Foscoe Fishing Company Blog - Fishing Reports
Foscoe Fishing Company offers the most complete report of fly fishing conditions in western North carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Our professional reports are updated regularly with water flows, recommended flies and equipment, and special fishing tips for the most important fly-fishing destinations in Blue Ridge Mountains. Plan your next fishing trip knowing you’ll arrive without any surprises and discover some new fishing destinations in the area.
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.
Farm Pond Bass Fishing
I recently had the opportunity to go and fish a small pond in SC while on a duck hunting trip. “Farm pond” fishing is one of my favorite ways to get a line wet. Usually there are alot of different species lurking in those dingy waters like large mouth bass, sunfish (bream), crappie, catfish, and there’s always the stories of the giant snapping turtle as big as a dinner table.
I am no Nathan Webber when it comes to bass fishing, but we did alright fishing brown woolly buggers on a slow retrieve. The bass were hungry, but not too willing to chase anything moving fast. After we caught a few bucket mouths, we switched to some trout patterns like copper johns and soft hackles to catch some bream.
Small pond fishing is a great way to keep fishing in the winter, or if you live far from a trout stream. Its easy to run out for an afternoon and cast some flies to eager fish- or maybe even hook that giant snapping turtle. -John
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report January 13th, 2010
South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters Fishing Report
Water flows have been down recently due to less generation on the South Holston and wade fishing has been much more accessible! There has been a good Blue Winged Olive hatch that should continue throughout the winter. Also, as always, midges are abundant and even through the snow there have been good hatches. Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report December 10th, 2009
South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters Fishing Report
On the South Holston, oddly enough, there have still been quite a few sulphurs hatching. Most of which have been weather related during warmer sunny days. As the colder weather approaches us, look for more Blue Winged Olive action. Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report November 10th, 2009
November has arrived and that means tail-water fishermen should have plenty of tiny midges and blue wing olive imitations in their boxes. Anglers should be looking for blue wing hatches coming off in the afternoon, while the midges are more consistent throughout the day. Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report October 9th, 2009
It’s that time of year again! Cool day time temperatures, changing leaf color, and bluebird days all give way to great fishing conditions! We have experienced heavy rainfall the past couple of weeks and it has given us perfect water levels and even better water temperatures! Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report September 11th, 2009
On the Holston, there has been a consistent sulphur hatch at high water around 3 pm and lasting a couple of hours. Size 16-18 sulphur comparadun patterns are working well. Blue wing olives are coming off in size 18-20. As usual the tiny flies are present – black flies and midges – as well as scuds. On the Watauga, craneflys are coming off in size 18 or 20, and some blue wing olives are starting to fly around. They have more of a grey color rather than the olive green. Sporadic caddis activity along with the random big sulphur (sz. 14). Midges and small nymph rigs will always bring some fish to hand. Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Fishing and Hatch Report August 14th, 2009
On the South Holston Tailwaters there is an abundance of Sulphur mayflies in the 16 to 20 size range. Fish patterns that imitate cripples and emergers as well as the adult fly. Terrestrials are working well and midges fished deep will produce fish. On the Watauga Tailwaters, we are still seeing some intermittent sulphurs and caddis, but the name of the game right now is terrestrials. Ants, beetles, and hoppers are all on fire this time of year, especially under trees and near the banks. Fishing midges deep in 2 or 3 fly rigs are also a safe bet. Finish reading this fishing report >>
Blue Ridge Mountain Fishing Report June 26th, 2009
Finally after years of drought the Blue Ridge Mountains experienced a very wet spring with some areas receiving almost 10 inches during the month of May. The rain of the spring has provided excellent stream water levels for the beginning of the summer. Finish reading this fishing report >>
