Posted on July 29 2020
Got a call from a blog reader in North Carolina who wants to know when I'm gonna finish the paint job on the camp - he's tired of reading about it. He's also tired of me talking about how good our sulfur hatches are. He fishes the South Holston in Tennessee and that pretty much is their hatch. I've fished there and sometimes there are several sulfurs on the water at the same time. Said he has caught over 600 fish this year and his biggest is 16 inches. If I can figure out how to do it, I'm going to take a video of our sulfurs and send it to him along with pictures of a couple of our twenty inchers..
Ask an angler on the South Holston, "What's a good days catch?" Odds are he'll say "Enough for dinner". It's a different culture down there and our Eastern Europeans would fit right in. Today I had a South Holston day, caught a bunch of fish and all were between eleven and thirteen inches. Never knowingly cast at a big fish, it was fun but not exciting.
Now down to business - Painted the primer coat on the second to last window on the camp this morning and left for the river. The afternoon hatch was from 11:30 until 2:00 and as usual there were lots of bugs and fish. Again it wasn't very crowded and I had a pool to myself. Wasn't where I planned to fish (that pool had two waders and a boat). The fish seemed happy to see my fly (ask Dave or Rick at the Troutfitter where to get that "ovulating sulfur" spray I've been using) and were not at not fussy about eating it.
The evening fishing was a little more complicated. The bugs were a little tardy, there was not much activity before the thunderstorms which hit about 7:15. As the rain let up around 7:30 the fish fed like crazy. They weren't the least bit fussy and never even gave my fly a sniff, they just ate it. One after another. The biggest problem was getting my cdc flies to float in the fog and rain. Should probably tie some flies that hold up better in wet weather.
With good wading levels on the river there seem to be far fewer boats fishing the sulfurs than in previous years. Maybe they are all down in the 17 pool but I don't think so. Today from the Men's Club up to the grass island at 7:00 there were six anglers and no boats. I know, I know, tomorrow it will be a solid line of boats with no room for a wade fisherman.
Ask an angler on the South Holston, "What's a good days catch?" Odds are he'll say "Enough for dinner". It's a different culture down there and our Eastern Europeans would fit right in. Today I had a South Holston day, caught a bunch of fish and all were between eleven and thirteen inches. Never knowingly cast at a big fish, it was fun but not exciting.
Now down to business - Painted the primer coat on the second to last window on the camp this morning and left for the river. The afternoon hatch was from 11:30 until 2:00 and as usual there were lots of bugs and fish. Again it wasn't very crowded and I had a pool to myself. Wasn't where I planned to fish (that pool had two waders and a boat). The fish seemed happy to see my fly (ask Dave or Rick at the Troutfitter where to get that "ovulating sulfur" spray I've been using) and were not at not fussy about eating it.
The evening fishing was a little more complicated. The bugs were a little tardy, there was not much activity before the thunderstorms which hit about 7:15. As the rain let up around 7:30 the fish fed like crazy. They weren't the least bit fussy and never even gave my fly a sniff, they just ate it. One after another. The biggest problem was getting my cdc flies to float in the fog and rain. Should probably tie some flies that hold up better in wet weather.
With good wading levels on the river there seem to be far fewer boats fishing the sulfurs than in previous years. Maybe they are all down in the 17 pool but I don't think so. Today from the Men's Club up to the grass island at 7:00 there were six anglers and no boats. I know, I know, tomorrow it will be a solid line of boats with no room for a wade fisherman.
Your posts are great,please keep them coming. To paraphrase:there is more to fishing and life then catching fish. Numbers may be impress but it the experience that matters. I enjoy as to many others hearing about what your doing to get through the day and try to squeeze in some fishing . I don’t enjoy the mundane posts of fish counts. Please keep it going. P.S I was up yesterday but left when the storm it-it was nasty and followed me for about 60 miles on the way home. Wish I would have stuck it out like you did. Still I had a fun day. Thanks again
600 fish this year…. wow that’s a big Tennessee fish fry!!!!