Daniel and Drew came up from Chattanooga, TN for a day of fishing on the South Holston River. Daniel and Drew are fairly new to fly fishing, and fish the Hiwassee River a good bit. So they know the basics of fly fishing. We got started around 9am. It was cloudy and cold Monday morning. We were able to catch several fish a piece on streamers before we went to lunch. After a good hot lunch the sun popped out hcand warmed things up. The fish responded to the warming temps. We started fishing dries and droppers to rising fish and Daniel was cathing fish reguarlly. So I called Drew upto us. He had gone down to fish streamers in some running water. I switched Drew over to a dry and dropper, and he started hooking into fish right away. Neither Daniel or Drew had done this type of fishing, and they really enjoyed catching fish on light tippets and small flies. We fished there for several hours and caught alot of fish, mostly Browns. Daniel was wanting to see another section of the river so I took them down below the shop to let them fish some Black Flies. Both Drew and Daniel were getting plenty of takes, but were having problems getting them stuck. After a little coaching they got it down pretty good, and both of them started catching fish on the little size 24 dries. Around 6pm we called it a day.
I had a good time fishing with Daniel and Drew, hope to do it again. We had a great day on the water the fish were really feeding, and we were able to tag alot of fish. We didnt catch anything big, but the fish really were putting up a good fight. It was alot of fun.
If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call 423-878-2822.
Tight Lines,
Matt Champion
Champion Outfitters Guide Service
David Daily and his son Alex came up for the Nashville, TN to fish the S. Holston. David and Alex fished themselves on Saturday, and had a tough day. So they decide to have me take them out on Sunday. They arrived at the shop at 9:00am and we headed to the river. The river had some color in it so we started throwing streamers and the fish were eating them pretty good. I had to work with Alex on his casting, and after some work he got it down pretty good. When the sun popped out a little the trout started rising to midges and Alex caught a couple on a midge dropper. It was pretty cool Sunday morning so we headed down to Webb’s Store to get a hot meal. After lunch we headed upstream and walked in on the TVA land. The river had a little color in it up there, but the BWO’s were coming off when we got there. We caught several on a BWO dry fly, and Alex was able to pick some of the sippers along the bank on a midge dropper. The fish switched from eating BWO’s to midges and they started eating the midge droppers. The fish stopped feeding much so we walked back out to fish another area. We got to our next spot and there were some rising fish, and we missed a few on drys and droppers. Alex hooked a nice 16″ or so Brown, but he popped loss. We headed down to the grates to end the day with some Black fly fishing. The fish were rising to Black flies and both David and Alex were able to hook several fish on the little dry flies before we called it a day.
I had a great time fishing with David and Alex. The fishing was a little slow to start with, but we were able to get a good number of fish to hand. It was great to watch Alex’s casting improve like it did.
If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.
Tight Lines,
Matt Champion
Champion Outfitters Guide Service
Tom and Jim came over from the Charlotte, NC area to fish the S. Holston River. Tom and Jim had fished the Watauga several times, but for different reasons they had never been able to fish the South Holston River. So we headed down and put the boat in the water. We started out fishing nymphs in some of the deeper holes and runs. We managed to hook into several fish on the nymph rigs, but the fishing was a little slow. Around lunch time the rain started so we switch over to throwing Woolly Buggers. After switching over to Woolly Buggers Jim caught two fish in a row, and it was on from there. We worked our way down the river catching fish constantly. Both Tom and Jim we hooking up and land some really nice fish. Around 3:00pm we got down into a good run and there was a Blue Winged Olive hatch. So we jumped out of the boat and did some dry fly fishing. We the run well and caught fish on both a BWO dry and a BWO nymph as a dropper. After we caught a good many fish out of the run we had to jump back in the boat so that we could get off the water before the sun set on us. The rain started again and we switched back to streamers and caught a good many more fish on our way back to the truck. Tom caught a Big 18″ Rainbow on our way to the truck, and Jim caught a nice 16″ Brown Trout. We had a great day on the water caught numbers of Trout in the 12 to 14″ range with several over 14″. We also rolled several Brown in the 20″ and bigger range.
I had a great time fishing with Jim and Tom. It did ran on us Saturday, but we made if off the water before the heavy rain came. So it was a great day on the water.
If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.
