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Fishing Report for February 22, 2008
South Holston Date: February 22, 2008
Location: South Holston, lower river
Conditions: High 50 Low 35, Cloudy with Sporadic Light Rain
Guide: Justin Shroyer
Today was day one of filming for the upcoming Barrett
Productions Trout Unlimited “On the Rise” television show.
The show is planned on being aired around late June. I had
the pleasure of guiding Frank Smethurst, the show’s host,
and NC Trout Unlimited Representative Squeak Smith for a day
of wade fishing the lower South Holston Tailwater. The
cloudy conditions were promising for a good hatch of midges
in the morning and blue wings in the afternoon.
We started the day fishing dry fly dropper
rigs in slow currents over a cobble stone bottom. A couple
of small fish were picked up on a size 20 green bead head
zebra midge. As we moved into deeper water we rigged up with
black midge and scud patterns on nymph rigs. The fish ate
the midge patterns as the temperatures continued to cool
around 10:30 am. Three good rainbows and a number of smaller
fish were picked up in swift current, all on various zebra
midge patterns.
The afternoon was spent fishing the riffles
during a decent blue wing and midge hatch. The blue wings
began to hatch around noon and continued until we left the
river at 4:30 with midges hatching sporadically throughout.
We tried to target the bigger fish during the hatch by
bouncing natural mayfly and midge patterns off the bottom.
Two browns, 19 and 20 in. were landed on size 22 blackfly
midge larva, and more than a dozen rainbows were landed
mostly on the mayfly patterns. At one point Frank landed
five fish on five consecutive casts, all rainbows between 10
and 16 inches.
The South Holston treated us well, as the
fish cooperated for Frank, Squeak, the camera crew, and
myself. It is a great time to wade fish the South Holston,
and you don’t need comfortable weather to pull it off. The
bugs are hatching nicely in cloudy, cold conditions, and the
fish are eating the bugs readily. Remember to keep your
flies simple and small, as too much flash or size will deter
most of the better fish from engulfing your fly.
Reported by:
Justin Shroyer
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