February River Report - South Holston & Watauga Rivers

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAR 16 - Pat Dorsey Night

MAR 23 - East TN Nymphing

APR 13 - Season Kick Off

MAY 18 - East TN Dry Fly

Don’t miss out on our awesome upcoming events as fishing is ramping up in 2024! Please click on the link to sign up for the event you plan to attend.

SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER

The first month of a fully open South Holston River has come to a close. With 4.61” of rain, we have had lots of generation which always provides good opportunities for our boat fisherman. Our wade anglers on the South Holston, did not have much chance to get out because of the generation. However, as of writing this on March 2nd, we are having much better flows for wade anglers to enjoy. Fishing this time of year is going to be mostly nymphing with some scattered dry fly opportunities as bugs begin to emerge. On high-water, we are using both bottom-bounce and deep in-line rigs. On low-water, we are nymphing with dry-droppers and in-line yarn indicator nymph rigs. Swinging soft-hackles and small streamers has been productive for us as well. Streamer fishing had been good in February and we expect a solid streamer bite to continue into March. We are often fishing small Dungeons or other Fuego Fly creations on sinking lines. Scientific Anglers Int/S3/S5 is a shop favorite.

DRY FLY FISHING

Bug activity was minimal throughout February, especially on high water flows. We expect this to ramp up in March with more BWOs and Sulphurs beginning to show themselves. It’s a good idea to have Midges, BWOs, and Sulphurs in your box ready to be deployed as hatches can be sporadic as we are in a transition season from winter to spring. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We expect that in March, flows will be better for wade anglers and an increase in bug activity will begin to take place. Fishing lately has been pretty spotty with some good days and some tough days. There is no doubt that changing weather conditions and fronts could have impacted this. As spring continues to take hold over the winter weather, fishing should begin to be more consistent. 

Click here for the South Holston Dam generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Nymphs

Weiss Dark #18-20

Pheasant Tail #18-20

Rainbow Sow Bug #18

Micro Olive Bullet #18-20

Dry Flies

Morgan’s Midge #18

Birchell’s Hatch Midge #18-20

Sulphur & BWO CDC Comparadun #16-18

WATAUGA RIVER

The Watauga had a lot of high water in February also. Wade anglers are probably better off looking at the South Holston schedule for the near future. However, as the lakes begin to raise their levels to summer pool, wade anglers should get ample opportunity. On high water, we have been throwing streamers recently with good success. We have been enjoying spending time on the middle sections of the river for a balance of both quality and quantity of fish. Wade anglers should look for both the Watauga and SOHO to get below 500CFS to consider wading safely. It’s not worth it to take unnecessary risk under generating flows.

Click here for the Wilbur Dam generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Nymphs

Pat’s Rubber Legs

Squirmy Worm

RC Leggy #16

Duracell Jig #16

Streamers

Wooly Buggers

Olive & Black Dungeons

SMALLMOUTH

Been real good, and should continue to be real good through March. If you have ever been interested in giving it a try, now is the time to go!

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

TIPPET AND LEADERS

At the beginning of every season, it’s a great idea to reset on your tippet and leader to be dialed in for your upcoming season.

Tippet and leaders have a life-span. Nothing is worse than spending your hard earned time and money to get to the river, only to have junky tippet that keeps breaking or forget about your old, crusty leaders.

Relatively to the entire cost of fly fishing, tippet and leaders aren’t much but make a giant difference in your fishing experience. The brands we carry: Scientific Anglers, Umpqua, and TroutHunters have options for all fishing preferences. Get reloaded for 2024.

Shuttle Service Contacts

Both guys will be solid shuttles on the South Holston and Watauga! Tell them we sent you.

Ronny - 423-737-7767

Jeff - 423-741-4884