Sitting here watching it snow. Yesterday was balmy and 54 degrees. Today we have 2″s of snow and it will not get above freezing. The BWO’s will come off today, but I will not venture out to fish them. They came off yesterday, tho. A very good hatch and a dry fly fisherman’s dream. All you needed was a BWO comparadun and a good drift and sip….

We have Comparaduns here, both Cdc and Hairwing  versions that will get the job done. We will be glad to mail you whatever you need. Or come and see us and pick them up your self.

The weekend is going to be nice- 50 degrees. The Olives should still come off well.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

423-878-2822

Ronald Jones from Hendersonville, NC drove over the mountain to fish the S. Holston River. Ronald meet me here at the shop around 9am, and we headed down to the river. We got down to our first spot. When we got in the water the wind was blowing a little harder then expected. We had some fish rising so we fished a dry and dropper. We missed a couple, but I decided to head to our next spot to try to fish a Blue Winged Olive hatch. When we arrived at our next spot the fish were already rising heavy. I scanned the water to see what they were rising to. I soon figured it out, Black Flies.  Ronald had on a BWO Sparkle Dun and a Stripper Dropper. So we started with that. He had fish take the BWO right off the bat, and he caught a nice fat 14″ Brown on the dry. He missed a few on the Stripper, but they were not really hitting it good. I switched dropper around to a BWO nymph no takes, then back to a Stripper. As soon as I switched back to the Stripper he got hits right away. Then the Blue Winged Olives started coming off good, and the fish started switching over to the Duns. I switched his dropper over to a BWO emerger and we catch one an missed several more on the emerger right away. The water started getting move and move covered with Blue Winged Olive Duns so I just took off the dropper, and down sized the dry to a size 22. We caught a good many more fish on the dry and missed even more. The hatch started dying out around 2pm so we decided to warm up with a hot meal. After lunch we checked a couple of stops hoping to get into some more Olives, but we didnt see any. We went back to the first spot we had started in. The fish were rising to midges so we just fished a dry and dropper. We caught 10 or more fish before calling it a day. Most all the fish were taking the midge dropper were we end. We could target the rising fish and they would take the midge dropper. It was a great day on the water with Ronald, and a great hatch. We caught lots of fish and some really pretty Rainbows.

Dont let the Black Flies get you. The fish are really feeding on the Black Flies when they are coming off. If you see fish feeding heavily on the surface and can not see what is on the water most of the time it is Black Flies.

If you would like a Guided Trip give us a Call at 423-878-2822.

Thanks,

Matt Champion

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

Dean Dudley came up from the Knoxville, TN area to fish with me for a half day. Dean had never fished the South Holston and was wanting to learn a little bit about the river. He arrived at the shop around 10:30am, and we headed to the river. The wind was blowing pretty good when we left the shop, but not to bad. We got to our first spot and started fishing. We missed a fish right away, and then the wind really picked up. So we decide to try to find a islocated spot were the wind was not blowing as hard. Well we found a spot were the wind was not as bad, and started fishing. At first we didnt see any bugs on the water or fish rising. Around 11:30am the Blue Winged Olives started coming off and the fish started rising to them. From then until 3:00pm we had a really good BWO hatch, and was getting alot of hits on a BWO Comparadun. We got up a little higher in a run and started popping a few fish on a BWO nymph dropper. Around 3:00pm the wind started blow up the river were we were and it made very hard to see our dry fly. So we decide to move to another spot out of the wind. When we got to our next spot there was no hatch going on, and the fish just didnt seem to want to hit. So we called it a day around 4pm. So I took Dean on a little sight seeing tour of the Public Access places and of the South Holston Dam.

It was a great day on the water Dean hooked, landed and missed alot of fish. I wish the wind would not have been blowing as hard as it was, because we could have had some great dry fly action. We saw tons of fish rising, but it was just hard with the wind to get a good drift on the fish. We didnt hook into any Big fish, but we did see some really nice fish rising. I also saw two big fish nymph. The biggest fish we got to hand was a nice 14″ Rainbow.

If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.

Thanks,

Matt Champion 

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

Twas a very good BWO hatch on Wednesday. Got to fish it from 1:30 til 3:30. Was a blast. All sipping fish and all on a 20 Sparkle Dunn , BWO. On slow ater fish, I can not say emphasize enough a down and across presentation. It is a must. You will luck into a few fish throwing straight up on them while dry fly fishing.  But you will be much more effective– across and down. 

I was using Seaguar Flourocarbon 7X all days. It is so strong. It fishes as strong as 6X Mono, but disappears like flourocarbon in the water. After fishing it for a solid year, I am convinced it is the strongest and best of them all. I did not break off a single fish in 3 outings. And there were plenty of good fish landed .

