# Great spring weekend on the river



## flyman01 (Jan 23, 2013)

My workload has had me confined for over a month and really longing to get back on some water. A delay with one of the jobs going through the plant presented a window of opportunity and the wife graciously gave me the nod to head south for the weekend. I packed up my bag, grabbed the dog and with a full tank of gas, was on the road about 4:30 on Friday; next stop was Tennessee! Heading into the mountains just south of Jellico, you could see redbuds lining the interstate with an occasional dogwood in the mix, all in full bloom. To the west, I could also see a really nice sunset in progress as the sun was descending below the mountain tops. I pulled into the cabin drive right at 10:00, one of my friends had the day off and arrived earlier, together we had a couple of beers while discussing the game plan and then called it a night. 6:15 the next morning, I was awakened by a Turkey just outside the cabin with an earth shattering gobble as it was trying to attract a hen. I got up, started coffee and got my gear prepared for the journey to the river. TVA is in the process of bringing the reservoirs back up to summer pool which meant the water would be off all day with pulses every three hours, for wading this means fishing all day long without any fear of being washed down river. We arrived at the river just as the pulse was dropping down, I could see some male Hendricksons (smaller in size, #18) hatching so I immediately tied on a dry pattern. Several casts into the morning produced my first fish so the day was looking promising. Within an hour the hatch ended and you could see fish sipping midges off the surface or chasing an occasional caddis as it was rising to the surface. It was time to adjust and I put on a size 16 BHPT which proved to be the go to bug for the weekend. We fished hard throughout the morning, had a streamside lunch at 1:00 and then back on the water until 5:00. We headed over to Reliance Fly and Tackle and the owner had some chicken and ribs coming off the smoker so we purchased a couple of meals and a six pack and sat down at one of the picnic tables and had a great meal. We headed back to the cabin, I pulled out my tying station and went onto the deck to make a few more bugs all awhile enjoying the sounds of Turkeys gobbling, whippoorwills calling and a beautiful mountain scenery. We topped the night off by watching a great movie, Fury and then it was lights out. Sunday was yet another sunny day, temperature was going to reach 80 and the flow schedule was identical as the day before. Without hesitation, we both went to work using the same BHPT as we did on Saturday and the fish were eager to take them. As much as we did not want too, we called it a day right around 2:00 and went back to the cabin to close it and to start the journey back to Ohio. It was a great weekend, many fish to hand with several standouts in the 16-18 range and one hungry brown that took my bug while still swallowing its previous meal. Looking forward to a return trip and soon!


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## skatfish1 (Sep 29, 2011)

flyman01 - awesome report! what river are you on in TN? that last pic is cool - nice job!
did you just post some pics on LJRA regarding grannom patterns?


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## flyman01 (Jan 23, 2013)

skatfish1 said:


> flyman01 - awesome report! what river are you on in TN? that last pic is cool - nice job!
> did you just post some pics on LJRA regarding grannom patterns?


Thanks skatfish. The river we fished was the Hiwassee in Reliance Tn, which is located in the Southeast portion of the state. No, I did not post pics on LJRA, I am not familiar with that one, what does LJRA that stand for?


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## lunker23 (Jun 28, 2013)

Are you kidding me with the last picture? You'd think that brown oinker was happy with what he already was chowing down to worry about a small nymph. 
LOL..... Great write up and it sounds like a weekend of memories. I love reading things like this


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Great report ahhhh i miss hitting the mighty Hiwassee about 15 years ago many times. The hatches were decent and always got nice fish but mostly stocker bows and a few browns. Im curious were those two big bows just stocked at a bigger size or you think they grew that big??? In the day releases were unstable and very few holdovers and usually was browns when you got one. 98% of the fish used to be 9-11" bows with the occasional 9-11" brown thrown in

I miss the rolling scenery down there
Salmonid


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## skatfish1 (Sep 29, 2011)

LJRA = Little Juniata River Association - in Central PA


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## flyman01 (Jan 23, 2013)

Thanks Mark. It is hard to say if they are stockers or natural growth. The past 2 years, they have been releasing some broodstock into the stream during delayed harvest however, prior to that we had been catching fish this size and larger indicating that there is growth and carryover. We have seen an increased brown population with substantial size, all indications that the river is healthy. Like yourself, I used to fish this river back in the day as well and could catch very nice fish on each and every trip but then It became grossly mismanaged and the quality of the river system declined rapidly. Both TWRA and TVA have been doing a good job over the past several years attempting to get the river back to the blue ribbon status as it once was acclaimed. There will always be a minimum 25 cfs release when the generators are shut off along with a pulse every 3 hours if they are not running water for time periods exceeding 3 hours. This combo will help keep the water temps down and keep the entomology of the river strong as well. Combine that with an increased presence of TWRA checking license and creel limits, it has helped deter poaching on the river. This year alone I have witnessed TWRA catch and fine people on 4 different occasions, I am sure people will think twice about what they are doing as the word gets out. Now if they would only consider placing and enforcing a slot limit, I believe they could really get this river back on top......we will see. The scenery down there on and around this river is something to behold. After my first trip down there 23 years back, I was sold on it and knew eventually I would acquire a place in the area. I was blessed enough to have that happen 4 years ago and I cannot believe just how much I enjoy each and every trip down there....it does not get old.


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## flyman01 (Jan 23, 2013)

skatfish1 said:


> LJRA = Little Juniata River Association - in Central PA


Thanks, I will look that up.


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