New East Tennessee Fishing Report

Randy Ratliff of the Troutfisher's Guide Service sends us this week's fishing report from East Tennessee.

Hello everyone, I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season. I was able to spend time with family and friends celebrating Christmas and ringing in the New Year. We had a great year last in 2008 and I want to thank all those who took trips with me. I am looking forward to another good year for 2009 as well.

I am back to guiding and booking trips as Troutfishers Guide Service once again. There will be no changes in where we will be able to take you on your trips, local wades trips in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee or float trips on the Tennessee Tailwaters.

I am also pleased to announce that I am affiliated with Eddie Wyatt’s Fly Shop of Tennessee. Eddie and his crew, Major Mike, Hutch, and Mike J. are a great bunch of guys. Make sure to give them a call or stop by for all you’re fishing and tying needs. I will be doing various casting and tying class/demonstrations at the fly shop throughout the year so be sure to check the fishing report on my website for details.

We are already booking trips for the 2009 season, especially during the Watauga Tailwater caddis hatch. The caddis have started their emergence around April 9th for the last several years, running through Mothers Day on into the first of June. Be sure to give me a call and get your caddis hatch trip on the calendar before the dates disappear. The smallmouth guys are booking up their trips as well. Pound for pound a smallmouth is the best fighting freshwater fish out there. Of course one of my clients, Mark Murphy might disagree. He caught a nice 9-½ pound blue channel cat while on a smallie trip. Don’t forget about our overnight river camping smallmouth trips. I will be putting more info about this on my website.

The South Holston browns are through spawning. It was a sight to see all those big beautiful browns doing their spawning dance. Many nice fish ranging from mid twenties to just over forty inches were caught and released this year.

We are now seeing the BWO’s as the predominant hatch on both the Watauga and South Holston tailwaters. We have been throwing a size 18 to 22 BWO emerger we call the “Down & Dirty”.

Have you wanted learn how to fish those small size 22 to 30 blackfly and midge dries, come book a trip and let me unlock the secrets of this type of fishing. We have been having good days with plenty of average trout and a few good ones thrown in. The best so far on a size 26 dry with 7x tippet has been a 19 ½ inch brown. It is not as intimidating as you would think.

We will be attending two fly fishing shows this year. I will be in the Temple Fork Rods booth at the Atlanta Fly Fishing Festival being held January 24th & 25th in the Gwinnett Center. Be sure to stop and say hello. Our second show will be the Kentuckianna Fly Show being put on by the Derby City Fly Fishers in Louisville, Kentucky on January 31st. I will be giving one of the many seminars available at the event. I will be speaking about smallmouth fishing tips and techniques. We will have the Brookie Skiff boat on display in the booth. I am proud to say that I helped my guide partner Nes help build this beautiful boat last winter. Check out Derby City Fly Fishers website for more details and directions to the convention center www.derbycityflyfishers.com

Well until next month, tight lines and bent rods.

Randy Ratliff: Holston Smallies

Randy Ratliff of Trout-Fishers.net is a Tennessee fishing guide and long time friend of FlyfishMagazine.com. Randy usually goes after giant brown trout but today took time to remind us that during the summer other monsters lurk in the depths of his home water.

While on a beautiful float down the Holston river in East Tennessee this summer, as the day was slowly coming to an end, the water exploded.

Now let me back up and tell you about their day.The husband had been casting flies to every conceivable fish holding spot all along the river. We came to my favorite stretch of the river where many great smallies have come from including a 6 pound beauty. Ted was making casts and meticulously working the fly and picking up many nice average size fish in the 10 to 13 inch range. When his back and arm finally gave out from his several hundred cast day, his lovely wife stood up in the boat and made a cast. This cast was maybe only her twentieth cast of the day. As she worked her fly back to the boat, it started to transition to the surface. She saw the fly coming up towards the boat, suddenly she saw the eyes, then a mouth and then the water exploded as if a small stick of dynamite had gone off. She yelled what do I do, I said just take your time and fight it. After several hard fought minutes, she got the fish to the boat, I scooped this great Holston River specimen into the net. We measured and weighed the smallie and then she held it up for the always great "grip n grin" shot.

Out predominant flies for the day were Todds Wiggle Minnows and light to no weight Clouser Minnows. The fish were staged along the current breaks coming out of the riffles as well as along the grass edges in the big slow pools. This river really fills up with grass during the summer months and can make it tough to bring in the big smallies when they get down and wrapped up in the grass.

If you would like to have a great outdoor experience like this couple, check out my website, www.trout-fishers.net or give us a call at 423-360-1468 to book your trip of a lifetime.

Randy Ratliff's East Tennessee Fishing Reports

Photo: Troutfishers Guide Service helps put Tim Linehan of Trout Unlimited Television on his first Smallie in 20 years.

Randy Ratliff of the TroutFishers Guide Service posts the following East Tennessee fishing report:

Troutfishers Guide Service, Randy Ratliff
When: September 2007
South Holston, Watauga, Holston Proper


Hello everyone, it looks like we are finishing up the Summer season and the Fall season is upon us. The cooler temperatures are a relief from the scorching hot temperature we have had lately. We are seeing some rains to help with water flow, but it is not enough to recover from the drought.

Mark your calendars to come and see us at Jesse Brown's on Thursday September 27th, 6:30pm at their Sharon Corners store in Charlotte, North Carolina. We will be giving a presentation on Fall and Winter fishing in East Tennessee. Here is a link for further information and directions: http://www.jessebrown.com/

On Saturday September 29th I will be at the Orvis Store in Raleigh talking on Fly Fishing in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I hope you can come out and see our presentations. Here is a little report on how the fishing has been here in East Tennessee:

South Holston

The morning wade and afternoon float trips are doing very well. We use terrestrials and sulphur emergers while wading. All areas of the river are fishing good. Our afternoon float trips during generation have been great. We see the sulphurs really start coming off around 2pm and we have been using a size 16 tan comparadun to bring many nice rainbows and browns to the boat. When the hatch slows down we use terrestrials near the bank and swing soft hackles in the better current lines. Seeing those big browns slurp a beetle or cricket off the surface is something to see.

Watauga

The Watauga has seen some local rain showers each evening and it is helping with the float trips. We are using small beadhead Pheasant Tails and Zebra Midges while nymphing. There is a small tan caddis hatching and craneflies are still coming off as well. We are not seeing the BWOs yet. When we float during generation it is olive and black Woolly Buggers (size 6) that produce the most. Our "Dumb Blonde" and "Plum Crazy" buggers are also doing great. It is about time to see the October Caddis start popping and we are looking forward to this hatch.

The Holston Proper

The smallmouth action has been very good for the last couple of weeks. The action has been mainly topwater poppers with an occasional fish on clousers and hellgrammite imitations. We have been seeing 30 to 50 fish days while floating. The grass is thick in the lower river but the fish are holding in it. They are chasing minnows getting ready for Fall.

Mountain Streams

With the drought conditions these streams are very low. Stoney Creek at one point has gone underground. Many of my prime streams are just down to a trickle so we have been not fishing these waters.

We still have dates available for Fall and early Winter fishing. Give us a call at 423-360-1468 or email me at FishwithRandy@Embarqmail.com to set up a fishing trip for you.


Thanks
Randy Ratliff
Troutfishers Guide Service