, The Lord was certainly good to us. I am looking forward to what will come in 2013, Happy New Year and may God bless.
I wanted to take just a minute and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Today is Christmas Eve and we are preparing for family meals and time together. I would like to encourage each of you to take some time to remember what we are celebrating this busy time of year. This is the time that we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent His Son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and presented Him as a sacrifice for the sins of all.
As you see the wrapped gifts, remember that Christ was wrapped and placed in a manger. As you see the gifts under your tree, remember that God gave of Himself, a gift, not about works, but a gift. And as we consider this happy and joyous time of the year, just remember that God loves you and we are able to celebrate Christmas because He so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
May God bless you and your family and Merry Christmas from TNFishingReport.
  
  
  
  
  
21 Dec 2012
Woke up and realized the world was still here, but just a bit colder. So a bit before 9:00 I headed to the river. The temp was 28 with howling winds and the news guy said the feel like was 18. When I get to the Dam the parking lot is completely empty, good times await. I hastily head out to the water, realizing when I hook one I had left my sun glasses and net in the truck.
I fish my new Christmas Streamer, trying to be festive I made it from tinsel. No bites and a bit too heavy to fish in this wind so I switch to a red egg pattern with a yellow egg pattern. I make a few cast and hook a nice one, he gets off. I miss a few more and then finally catch one. I get it out at the grass, snap the pic, then head to the truck to get the net I know I am going to need.
the net is frozen to the bed of the truck, figuring I would rip the net, I pulled anyway, and net was retrieved. Head back down and the bites continue. I hook a real nice one, bigger than the rest, but it gets off. I catch another, this on the red (hot pink) egg, same as other. Now I am not sure if this was from the bait scent I had made, but the fish were hitting real well.
I continue fishing a bit and catch two more, these on the yellow egg, then the bite slowed down. I talked with a fellow angler for a bit, he is using a flashback nymph and doing real well. I had been out here for an hour and a half and most of my fingers were completely numb. I decide to head back to the house catching four, hooking about 3 more and missing a whole bunch.
It is time to get ready for Christmas, but I am hoping to get an opportunity to head back to the river. The cold is the best time to go due to the lack of folks fishing. The generating should start picking up according to the TVA so make sure you check the schedule. Be safe and I hope all have a Merry Christmas. Take some time to remember that we are celebrating the birth of The Lord Jesus Christ, God bless.
18 Dec 2012
Just wanted to take a minute to let you know what is going on here in East Tennessee. I did get to go fishing for just a little while Friday. I got a hit on a red egg on about the second or third cast, set the hook, then had the most thrilling 0.95 seconds of the day. The fish released, although I am the one that is suppose to do the releasing, and then was gone. I got a few more hits the rest of the afternoon, but ended up getting skunked.
Saturday I spent some time in kitchen. I have come up with this brilliant idea that I am going to enhance my fish catching opportunity by experimenting with fish attractants. Now I realize there are many on the market, however, I am certain that with all my wisdom (a big dose of sarcasm right there), I will be able to develop an even better fish attractant.
I went to my old molds and plastic and began my experimental testing. I soon figured out that I had either forgotten how to do this properly, or the 10 years this bottle of material to make plastic baits has sat on the shelf, may have been a day too long. The difficulty persisted and eventually I ditched the plastic. However, I did come up with a plan.
I made my little concoction and placed into a fine sturdy plastic bowl with a lid. I went and retrieved my egg patterns, san juan worms, and of course the green weenie and watched them sink. I let this soak for a bit then removed and placed on vest. Tied up a couple more flies, just in case the mixture sends them into a feeding frenzy and they destroy my present collection.
Now it is today, I am sitting on pens and needles knowing that trout await the pleasant and enticing flies that I have ready. I must work till the weekend, but soon the trout shall be at my mercy. If you are on the South Holston River during the week of Christmas and you see someone slaying the fish, very big fish, and then sneakily placing the flies into an unmarked fish attractant, it is me. There is a real good chance that I will get skunked again, however, this passes the time until the next opportunity to get back onto the river.
 
