Fly Fishing The South Holston River

Nick and I pulled into the South Holston River Fly Shop to check what was working well on the South Holston River. 

The news was that the reservoir was high due to rain during the previous weeks, a lot of water was being let out and the river was flooded. 

So much so that there wouldn’t be any wade fishing and the fish would be tough to catch. 

The only way to catch fish, they recommended was to float the river. 

Nick and I decided to go exploring.  The GPS on Nick's iPhone came in very handy.  We drove up to the dam and indeed, the reservoir was quite full.  The river itself was flooded with water well up onto the grassy banks. 

We’ve fished high water before.  Driving around we found a few areas we thought we could access.  The guys at the shop did state that between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM the water would be at normal flows.  That meant that the high water wouldn’t hit the spot where we could access the river until 9:00 AM because it would take three hours to get to that point of the river.

In the morning the river looked completely different…so different that we forgot to take pictures, sorry.  The river was slowly flowing with lots of rocks sticking out and easy to wade.  We fished with small nymphs and caught a couple small rainbows. 

As 9:00 approached we made our way closer to the shore in anticipation of the rising water.  The rush of water was right on time and in a few moments the river was completely changed.   The rocks could no longer be seen. 

The river was fast flowing and the water was up on the grassy banks.  Since we could no longer make our way up and down the shoreline at this location we moved to another spot with fewer trees and brush along the shore. 

We switched to high, murky water condition flies like San Juan Worms and Wooly Buggers and used a lot more split shot.  After getting used to the new water level we started catching rainbows six to fifteen inches in length.  In fact, we caught more than when the water was low. 

The next morning we arrived to the river earlier to allow more time to fish with the lower water.  Approaching the river it was again amazing at how low the water was.  The structure of the river bottom was surprising.  It was like a smooth lava rock river bottom (not freestone) with large boulders sticking up above the water.  It was easy to cross the entire river.  We wondered where the fish were.  The water was clear but we couldn’t see any fish.  We fished the deeper portions and in the wakes behind the big boulders but only caught a couple small rainbows.  We figured they must be hiding in deep crevices among the lava rock. 

Having seen this stretch the day before, we knew to stay near the shore as 9 o’clock approached.  Again it was astonishing and scary how fast the river transformed into a high fast flowing river.  Staying mostly on the grassy banks and casting over the streamside brush, we cast as best we could.  It seemed we caught more fish in this high, fast water than previously in the clear, slow moving water. 

In this high water I noticed a small trout swimming fast along the top of the water.  Behind it was a large brown nipping at its tail.  I cast my streamer near the two fish and the brown turned quickly and engulfed it. 

In this water it wasn’t hard for a fish this size to take out a lot of line.  I was glad I had on a streamer with a big hook and 0X tippet attached.  The hardest part was getting the fish through the waves made by each of the big rocks. 

Eventually I was able to horse it into the net.  What a beautiful fish, certainly a trophy for this water and location. 

When I let it go, it just quietly slid backwards over the water covered grass and into the deep water.