Foscoe Fishing Company’s Fly Fishing Blog
The Foscoe Fishing Company Blog is the perfect place for us to share our adventures with you. Our guides take great joy in their job (if you were an avid fisherman wouldn’t you like to get paid to do it on a frequent basis?) and recounting adventures of the day is one way to share the joy.
We would also love to hear from you! Feel free to contact us and tell us your story. Send in your pictures, too, we’ll be happy to add them to the blog.
In search of the season’s first smallie…
Tuesday afternoon offered temperatures in the 60’s and a beautiful blue sky, so naturally I coerced my roommate Joey into floating a section of the Watauga in his canoe. We began our float just below the DH section in search of the season’s first smallie and possibly a large trout. Armed with my six weight and a pearl Murdich Minnow, we eased downstream and began pounding the banks. We beached the canoe alongside the first likely looking riffle and I was rewarded with an aggressive strike from a headstrong wild brown. What he lacked in size he more than made up for with his tenacious headshakes. Continuing on, we fished riffles and tail-outs picking up fish at each stop. I was surprised, but pleased, to hook into several stocked fish well downstream of the DH section. As the sun eased behind the clouds and the mercury dropped, Joey and I decided to put down our rods and pick up the paddles in order to arrive at the takeout before dark, not to mention our feet had become ice blocks after wet-wading riffles all afternoon. The total fish count for about two and a half hours of fishing came to eight–one wild brown, one wild ‘bow, three stocked ‘bows and three pale stocked brookies, all on streamers. No smallies, but a good day all in all. I assure you, nymphing would have produced several trout, and once the water temperature warms some the smallies will be moving. Tight lines until next time.
Who says you can’t fish in sub-freezing temperatures?
After sitting in the house for most of the day I decided to take advantage of the sunny, yet still cold, weather. To give you a sense of the air and water temperature, the hog you see below, along with my rod and net, are all resting on ice at the edge of the river. I geared up and headed to a DH section of the Watauga I hadn’t fished since the fall, but knew held some nice fish. Needless to say my efforts were rewarded. An hour into the trip I had only brought three fish to hand, so I decided to move downstream to a nice little run where a client lost a good-sized brown during a trip last October. The 22 1/2″ beauty you see above ate my trailing soft hackle within the first ten drifts through the run. After settling myself down, I fished meticulously and caught five more fish from the same spot, none comparable to the nice holdover ‘bow, but fun to catch all the same. Determined to reach double digits in fish caught, I returned to a deep slow pool I fished earlier in the afternoon. It didn’t take long to pull a feisty little rainbow of the bottom to attain my goal of double digit numbers. The day ended when I hooked a second monster who broke my 5X tippet after some vicious head shakes. I never saw the fish, but I’m almost certain it would have put the pictured ‘bow to shame. Of course they can be as big as you want when you fail to actually bring them to hand or see them. Losing that last fish left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but anytime you land a fish over 20 inches it’s a great day on the water regardless. Tight lines until next time.
Local and TN Tailwater Fishing Report February 4, 2010
Well after another very wet and cold couple of weeks the rivers are back up and running. I don’t see any stop to the generators on the TN tail-waters in the near future. The local streams are up but are very fishable, high off color water are our favorite water conditions to really get into them.
We floated the Holston River several times in the past week and have had some great dry fly fishing as well as excellent nymphing, especially in the recently reopened spawn areas. Its nice to fish to fish that haven’t seen a fake bug in four months. Our dry fly fishing was most successful using blue wing patterns in the 18-20 range either olive, grey, or black. The prominent hatch that we have seen in the last week were black flies. Patterns in the 20-24 range seem to work well. I usually have an assortment of colors from light to dark for these little guys. If you have fished over there enough you know they will eat a variety of different patterns and colors so be prepared!
Nymph fishing the reopened spawn water was borderline cheating. We fished a lot of bigger patterns that usually are saved for the Delayed Harvest waters. Prince nymphs, San Juan worms, copper johns, and of course the normal small blue wings and midge patterns worked well.
Our local Delayed Harvest water, the Watauga River, has been fishing well. There are plenty of fish to catch and the water levels are great. We have had the best luck on bigger patterns in the 12-16 range. Prince Nymphs, zug bugs, San Juan worms, pheasant tails, have all produced fish. Try not to over complicate things, really try to spot fish from the bank, move in slow and sink your flies to the right depth.
Good luck and make sure to come by and see us if your in the area or even if your not.
Korkers-Guide-Wading-Boots
These days making a wading boot purchase can be a difficult decision. There are tons of options out there. Many of them offer a felt soul bottom but most new models are only offering a rubber sole due to the possibility of outlawing felt on some waters.
After searching for my next boot i finally decided on the Guide Boot from Korkers. This boot offers several nice features that I have found to be beneficial. First, they are very lightweight. Second, they have a very unique Boa lacing system that integrates a very strong, thin reel and cable system. This allows the boot to be laced in seconds by turning the crank on the tongue of the boot clockwise. More importantly, taking them off at the end of a long day is even easier! Just pull up on the crank and you’re out!
Thirdly, these boots offer an interchangeable sole system offering the possibility of up to six different soles. These come in felt and rubber, studded and non studded. Changing them is easy and this allows the angler to change the boot based on the river or stream conditions! For more information contact Foscoe Fishing at 828-963-6556.
The cure for Cabin Fever
Winter can be a good time to trout fish. The key to winter fishing is to put the fly on the trout’s nose. The trout are not going to expend much energy going after food in cold water.
They will eat but the food must be right in front of them. Read the water to determine where a trout might be holding and then present a nymph fished deep so that it drifts to the fish’s level.
There can also be some good dry fly fishing on certain days. Use a small dark midge pattern again presented so that it drifts directly over the trout. Another good thing about winter fishing is that there are fewer anglers on the water so the fish are under less pressure.
