November River Report 2022 - South Holston & Watauga

South Holston

With consistent outflow of 1350 CFS the last couple of weeks, the fishing on the South Holston has been solid for our boat anglers. 

With the 1350 CFS flow, experiment with different nymphing rigs to find out what works best for you. We have been running a variation of in-line and light Bounce Rig setups. Consider fishing very slow and changing this based on the section of river you are at, it’s been working well for us!

Sorry wade anglers, you will get your chance again on the SoHo soon!

Dry Fly Fishing

With the drop in weather there has been a spike in our BWO activity throughout the day. This can make for some fun, technical dry fly fishing if you time the float right. Pay attention and look for small, black caddis. We have been seeing a good number of fish keyed in on them throughout the SoHo lately. Good chance you can still see some Sulphurs out on a warm day still. Fish are picky this time of year, it is a great time to put in some dry-fly practice and get humbled!

Looking Ahead

As we get later into the winter, the egg bite will really heat up. We have been catching fish on it but it hasn’t been lights out.

Mind the redds! Don’t set up intentionally on spawning fish.

Keep in mind two sections of the South Holston will be closed for spawning protection from November 1 until February 1. Here are visuals of exactly where the river will be closed.

Huge thanks to Ian Feathers for the images as well as GIS/map/cartography support!

Release schedules for the upcoming day are typically available by 6 p.m the day before.

Click here for the South Holston generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Nymphs:

Eggs

Olive Midge #18-20

Bullet Quill #16-18

Dry Flies:

Miracle Midge #20

BWO Comparadun #18-19

BWO Puff-daddy #18-19

Watauga

With the South Holston generating 24 hours straight, it is a good time for wade anglers to head over to the Watauga. With the Average Outflow of 230, wading is no problem. Be sure to know your public access points and stay in the areas open to public fishing. Below the bridges are a good place to start… If the Watauga does start to generate water, you are going to want to get out of the river very quickly!

What little fishing we did on the Watauga was pretty standard for us. Perdigon style jig flies under a yarn indicator.

Click here for the Wilbur Dam generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Olive France Fly #18

Purple Jig Frenchie #18

Olive Quill #16-18

Eggs

Looking for additional river info? Shoot us an email. info@theflyboxtn.com