May River Report - South Holston & Watauga Rivers
AN OVERVIEW
There is no denying May was a very wet month here in East TN with 5.14” of rainfall. This brought a more consistent generation schedule on both tailwates due to The South Holston and Boone Lake reaching “summer pool” ahead of schedule compared to years past. We saw a pretty consistent cycle of spring thunderstorms every few days, and anglers had to get fairly creative in order to find ways to put fish in the net on those muddy water days. The top sections of the South Holston and Watauga Rivers stayed on the clearer side with the help of the consistent generation schedules. Once you reached Beidleman Creek on the “SOHO” or Stoney Creek on the “Taug”, you would start to see the apparent color change in the water, which would follow suit along the rest of the river. Weather wise, the last two weeks of May were the complete opposite of the first half of the month, with sunny skies and temperatures reaching the mid 70s. It’s definitely a great time to be in East TN. Fishing is continuing to get better everyday!
SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER
Wade anglers were limited because of higher flows on the South Holston throughout the month. Definitely consider trying wading spots further down the river to increase your time spent on the water before the high water reaches you. When wade opportunities arose, we found the most success when running a dry dropper set up. A Parachute Sulphur or Blue wing in size 16 is a perfect fly for suspending a #18-22 midge or even a smaller nymph. Be on the ready though as a fish will pop up and eat the dry, even if there is no hatch taking place. A light in-line rig with a yarn indicator will also work if you are wanting to fish all subsurface flys. Fish slow and really take your time picking apart runs.
For the boat anglers, the 2,200cfs flow was and still is a little on the trickier side. Going back and forth from a high-water in-line style rig to a bottom bounce rig can help with finding fish that might be feeding in different water columns, rather than just sitting on the bottom of the river. If you're not picking up fish where you normally would, don’t be afraid to try a different line down the river. Pressure from other boats can cause fish to push tighter to the banks or even to the middle of the river.
DRY FLY FISHING
This is what we look forward to most throughout the winter and the first part of spring, but the hatches are still pretty spotty. Definitely make sure you have a rod rigged up and ready to go since the hatches don’t last very long. When we do see action, sulphurs are coming off anywhere between the 2 and 5pm. A longer and lighter leader, such as the Trout Hunter Renne Harrop 14’ 6x, has been our pick for landing some of the pickier fish. Getting our fly away from our fly line, while still having a drag-free drift has been the ticket. As we move into June, the hope is that the warmer weather and consistently higher flows will lead to the larger hatches we have been waiting for. Wade anglers should start to see more dry fly action on low water in the evenings as we continue to move into the summer months.
LOOKING AHEAD
With our lake levels above summer pool as of May 31st, we can almost count on daily releases for boat anglers and constant flows. If you are a wade angler, this may be a good time to look into small stream fishing, or plan to fish early on the tailwater and move down river to stay ahead of the high water.
Click here for the South Holston Dam generation schedule!
Suggested Patterns
Nymphs
Split case #16-18
Purple thread frenchie #16-18
Olive, tan and cream midges #20
Micro Olive Bullet #18-20
Dry Flies
Birchell’s Hatch Midge #18-20
Parachute Sulphur & BWO #16-18
Sulphur & BWO CDC Sparkle Dun #16-18
Pink Albert PMD #14
WATAUGA RIVER
May was another fantastic month on the Watauga. With Wilbur Lake reaching its summer pool, prolonged high flows and the recreation flow that is currently taking place lead to wade fisherman seeing little to no opportunities to fish. Boat anglers have seen more water than usual this time of the year, when they are typically spilling the minimum 240cfs. With this higher water, a deep in-line nymph rig, with the addition of split shot and larger flies, has been effective in the softer water. When it comes to this, staying “tight to the bank” is the name of the game. Anglers were able to take advantage of fantastic PMD and Sulphur mayfly hatches, despite the off-colored water at times from all the recent rain. The Watauga has been fishing well all the way through the trophy section, especially if you can time your fishing to catch some of the falling and rising water between the generation releases in the afternoon. Everyone has been very pleased with the caliber of fish being caught on the Watauga so far this year!
LOOKING AHEAD
Until TVA gets the Wilbur Lake level down on the Watauga, you will see increased flows around the recreation flow every afternoon. Once the lake level drops, we can all expect the 240cfs spill and the afternoon high water.
Click here for the Wilbur Dam generation schedule!
Suggested Patterns
Nymphs
Sulphur nymphs #16
Quill body perdigon #16
Spanish Bullet Olive #18
Tungsten Soft Hackle #16-18
Dry Flies
Chubby in #10 and 12 various colors
PMD #16
Sulphur sparkle duns in #16
Sulphur puff daddy #16
Shuttle Servie Contacts
Both guys are solid shuttle drivers on the South Holston and Watauga! Tell them we sent you.
Ronny - 423-737-7767
Jeff - 423-741-4884