Fall fishing in the watauga has officially started and it's kicking off quite well. A decent amount of BWO's are showing up in the late afternoon, making for a good way to end the float. However, your best bet for success will be to stay in the nymph rigs. The water is very low and the obvious spots are getting hit hard. As a result, you need to focus on the less common spots. The fish are stacked in pretty thick though. Don't forget to rip a big streamer in the deeper holes. The big browns are hungry and aggressive before the spawn.

 

The Lower Holston is fishing quite well despite the recent warming. We do expect it to slow down tuesday and wednesday as a large frontal system drops in but by Friday it will have stabilized and will be back to good fishing conditions. The smallies are willing to move a good distance for a meal right now and the top water action has been pretty hot. Focus on medium body dark colored poppers and don't be afraid to use crawfish patterns subsurface also. There a good number of carp around and they are ready and willing to eat. It can be quite a rush...like a freshwater bonefish.

We spent the past weekend on the Watauga in low water but it is fishing pretty darn well. We were focusing on the nymph rigs and running a san juan worm up too with a pheasant tail or a copper john below it. We had a few good fish (18 inch +) and as many 14inchers as we wanted to catch. We're focusing on the seams and faster water because the fish are stacked in those locations with the water as low as it is right now. It's not uncommon to catch 5-10 fish in each location right now.

The fall brown spawn is comin and the big boys are looking to fatten up a bit. There's great wading opportunities early in the day but TVA has been good to us and kept the afternoon flows going. We're focusing on streamers right now in high water and hitting the good streamer water hard. Were not putting huge numbers in the boat, but were putting plenty of quality fish in there for our clients. If you can throw a 6-7wt with a 200 grain sink tip 40ft, you need to give us a call and book your fall fishing trip. Don't forget sections of the river close in November so give us a call now.

The Lower Holston is fishing very well in the early AM up until about 2pm. By then the sun is at peak and the bite slows considerably. Get out there by 7 or 8am and focus on the cut banks and weed beds. There's lots of grass right now because of the months of sun and little rain. The fish are densely packed in feeding lanes but will regularly take a medium bodied dark popper fished with a slow chug. It's a long float so just fish the high spots after 2pm and take a lunch break a little later so you can fish the prime water.