Tennessee trip report 5/22-23, 2016

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Well this doesn't hold a candle to the trip report from Jurassic Lake, but...

Fished this past Sunday/Monday in Tennessee with my dad and a guide friend of ours from Foscoe Fishing Co in Foscoe NC (a highly recommended outfitter if you ever find yourself in northwest NC). Sunday fished on the Wautauga River in Elizabethton, TN, and Monday on the South Holston in Bluff City, TN. Both are typical eastern tailwaters which are hatchery supported but with significant reproduction of introduced fish. The W has about 6000 fish per mile and the SoHo has over 10K.

Fishing on the W is pretty easy, the fish are not particularly smart or picky...and also not that big, average size being 12-14". The SoHo is a different story with a lot of large, wily browns that have been there for a long time. An average fish there runs about 15-16" and lots over 22".

Big fish for us was a 24" brown on a size 24 red midge (2nd image below). Oodles of average size fish out of both rivers. Almost all fish were taken subsurface, lots of indicator nymphing with a healthy smattering of grabs on swung soft hackles as well.

Here are a few photos from our weekend.