Paint Creek 10/30/09

Headed for Paint Creek on a last minutes whim. The original plan had been to float the Clinch and throw streamers, but TVA decided they wanted to run two generators. So in a last ditch effort to get a little fishing in, we headed over to Paint Creek.

The drive over was really cool. There is a some pretty country over there and the leaves looked amazing. We got on the water around 12:30pm. There was not as many fish in the river as years past, but there were some very nice ones and a few even cooperated and decided to eat for us.

It was a great day and we even managed to catch a few fish. Doug and Clay found one really nice run that produced some great fish. We wrapped it up at 3:30pm and made it home for dinner.

SoHo in the rain

We fished today on the South Holston Tailwater in the cold rain. I wanted to test out the new LineX coating I just had put on the bottom of my hand built wooden driftboat. The coating did its job and I was very pleased how the boat performed on this low water non-generation trip.

There were black caddis in a size 12 coming off all day. We also saw size 18/20 BWO's coming off in the heavier rains showers and the fish were feeding hard on them. We used a size 18 brown zebra midge with a stripper midge dropper about 14" under a small strike indicator.

When the generation hit us about 2:30 pm we switched to small white rabbit streamers and got a couple good slams.




This little brown hit this zebra midge and started bulldogging to the bottom, it made for a fun fight for my client as he tried to saw off the leader on the sharp jagged rocks.












This rainbow took a stripper midge and put up a great fight in the strong current. It is amazing how they can pull when they put their wide bodies sideways in the current. The camera washed out the really bright pinkish purple strip down his side.

Check out my website, www.trout-fishers.net if you would like to fish the legendary South Holston with the winter time midges.

I just got back from a week of fishing in the salt along the South Carolina coast. It was a blast catching redfish on the fly rod in the salt marsh during the morning high tides and then casting to cruising fish during low tide in the wild oyster racks.

Catching a couple of sharks on the fly rod was totally AWESOME!!! Watching them take the fly and then go on a drag screaming run while my guide poled the boat trying to keep up with them.

The sunrises while out in the boat were spectacular. Everything takes on an orange glow just as the sun starts to peek over the horizon. It makes you truly appreciate life.

All I can say is that I will be back and the next time it will be two weeks instead of one.

I recently took these gentlemen from Southern Indiana to fish on our new private trophy trout waters in Western North Carolina. There are two (2) miles of river on the property that is managed for trophy trout fishing. These waters are one hour from our base in Kingsport, Tennessee. These fish are currently taking size 14 tan caddis from the surface during the afternoon hatches, and the rest of the time it is size 14 Copper Johns with a size 18 red Zebra midge trailing as the dropper.

I had a blast watching them hook and land these fish in these waters. If you would like more information on fishing these waters contact me at www.trout-fishers.net . There are additional rod fees above the daily guide fee.

South Holston Oct 20th 2009

Tuesday was absolutely beautiful! Great sun, nice breeze and perfect temperatures. I love fishing in the fall. I met up with an old fishing buddy and the original plan was to fish the Clinch, however TVA had different ideas for us. We ended up driving up to the South Holston for the day as it was conducive to floating, plus I had been hearing of some great reports from other anglers and guides.

We put on the river around 9:30am and there were risers every where. Tiny BWO's seemed to do the trick. Once the water came up the fishing slowed a bit. Towards early afternoon we got to a good riffle section and started getting into a bunch of fish. Every good pocket held a few nice fish.

Not long after fishing through the riffle, the water started to drop out and around 4pm we started to see a lot of rising fish. There was a combination of BWO's, Sulphurs, Crane flies and Caddis hatching. Jake caught fish on BWO's and I caught them on dry/dropper rigs. It turned out to be a great end to a day that had started off slow. We both rode home with smiles on our faces.

Tightlines,
Kris Maurer

Great Friends and Good Times!

It had been almost a month since I was last on the water. Work and yard maintenance, have kept me very occupied. I did make some overtime and hopefully the yard will look great next spring.

While at work I had been hearing of some good reports about the fishing on the Cherokee Trophy water and I had to check it out for myself. It just so happened that Doug and two buddies from Greenville, Clay and Allen, were also able to make it over for some fishing.

Clay and Allen were the first on the water as, Doug and I had to run up stream to the KOA Campground for some licenses. By the time we made it back to the water they had already landed a few fish a piece. So Doug and I had some catching up to do.

Fishing for stockers takes a different mentality. They have more than likely grown up their entire life eating trout chow/dog food. They don't really know yet that a size sixteen pheasant tail is super yummy. They are used to seeing brown pellets rain from above and yes they are good, but tying trout chow pellets is somewhat frowned upon. Trout Chow smells of just a hint of shrimp mixed with hot dogs, not that I'd know or anything.

As Doug and I were entering the water he mentioned that he had seen some guys throwing bread off the bridge while we were rigging up. Light goes on, bread eh, flash back to Tim Doyle and myself throwing biscuit patterns to the carp underneath Calhoun's on the River! Do I have any biscuit patterns left? Nah fresh out, size 8 Turks Tarantula should do the trick. Sure enough, first cast and I had fish trying to eat it. I stuck one right off the bat, then I couldn't get a good hook set after. Later I looked at my fly, to find that the hook had broken. I took that as a sign from the fly fishing gods that maybe I should not put another one on.

The fish had wised up to my fake bread fly very quickly. So I rigged with the old faithful Egg and Lighting Bug with a few spilt shot to get it on the bottom. Clay also had great luck with the Lighting Bug and Allen used a pink San Juan most the day. Doug started off with glo ball patterns and eventually switched to some large zebra midge patterns.

In all honesty I think it was important to use something big or flashy that would get their attention. Split shot and longer leaders were required to get the fly to the bottom and keep it there. In my experience stockers typically will not move too far for a fly so you have to almost hit them in the head with it.

It had rained all day long. Nasty days are my favorite days to fish. One, it keeps the fair weather fisherman off of the water. Two, the fish seem happier and happy fish means hungry fish. Third, I get to wear my awesome rain jacket!

We all left for lunch around 1:30pm and got some great food at the Riverside Cafe just down the road. By the time we had gotten back the river had rose substantially and by 4:00pm it seemed to have risen a good four inches and become very stained. This seemed to put the fish down. Oh well, we had caught plenty of fish and had a blast so we packed it up and headed for Knoxville. Despite the wet conditions it was a great day fishing with a bunch of great friends.