South Holston

[flyfishnsleep]

I see they are sluicing again on the soho, I'm going up there tomorrow around 12, what did it fish like over the weekend?

[pineman19]

Originally Posted by flyfishnsleep

I see they are sluicing again on the soho, I'm going up there tomorrow around 12, what did it fish like over the weekend?

Just got back from the SOHO. Good sulfur hatch, really got going around 2:30 as usual, at least when I have been there. I started around 1030, was slow at first, few midges coming off, had no action on midges. Switched to split back nymph, caught 6 on that fly, 9-11". Caught more smaller fish than usual today, but I did catch my best brown to date on the SOHO, around 14-15", but very fat, weighed around 2 lbs. I would guess. Caught most of my fish during the hatch on a sulfur comparadun, size 14 & 16. Water level was very nice for wading, a little higher than with no generators running, just right for wading where I was fishing.

Neal

[cockeye valdez]

did you try a cripple c.d.c. sulfur Pineman?

[pineman19]

Originally Posted by cockeye valdez

did you try a cripple c.d.c. sulfur Pineman?

I used 4 different flies yesterday. Sulfur comparadun, split back beadless nymph (all of my fish were caught on these 2 flies), a yellow wulff, a sulfur emerger, and a zebra/stripper midge. Had no luck on midges yesterday, but I didn't start till nearly 1100, usually do decent with midges early in the morning before the sulfur hatch. First time I tried a split-back nymph, I think I'll use it more often before the surface activity takes off.

Neal

[cockeye valdez]

I re-read your post, #14-#16 sulfurs, big bugs. I have not seen any 16s this year. When the bugs are coming off in numbers and the fish are refusing every size I have tried, I go to a #17 cripple c.d.c. sulfur. They will often take it and when they stop I go back to #20 c.d.c. sulfur with a zelon tail.
I have a scale for measuring the amount of bugs coming off. When the bugs are pouring off in sustained amount of time, I give that a 10. when they are coming off in singles and with little frequency I call that a 1. What I have seen this year on low water is about a 6-7 and that was in July.

[Maurer]

I was up there with a bud from Greenville on 9/16 and we floated. It was overcast and we saw a few blue wings early afternoon, then the sun came out and the Sulphurs started.

I was fishing a size 16 CDC comparadun sulphur with a 20 BWO sparkle dun dropper about 2 feet below. Started off catching fish on the BWO then when they keyed in on the Sulphur and I stuck to that.

Also fish a PT under and indicator in a size 18 and caught some nice bows.

Whenever they sluice the fishing is usually pretty good in my experience.

[Troutman]

I went up there also yesterday, arriving about 1pm. There were a lot more people there than I expected on a monday. 6 vehicles at the church by the bridge, 5 more at the cul-de-sac parking and probably another 8-10 at the grates parking. As I walked down the trail there seemed to be quite a few people already taken up residence waiting for the hatch. Either a lot of others were off from work, called in sick , or were skipping classes from the local colleges! I'm not big on crowds, especially when fishing , so I picked a spot away from the others and fished a little while waiting on the hatch. It started around 3pm where I was and became pretty heavy. had a some very good risers in my area and the hatch became quite thick for awhile that the trout became pretty picky. I fished with CDC split tail comparaduns in size 14-16 and when they would snuff those, I went with a para light cahill #16. It seemed like the sulphers were a lighter shade than the orangy/yellow imitations that I bought from the fly shop and it seemed to make a difference in the number of takes.
Caught a whole bunch of those little browns and some better rainbows.
After the hatch died out around 5:30 or so, I switched over to a green sparkle beadhead wooly bugger and continued to catch several more. I don't go up there very often due to the crowds, but it was a pretty fun day to catch a lot of fish on dry flies.

A couple of rainbows

[cockeye valdez]

Troutman, those are great pics and isn't the so.ho. a great river! I haven't been there in two months but will be there for sure within two weeks. I love that river, love it. The boys at the fly shop are my pals and they do their best to get you hooked up with fish.
Did you notice the new parking lot at the cul-de-sac?
c.v.

[Troutman]

Originally Posted by cockeye valdez

Troutman, those are great pics and isn't the so.ho. a great river! I haven't been there in two months but will be there for sure within two weeks. I love that river, love it. The boys at the fly shop are my pals and they do their best to get you hooked up with fish.
Did you notice the new parking lot at the cul-de-sac?
c.v.

Yes, it is a great river for the trout fly fisherman. lots of fish per mile and year round fishing. I did drive through the new parking area at the cul-de-sac but decided to go on up to the grate parking and walk down.
I didn't stop by the Champions fly shop as I had already stopped at Mahoneys in JC for a cheap net , a few flies and at the new Eastern Fly Outfitters, formerly Fly Shop of TN to congrat Ben for aquiring it from Eddie who has retired. always glad to see a fly shop stay open. Eddie used to carry some awesome smallmouth deerhair flies. I hope that Ben will also.

[cockeye valdez]

With the purchase of Eddie's shop and Three Rivers fly shop about to open in W. Knoxville I wonder if these guys see an up turn in fly fishing. I'm sure they did their homework but with a depressed economy and half of the purchases of fly fishing paraphernalia coming from people who only fish 4-6 times a year (according to John Gierach) I'm not sure owning a fly is very profitable.
I hope they're successful and profitable. Its good for the sport.