The Watauga River fished extremely well this past weekend. We fished the upper stretch from Wilbur Dam downstream and focused on the streamer rigs. We were fishing deep sinking lines (300 grain) and stripping a 3-4" articulated baitfish and had an average of 10 strikes an hour. Nothing HUGE was caught but a few good 2-3lb brownies were taken. Concentrate on sweeping the tailouts with the streamersin this post spawn time. Pockets of slack water next to moderate currents also produced really well. The other great thing....we were the only boat on the river! Hard to imagine that on the watauga isn't it!

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It's hard to really classify this as winter fishing, but it is december and the morning temps are below 30. As a result, some of the crowds have deminished and we're not complaining because the fishing is excellent. On cloudy days we're seeing sporadic Blue Wing hatches but that's never been why you come to the watauga. You come for nymphing and streamer fishing and it has been excellentof late. Large browns and even some of the large rainbows have been crushing big, light colored streamer patterns in the upper float (assuming there is water). In the lower sections every run is holding good fish and they are stacked tight and ready to eat. It's not easy fishing, but it's excellent fishing none the less. We look forward to having you with us and don't let the "winter months" fool you, the fishing is worth it.

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The Watauga River is fishing superbly right now, but it's not for rookies. It's 3rd year graduate school classes out there right now. Fish are not in their normal holding lanes. They are in the 2nd and 3rd lanes but stacked up this. We're having good success on smaller midge larva, peacock soft hackles and hare's ear nymph patterns. When the water is up (50% of the time it is this year), the streamers are golden. These fish are attacking the olive or black buggers and the big fish are all over the articulated baitfish patterns in lighter colors. It really is an EXCELLENT time to be fishing the watauga but it's not for the beginner fisherman.

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