The smallmouth fishing on the Lower Holston is on fire. The grass beds are thick and the smallies are all staging on the edges in ambush mode. We're taking significant numbers of fish and at least one large one daily right now. The Cicada's are popping lower in the river, there are plenty of baitfish.....it's going to be a GREAT summer for smallie fishing.

The South Holston isalso fishing quite well. There are tons of sulphers coming off in high water right now. TVA is giving us good flows daily and it looks like it's going to continue for awhile (keeping our fingers crossed). Sulphers in 14-16 are popping in large numbers when the water turns on and the fish are feeding on them...all over the river, not just on the edges. The streamer fishing has also been quite good lately. If it's overcast, you want to be throwing streamers on this river....period!

 

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Hold on to your 6wt guys and gals, the smallmouth are slammin. Their spawn is now officially over and they have put their feedbags on. The good news is that for the time being we also have water on the North Fork of the Holston River. It's a freestoner loaded with BIG smallies and it's been catch and release for 35 years. We're spending some time here successfully and will be doing so until the water falls out too low to float. The lower Holston is also fishing very well and producing some very large smallmouth.

 Additionally, the South Holston trout are starting to crank up. Early season Sulphers are popping now, particularly lower in the river and during high water. The fish are up on them in both low and high water and have been almost "stupid" about it. We even got a few to take on 5x....for those who know the S. Holston, that's not normal at all.

We've got a few open spots so give us a call to book a trip soon. June is going to be a fantastic month for fishing!

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The Watauga River is still holding very strong these days and that's where we're spending most of our time. We've got a nice light cahill hatch in the late afternoons. We're also taking some BIG browns and rainbows on streamers and they are extremely aggressive right now chasing shad. Browns in excess of 8lbs are being caught daily at this stage so we're VERY excited for ourclients to say the least.

The smallmouth fishing is right around the corner too and we're starting to book those trips now. Plan on the last week of May for that to kick off. The spawn will be over and the larger fish will return to their feeding lanes ready to eat ANYTHING that is put in front of them accurately.

 

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The Watauga River is simply the place to be for the next few weeks.......it has been awesome. We have numerous large fish (18"+) taken each day on the surface and on nymph rigs. Each afternoon the Caddis hatch occurs starting around 1pm and it's been pretty solid all the way into the evening. There are also plenty of Hendrickson's as well. Unfortunately, it's bumper boats in the "trophy" section and those fish have been heavily pressured and it's starting to dwindle. The upside is that while everyone is crowded into a 5 mile section jockeying for position and a fish, we've had the rest of the river to ourselves and have had plenty of 40+ fish days, some topping 75. We have just a few spots left open for this hatch...this Thursday and Saturday the 24th and 26th...give us a call and get in while you can.

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Well...Well....the Watauga River Caddis Hatch is beginning. We went out this weekend and clobbered the fish throwing a size 16 caddis pattern. There were not a lot of bugs, but there were enough. We must have had 100 heads up in one riffle alone. It was sick.....sat on these fish for 2 hours and picked off each one deliberately.....this is why fishing is so fun. We only have 4 more days available to take you fishing, so give us a call.....soon!

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