Me and Connor fished down the river in the morning, and the fishing was a little show until the pulse hit. Before the pulse they were feeding on midges. After the pulse hit they started hitting Sulphur dries. We broke for lunch and went up stream to fish the Sulphur hatch. After a walk down the hill we hit the river and the Sulphurs were coming off. During the hatch Connor hooked an caught several nice Browns and Rainbows. He caught a really nice Rainbow about 15″ and a couple of cast later he caught a nice Brown about 14″. We got to make some cast at some really big fish, but just could not get them to take. It was a great day on the water.

 Good Fishing,

Matt Champion

Champion Outfitters Guide Service.   

TVA is backing their generating schedule down some now . Today they cut the water loose at 4:00 P.M.. That , with the warmer weather have brought the Sulphurs back, strong. Hatches were even good at the grates , right below the Weir dam. And were better for the next 1-2 miles down the river. Reports of size 16 Creamish colored Sulphurs were given. With your usual 16-18 Sulphur orange ones. The Split case nymph floated behind a Comparadun was very successful on the bigger Browns.

And if you come , do NOT forget a Beetle- size 12-16. Toss in the shade under trees and hold on. Big Browns are sucking them down.

Tight Lines to All.

Rod Champion

I had a great day on the water yesterday on the Watauga River in East Tennessee. With Jack and Arch from South Carolina. We float the lower section of the Watauga and landed alot of fish. Arch had the biggest fish of the day with a 14″ Rainbow. Jack and Arch both had big fish on but we never got them to hand. The water started coming up on us so we just called it a day. What a great day to be on the water.

The fish on the Watauga River are feeding heavily on nymphs. They are rising to the few Mayflies and Caddis that are coming off during the Day. We caught must of our fish on nymphs.

Matt Champion

Cosby and I fished the Watauga on the second day of his trip. We started in the morning in one stetch and man did we catch some fish. Cosby landed probably 30 fish before lunch. He had a Slam in the first hole that we fish (Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout). We got to the top of the stetch and was getting ready to stop for lunch when Cosby hooked an landed a nice 14″ Rainbow. After lunch we headed down stream to give us more time before the water came up. The fishing was a little tougher then the it was in the morning but we managed to get a few to hand including a nice 17″ Rainbow. We also watched and fished to a Big Brown that was just cruising around. A couple of time he swam within three or four feet of us. Man was he a big fish.

 Matt Champion

Cosby Thomas joined me for a two day trip that his children gave him for his 60th birthday. Cosby meet me here at the shop around 8am and we headed down to the river to brake in the new Winston he had just picked up at the shop. So we headed down around the Weirs dams to work on some casting. We managed to catch about 5 or 6 down there, but Cosby missed three times as many as that. The we headed down stream to fish the Sulphur hatch before the water came up. There were some fish rising when we got to the water, but no Sulphurs on the water yet. So that means Midges and Blackflies. So we put on a Sulphur Comparadun and a Blackfly larva. We caught a few fish on that set-up, and missed a few. Then I started seeing a few more Sulphurs flying around and the fish were starting to rise more regular. So I took the blackfly larva off and put on a Pheasant Tail. As soon as I put on the PT the fish start popping it along with the dry. Cosby caught fish pretty regular for the next 45 minutes or so before the water came up. We both saw a really nice fish rising so we worked our way up to get a good cast up to them. As we where doing that Cosby caught a nice 15″ Brown that just gave him a fit on the 8′ 4wt BIIt. Then we moved on up and got some good cast to the bigger Brown that was rising we got him to take the dry once but missed him. After that we hit the head of the run and Cosby 5 or 6 fish in a row. Then the water started coming up and it was time for us to get out of there. So we came up to the shop eat lunch and hooked the boat up to float the afternoon.

 During the afternoon float the trout we feeding on Sulphur duns. Cosby caught a good many fish on dry and missed or broke off a number of good fish. I am not really sure how many fish got to hand, but we where steadily hooking and landing fish all afternoon.

