South Holston River TN

[Acristickid]

Heading down next week for 4 days- be my first time there. I have read all of the info on this site from the cursory search.

I would appreciate any advice? Flows, rigs, flies, road short cuts, place to eat.

Know the flows can be a wildcard sometimes. Fish higher up until flows rise then move downstream before it rises there and then head back up on the drop. Heard fishing pretty good when flows are on the drop.

Sulphers are petering out and olives may beginning to get going.

Gonna stay at Cheerokee Trails Campground on the advice of another board member.

Thanks Paul

 

[geebee]

i think i read recently that the SoHo has rock snot/didmyo ?

if thats so check with local fly stores about cleaning etc.

i've heard they have some BIG fish in there, good luck.

 

[jkilroy]

I'll send you a pm tomorrow

 

[RyanR]

acristickid wrote:
Heading down next week for 4 days- be my first time there. I have read all of the info on this site from the cursory search.

I would appreciate any advice? Flows, rigs, flies, road short cuts, place to eat.

Know the flows can be a wildcard sometimes. Fish higher up until flows rise then move downstream before it rises there and then head back up on the drop. Heard fishing pretty good when flows are on the drop.

Sulphers are petering out and olives may beginning to get going.

Gonna stay at Cheerokee Trails Campground on the advice of another board member.

Thanks Paul

Are you floating it? That's what I would recommend.

 

[Acristickid]

It's possible we might float one day but we will try and wade more. It's ok if it's more fish able for half a day , since I doubt were up to fishing for 10 hours a day.

Who do you recommend to drift with?

 

[RyanR]

I'd get in touch with Ian and Charity Rutter at R&R Fly Fishing, www.randrflyfishing.com

 

[jkilroy]

The SoHo can be tough. Dry dropper is the name of the game. When the fish start feeding you suspend the nymph 12-18" below the dry. I floated a curly sighter too with a small midge. Sulphurs hatch about every day. I use a comparadun/ spundun for the dry. For the nymph, use a 16 dark bodied nymph below the dry. No flash. Very small midges work well too, 22-24 stripped peacock quill. I wouldn't use anything bigger than 6x and degrease the tippet. Scuds and sowbugs work too size 16 olive/natural, black bead in the riffles.

There is an app you can get that gives you generation schedules. When they start generating you can move downstream and get a few more hours of fishing. When they stop generation you can fish just down from the dam, within 15 min. Stay back from the fish they are very pressured. There is some big fish in there too, and they are strong.

 

[Acristickid]

Thanks for all the advice. Heading out tomorrow, looking forward to fishing somewhere new. Curious to see how it compares to the Delaware. If nothing else, it gets me out of work for 2 days. Work is for suckers.

 

[jkilroy]

Good luck!

It is much better than working...

 

[Acristickid]

Well was able to fish a lot of low water. But thought the high water fished better even with more limited wading opportunities. Caught many fish using soft hackles during the high water. Seemed to me lots of fished moved to the edges during high water. Caught about 10 out of one long glide that was slower the main current. Lots of smallish fish. Caught maybe 3 fish about 12 inches and none larger. Wild fluctuations between the low and high water. It's like 3-4 feet high during release. Don't think you could float at at during low water. Cherokee Trails campground was nice and the cabins were very cheap. Sulphers winding down. Fish seemed to rise to midges pretty well.

 

[jkilroy]

The little red in AR was the same. As soon as the water starts to rise feeding is on. Love that.