Friday, a very enthusiastic lady came in here looking for the Sparkle Duns that had been catching fish.  I sent her to the exact place the BWOs had been coming off. I sure hope she did well.  If you read this Mam, I hope you stuck it out. Matt went back around 4:00 yesterday evening and busted them on the Sparkle Dun. If I had to do it all over, I would make  sure you had a Stripper [ midge pupae] and a BWO nymph to go as a dropper. 

In summary, the dry fly fishing is very, very good right now.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

423-878- 2822

Man, I love this river. It has so many faces. And today, it smiled on me. I got out of the shop about 1:30 to chase a BWO hatch. I knew it was going to happen, because it did yesterday and today was even better conditons for it. It was cloudy, snowy and around 33 degees.  It was going to be BWO dry fly fishing or bust for me today. So I put on a 20 BWO Sparkle Dun with as light of wing as possible, for my sight of the fly. Did not even mess with a dropper. Like I said, dry fly or bust. It wasn’t a bust. Fish were sipping naturals like crazy. There were 2 small fish , 9″-10″er’s , today. Every other fish was 13″-16″s. All but two were ” Holston Rockets.” That is, Silver sided Rainbow trout that are hot as a NASA Rocket. You talk about making a reel sing. A Holston Rocket makes quite a tune.

Dry Fly Fishing has been incredible the last few weeks. So instead of staying close to the fire place, go fishing. The BWO’s and the Holston Rockets will make it worth your while.

The crowds are by the fire place. So the river is wide open. Not another car on the enitre river. Sweet!!!…

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

Matt and I got to fish a few hours this afternoon. From 2:30- 5:00.  Fish were hungry. My first stomach pumping had no bugs in it. So fish just started eating when we got there. Midges and Black flies were coming off. We caught fish on dries for a while. Then decided to really try to catch some fish. We put on dries with Blake’s Stripper , size 24 for the dropper. It was on. Fish after fish. We measured a 19″ and a 17″ Brown. Thin males from working so hard during spawning. But the good news is, the Browns are hungry after spawning. They will eat a BWO and Midge in a heart beat.

We caught a good many chunky, good length Rainbows also.

The fishing is very good.

Tight Lines.

Rod Champion

After hearing all the reports about how good the river was fishing yesterday. I decided to close up a little early and hit the river for a few hours. It had started rain pretty hard around lunch and was still raining when I hit the river. David Miller came in the shop and we headed down to the river. When I got in the water I saw some fish rising, and I caught a couple on a little Stripper. David was also getting hits up above me. With the rain it was hard to see the my dry fly. So I switched over to a bigger dry fly that I could see better. After I did that I started hooking up regularly up until dark. I did catch one nice Rainbow about 14″ and I hooked several other really nice fish.

This is great Winter Time fishing. If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.

 Thanks,

Matt Champion 

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

423-878-2822

I meet up with David, Aaron and Amy here at the shop around 9am. Amy and Aaron had never caught a Brook Trout so we loaded up and headed over to the Watauga River to try to get them a Brookie. The weather man was calling for a cooled sunny day, but we never saw the sun all day. David caught a nice little Brook Trout right off the bat, but the fish just were not hitting. With out the sun and the wind was really blowing it was just tough fishing. So at lunch we decided to head back over to the S. Holston.

We got to the Holston and there were some fish rising to Black Flies. So I put on a little size 26 Black fly Dry. Everyone was getting hits all afternoone. Amy was fishing a little stripper as a dropper and she caught two nice Browns.  We called it a day around 5pm.

I had a great time fishing with these David, Aaron and Amy.  I hope to fish their river around there lodge in Alaska.

Thanks,

Matt Champion 

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

423-878-2822

David, Aaron and Amy Purgee from Quartz Creek Lodge came to fish with me a couple of day in East Tennesee. None of them had ever caught a Brown Trout so our goal for the day was for everyone to caught a Brown Trout. It did take us long for Aaron and Amy to get their Browns. David caught a couple of Rainbows before he landed his first Brown Trout. Around 12pm the Blue Winged Olives started coming off and it didnt take long for the fish to start rising to them. We caught several fish on BWO Comparaduns before the hatch started dying out. So we went to and ate lunch down at Webb’s Store. After a good hot lunch we headed back to the river for the afternoone. We didnt find my fish rising but they were sure eating our little stripper as a dropper. Everyone was into fish, and we caught numbers of fish before it started getting dark. Amy caught a nice 15″ Brown, and I caught a pretty 13″ Rainbow right before we left.

It was a great day on the water with these guys.

Thanks,

Matt Champion 

Champion Outfitters Guide Service

423-878-2822