July River Report - South Holston & Watauga Rivers
South HolstoN RIVER
We’ve had fishable flows throughout July for both wade and boat anglers. Now is a great time to get out and do some morning wade fishing on the SOHO. We are seeing good amounts of Sulphurs and there are plenty of dry fly and nymphing opportunities.
During the first part of the month, we had no generation in the mornings, a pulse in the afternoon, and then generation starting around 3pm or 4pm.
In the middle of the month, there was a period of longer generation which made great fishing days for our boat anglers.
In July, we had a total of 7.83 inches of rain, which is a significant increase from the 2.56 inches we received in June. On Sunday July 30th, our region got a significant amount of rain. Based on the schedule at the time of writing this. It looks like we will be getting more generations in the next few days.
If you fish the high water flows and the bugs aren’t coming off like you hope, the nymph bite has been pretty decent. We’ve been using both a deep in-line rig and a bottom-bouncing set up. For flies, a Bullet Quill and Rainbow Sow bug are flies that consistently produce. On an in-line rig recently, we fished a frenchie with an oversized bead. This picked up fish right off the bat!
Generally, the high water takes about an hour from when generation begins to reach the Grates and provide enough water for boats to float. Therefore, if they turn on at 3pm, plan to be putting in your boat around 4pm. This provides plenty of time to make a run to Victoria’s or Jack’s boat ramp before they turn off later in the evening. The sun is setting here around 8:45pm so there is a good opportunity to find fish rising in the evening if flows allow.
Dry Fly Fishing
Whether you are wade fishing or fishing from a boat, the dry fly action lately has been excellent. Recently, we’ve been going back to fishing more dry flies with deer hair and they have been on fire. We love our CDC flies but don’t forget about trying different (or old-school) patterns.
When you find a pod of rising fish, start casting short then work your cast farther. Don’t throw a Hail Mary bomb right off the bat and put your line over all of the fish close to you. Try sitting down while casting. On our recent trip to Montana, the guides NEVER let anglers stand in the boat to fish at risers. This definitely increases stealthiness but also it will help you cast with more proper form. Leave the body swaying on the dance floor, don’t bring it in the boat.
Click here for the South Holston Dam generation schedule!
Suggested Patterns
Dries
Deer hair Sulphur Sparkle Dun #18
Deer hair Sulphur Comparadun #16
CDC Sulphur Comparadun #16
Pink Albert #16
Nymphs
Bullet Quill #16
Olive Zebra Midge #18-20
Black and Silver Zebra Midge #18-20
Sulphur Frenchie #16
WATAUGA RIVER
The Watauga has had mostly stable flows throughout July. We’ve been fishing it primarily in the mornings and taking out whenever the high water hits. The current schedule is typically low-water until about 1PM-6PM. Currently, they are predicting a 557 CFS average outflow for the next three days.
Fishing has been good to great. At the beginning of the month, TWRA stocked near Hunter Bridge. This made for some hot action on large pheasant tail patterns like the RC Leggy and perdigons such as the Olive Hot Spot from Fulling Mill. These fish have been mostly cleaned out but this is always a good location for boat and wade anglers.
Besides that, the nymphing was fair during July. With higher temperatures and higher angling pressure, the fish were more picky but still very catchable. On an in-line rig, we found success fishing a classic flashback pheasant tail #18.
Dry Fly Fishing
We didn’t find many consistent hatches on the Watauga during July. However, we did run into a solid stretch of fish willing to eat the Chubby Chernobyl we were using as an indicator. This time of year, when larger terrestrials are out, we definitely put the Micro Chubby to work! Many anglers were still catching fish on sulphur patterns and there are definitely bugs around, so expect to run into some as you fish during August.
Click here for the Wilbur Dam generation schedule!
Suggested Patterns
Nymphs
Olive Hot Spot #18
RC Leggy #16
Keslar Dark and Dirty #18
Darth Baetis #18
Dry Flies
Micro Chubby Chernobyl Tan
Pink Albert #16
Sulphur Puffdaddy #18
CDC Sulphur Sparkle Dun #16
Smallmouth
Summertime smallmouth fishing is in full effect right now! We have been throwing poppers to shady banks and sight fishing with terrestrials. Catching lots of small fish on the poppers but running into nice ones regularly. Consistent accurate casting gets rewarded. We have been using 7WTs and 8WTs with 8ft 12lb leaders to a small #6 popper. Colors rotate depending on cloud coverage and fish preference. White, yellow, black, and blue poppers have been hot lately.
MONTANA
Our team recently returned from a week of fishing in Montana. The rivers we fished were the Madison, O’Dells Spring Creek, and the Missouri.
The fishing was just as good if not better than we hoped. On the Madison, we caught solid fish on nymphs, dries, and streamers. The Caddis were firing off consistently every day and hoppers were also making their presence known. Our group fished with the Madison River Fishing Company, which was a great experience. A terrific fly shop and a heck of a guiding team.
On O’Dells Spring Creek, we fished hopper-dropper rigs. Fishing at O’Dells is a great test of stealth and casting accuracy. Thankfully, our East TN fisheries have gotten our group of anglers pretty dialed in so we had two great days of fishing. Surrounded by high mountain peaks, O’Dells was one of the most beautiful fishing stops on our tour.
On the Missouri River (the Mo’), our group had some epic days of fishing. Our hosted group fished with the guides at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig. The Fly Box team DIY’d it using The Trout Shop’s boat rental and lunch system. We fished primarily dries at pods of fishing sipping Tricos or prospected banks and flats while fishing hopper patterns.
If you are interested in hearing more about the trip, we’ve written a Montana Hosted Trip Recap.