We’ve been blessed with a wet winter, lots of rain has
fallen and the lakes are filling up ahead of schedule. The TVA has been running
generation 24/7 on the Watauga and South Holston Dams since the middle of January
and are now sluicing additional water on the South Holston in order to get the
lake level back down to the flood plan. It looks like it may be the middle of
March, if we don’t get hammered with additional rainfall, before they return to
a normal generation schedule which allows for wade fishing on the river. There
is no telling how this will affect this year’s class of fish, other flow events
earlier may have had a negative impact on the redds, exposing some of them when
they cut the water off for some maintenance issues.
The only way to fish the river now is by drift boat, and
when my friend Kyle called up offering a seat in the boat, I jumped at the
opportunity. Fly shops and guides
reported success on nymphs and eggs, but we were determined to toss some meat
with the hopes of landing a few big fish.
When I arrived at the boat ramp, it looked like every other
fisherman with a boat had the same idea. I don’t recall ever seeing so many
drift boats on any other river. The flow was over 2800 cfs, which is ripping on
this river. We tossed big streamers to the bank and had a few hits, but no
hookups. After a while we joined the crowd and nymphed for a while with decent
numbers coming to hand.
Anchored up in one eddy, the boat began to float, and we
realized that, when we dropped anchor, we really dropped it. Somehow it came
off the locking D-ring. Knox, after measuring the depth, jumped in and saved the
day by working the 30 lb anchor into shallower water and rolling it into the
net as I held the boat in position by grabbing onto a beaver gnawed stump.
We moved some good fish on the streamers, but only brought
average fish to the boat. The day ended up all too quickly. It was good to be
out on the water with good friends, a day well spent.
http://vimeo.com/59329863
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