It was a great day on the water.

Matt Champion

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

Me and Josh decided to go explore a few new places on the Watauga Monday. Boy am I glad that we did. The first place we stop we could not keep a fish off our flies. They were eating heavily and the fish were potted bellied. I caught one really nice Brown about 14″ and both of us had our slam in the first hole. So we decided to change spots. The second stetch that we fished didnt produce as many fish, but they were all nice quality fish. Everything was 10″ or better and fought like a freight train. Right before we got run off by a Thunderstorm I hooked in to a 20″ Rainbow that was just plan beautiful she jumped and throw my 22 midge. Man was that a great day of fishing.

Matt and Jens joined me again for a half day float on the Watauga on Sunday. The Watauga is low but the fishing is great. Brooks,  Browns and Rainbows are feeding heavily. Matt caught his slam, but Jens never caught a Brown to finish his out. Matt finished out the day with a nice football 14″ Rainbow. We saw tons of big Rainbow in the shallow water, but we just could not get one to hit.

 Good Fishing,

Matt Champion

Matt Yeter and his son joined me for a afternoon float on the South Holston. The fishing was really good Sulphurs came off good and the fish were rising. Matt caught a good number of fish on dries and missed more then we caught. It was a great afternoon on the water.

 Good Fishing,

Rod and Matt Champion

The river is fishing very good! From Flashback Pheasnat tails- size 16-18 to Sulphur Comparaduns- trout are eating them. Everybody , up and down the river came in celebrating success.

The Sulphurs are hatching from 11:00 til the water comes , on low water. Sulphurs are mostly size 18 – sulphur orange. But a 16 Comparadun will catch them just as well. Even with no bugs on the water, the fish will rise to Comparaduns.  A  very good producer has been the Matthews Sparkle Dun. A mostly creme compardun wiht brown trailing shuck.

When TVA cuts the water loose, the Sulphurs are coming off very strong. On saturday, the hatch was good. And fish were rising to them. Size 16 Comparaduns and Matthews Sparkle Dun were again the trick.

I fished the spinner fall Saturday evening. As soon as the water went down, trout began eating Comparduns , size 16. Then around 8:30, the spinners began the dropping to the water. It was like taking candy from a baby. Mostly12-14 inch browns were eating mine.

Dr. Vic, a regular on the upper part of the river, hooked into a big, big brown ,  Saturday, on a Black fly , size 24. He was using a black comparadun. Everyone saw it.. the word is 25″ OR BETTER. He wrestled with it for a while, then the Brute tood his 7X with him. Dr. Vic will land him someday.

Fishing is very good , now, for all.

Come join us.

Rod CHampion

South Holston Fly Shop

423-878-2822

Me and Josh floated the S. Holston yesterday, and the Sulphurs poured off. The fish where really eating the duns off he surface. There were tons of bugs and lots of fat popped bellied Browns and Rainbows eating them. It was just a great day on the water fish rising to dry flies it does get much better then that.

 Good Fishing,

Matt Champion

The fishing on the South Holston is extremely good right now. During a float yesterday the Sulphurs came off really well and the trout where rising to them. There where lots of fish rising and some really good heads popping up. We caught numbers of nice sized trout off of dry flies.

Good Fishing,

Rod and Matt Champion

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

There was a big Spinner fall on the Holston last night. The trout were rising everywhere, but the fog was so thick that you could hardly see anything. I didnt catch any big fish, but numbers of fishing in the 10-12″ range.

We didnt get to fish just a couple of after we closed up shop yesterday, but the fishing was pretty good. We floated on high water and the Sulphurs were coming off. They where not heavy that late in the evening, but the trout where still rising to the dries. We caught a number of 8-10″ Browns, but we did have several bigger fish rise we just couldnt get a hook in one. We had several 16-18″ Browns come to the dry just didnt get a good hook up on them.

 Good Fishing,

Matt