Tight Lines,
Matt Champion
Champion Outfitters Guide Service
Mark, Jim, Drew, Shane and Jonthan came down from the Pittsburg area to fish with us on Monday. They wanted to float so we packed up and headed over to the Watauga River in East Tennesee. They meet Me(Matt Champion), Kevin Lowe and Hugh Hartsell here at the shop and we headed over to the Watauga River. We got all the boats in the water and started down the river. I had Mark and Jim in my boat while Shane and Jonthan fished with Kevin and Drew floated in Hugh’s boat. The fishing was a slow at first we fished though the first few hole with just a few hits. Then I pulled up beside a nice run to fish some nymphs though. Mark floated his nymph rig down though the run and caught a nice Rainbow Trout about 16″. After a hard fight we got the fish to net and took a couple of pictures the watched her swim off. Then it was Jim’s turn to hook in to some fish on the fly he fished the nymph rig down through the runs and holes missing or hooking a fish every now and then. As the weather warmed the fish seemed to get more active, and after lunch Jim was catching fish good on the nymphs. Then a BWO hatch started and the fish really started turning on. Both Jim and Mark were catching fish well, and the guys in Kevin’s boat were hooking up on fish with on Dry’s. We got to the Caddis Riffle and decide to get out and wade some everyone was getting hits and hooking up. Jonthan caught a nice 17″ Rainbow on a dry and dropper what a nice fish.
As we floated down the river the fish really started to feed well. It seemed like they wanted something moving, and we were catching fish on all kinds of streamers. We were caughting a good number of fish, and so were the guys in Kevin and Hugh’s boats. Shane in Kevin’s boat hooked a big Brown Trout that jumped and throw the hook. As the sun was setting Jim hooked in to a big Rainbow I hate to say how big it was, but it was a big fish. The hook just popped out, and we didnt get a good look at him.
Man the fish on the Watauga River are fat and healthy.
The Watauga is fishing great right now, and the Black Caddis is starting up. It is a great time to be on the water. We had a great time fishing with these guys.
Thanks to Kevin and Hugh for helping me out on this trip.
If you would like a Guide Float or Wade trip give us a call at 423-878-2822.
Tight Lines,
Matt Champion
Champion Outfitters Guide Service
Steve Moore from the D.C. area came down to fish with me on the South Holston River in East Tennessee. Steve meet me here at the shop around 9:00am and we headed down to the river. We had to start well down stream because TVA was running water from 6am to 10am. We got to the water and saw some fish rising to Midges so we rigged up and fished a dry and dropper rig to the rising fish. We had several takes on the Stripper and caught a couple before the water came up on us. So we packed up and headed back upstream to caught the water dropping. When we got to the water there was a few trout rising, and we missed a few on the dry and dropper. Then the wind started blowing hard across the river, and it made it hard to cast to the fish an blow the bugs off the river. So we decided to go get some lunch then try it again. After lunch we got to the river, and caught four or five Brown right after we stepped in the water. The fishing kind of slowed down so we headed to some slow running water. When we got to the running water there were some fish rising, and we started getting hits right away. As we worked our way up through the running water we started getting more and more hits. Steve caught several nice fish out of the head of the hole and hooked into one nice fish that just popped loss. We didnt have much of a hatch, but the fish were feeding well. We caught a few on dries, and saw a few Blue Winged Olives but no real hatch.
I had a great time fishing with Steve, and we had a great day on the water. The weather was beautiful it felt like Spring, and the fish were will to hit. What a great day.
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
Jim Ray and I fished a half day on Friday. TVA was running water from 6am-10am so I didn’t meet Jim until 11:30am to let the water drop. We hit the river and the trout were rising to Midges when the water dropped. Jim started with a BWO Comparadun and a Stripper Dropper. We got into the water an started fishing to some rising fish we did miss a couple, but didn’t get the hits like I thought we should be getting. So I lengthened Jim’s dropper out, and we started getting more takes. We were catching numbers of 8-12″ Browns with a few Rainbows mixed in. As we fished up through the pole we saw several nice fish rising and we had a few take the BWO Comparadun. Jim a couple of nice 14-15″ Browns, and a couple about the same size. As the water dropped on down to normal flow the fish started slowing down so we moved down stream to catch the water dropping. When we got down stream the fish were rising everywhere you could see splashes and heads everywhere. I thought that the Blue Winged Olives were coming off, and Jim caught a nice 16″ Brown before we even got in the water on a BWO dry. We fished the BWO dry over alot of rising fish, but no more wanted to take. I started looking at the water and could see Black Flies on the water along with a few Blue Winged Olive Duns. I put on a Sparkle Dun and caught three fish right away. So I put Jim on a Sparkle Dun he caught one right away, but didn’t have anymore takes. So I put a little Black Fly Dry on behind Jim’s BWO, and we started hooking into fish. The fish were really keyed in on the Black Fly Adults and that is all they wanted. The temps dropped and it started raining so we called it a day. Jim had a great day on the water I guess that he caught and released 40 or more trout in our half day trip.
The fish are really eating and we are having some great dry fly fishing.
If you would like a Guided Trip give us a call at 423-878-2822
Good Fishing,
Matt Champion
Champion Outfitters Guide Service