 
08 Dec 2012
I am somewhat tardy in my musings about fishing this weekend, my apologies to the millions of fans waiting on the edge of their seat. This is due to multiple reasons, I am somewhat lazy, wanted to give a little time to absorb the previous entry, and mercy it is a busy time of year. Anyway, this will again be somewhat short but do hope that someone can get a little help.
Randy Ratliff of East Tennessee On The Fly had said that with the sluicing of the water, the trout are hitting larger nymphs and streamers. I head down to my fly tying area and begin to consider a streamer invention. This did not go well so I just opted to tie another Griffith’s Gnat and a size 12 pheasant tail. The pheasant tail has worked well for me in the past, however, I have a difficult time tying this one up and after about one hit I seem to start seeing my fly begin to come unraveled. I went ahead and tied this one up but used a very fine copper wire as an effort to better secure the body of the fly.
Saturday comes and I hang out at the house with everyone until it is time to wet a line. The crowd is pretty good size and I head down stream. I tried multiple patterns until I settled on a red egg. This little egg pattern brought in the first couple of trout. Now I have a theory that I have been considering documenting. I am going to share that theory here, but by no means is this to be considered official. Just as this day has gone many others have followed the same pattern. I get quite a few hits and then catch a nice little trout. I release the beast back into the wild waters of the South Holston River only to find that the spot to which I was receiving bites, has now gone dead. The theory is that perhaps the released trout are returning to their hunting grounds and relaying the message to family and friends that my fly is merely a trap. I doubt that this theory holds much water, however, it is something that I ponder as the fishing grows cold.
Anyway, after a couple of fish, I move to an area where I had seen some larger fish. I try the ‘ol San Juan worm, since it worked last time I am destined to slay the entire species. After going through a few of these, I finally went to my #12 Pheasant Tail. After just a few cast, boom, nice fish. This is the pic of the trout that is mostly glare, again Dorf on Photography, my photographic skills of fish in net with phone are somewhat lacking. This was a pretty nice trout, bigger than the others and the pic does not do it justice.
I released the trout, fished a bit more with no bites, obviously this trout had called a meeting with the others. In closing I would like to add to my pondering, I am most certain that my theory is wrong and as I further consider the thought of why one can go from a few bites to zero without a change, the thought occurs. What I should be doing is being thankful unto the Lord for allowing me to enjoy a few moments of hits and even catches. Sometimes perhaps we, (really it just me but saying we makes me feel better),  are always seeking for something a little bit better when we can stop and enjoy the blessings we have around us at the moment. That is my deep thought for the day, if you get any fish pics in Tennessee, email them to us and we will post them: tfr@tnfishingreport.com    God bless.
  
  
07 Dec 2012
Sorry to both of the faithful readers of this journal, however, this one may be a little short due to getting to fish two days in a row and I will need to add the trip I took yesterday. TVA is running about 300 cfs continuously and I decided just to hang around at the bridge for the day.
I started off using a #22 Griffith’s Gnat, got quite a few hits, but I have the hardest time trying to land one on these little rascals. I started going through my flies and tended to get a small hit on most flies I tried. When talking to a spin fishermen, he had hooked a nice one with an egg, so I used a red egg. I got one good hit on this, but missed him.
I decided at this point to try my San Juan Worm. I haven’t caught anything on this, but I did get a good hit one day while using this simply little pattern. This was a wise decision, which is completely out of the ordinary. The first one I caught was the bow above, look at the photo and you can see that I thought I was filming a Dorf on Fishing, if you remember Tim Conway. I have a difficult time trying to get a good photo with the fish, net, phone, and hook. I must have been hilarious to watch, so I didn’t look any other fishermen in the eye the rest of the day.
The other two pics above are of the one brown I caught. Again I have trouble getting a good pic, but this was a nice one. Same pattern on this one and it was a blast, until I had to try to get a pic. I hooked another brown, about the same size as the previous one, but he did not want to go through the torture of photography.
This was a real good day on the river and as the weather in East TN has been fantastic, I tied up some new flies that night, in preparation for the next day. Have a great week and send us in some Tennessee fish pics: tfr@tnfishingreport.com
 
  Dec 2012
The weather this week has been fantastic and I was able to go to the river a couple of times. I finished the last day of November on the river, they were running 300 cfs and will do so for a while, so I thought I would go out. I got skunked but not without missing a few. Small small small is what was on the table for the trout and my small flies were battered and beaten.
This opened the door for Saturday to do some chores and then to tie up a few flies. I grabbed the carpet cutter, some of my old #22 flies and started cutting then tying. This was also a good time to straighten out the fly box and just get ready for the next trip. Typically, my excitement for going doesn’t allow me to plan too well, I just take off and have quite a mess in my box.
Sunday rolls around, we go to church then lunch. After getting a full belly, I head out to the South Holston River. I get to my little honey hole and begin to fish. I miss a couple on the green weenie, but it is fishing slow. I see a few BWO’s, that is what I thought from a distance, coming off. When I say a few I mean they are sparingly appearing but the ones that do are getting eaten.
In my infinite wisdom, I put on a BWO, miss a few, but then I catch one. As quickly as the fish were hitting this fly, they stopped. I try a few other flies and end up going with a Griffith’s Gnat #22. This little rascal was pretty effective. This was for my second catch, but I missed quite a few fish with this one. One of the trout felt like a really nice one for the 0.287 seconds that he was on the line.
This was a good day of fishing, I received many many bites, landing a couple. I am going to have to just learn to fish the smaller flies, but much smaller than a #22 I am going to have to figure out how to even tie on the line. Hope you get an opportunity to wet a line with the awesome weather. If you do get a chance to fish, send us a pic at: tfr@tnfishingreport.com
