Big fish story--you just got to read this!

[Hugh Hartsell]

  The water was off on the South Holston today and Carolyn and I ran up there in the middle of the morning. We passed thru lots of drizzle on the way up, but it had stopped by the time we got on the river. It was cool and damp so I thought that a BWO with a dropper would be the flies to start with. We could not see anything hatching , but the fish were feeding on top. I caught a couple of fish and checked to see what the feeding activity was all about. It turned out to be Blackflies and they were very small. I had left my fly box at the car and when I came back the Sulfurs had started hatching off. Carolyn and I both changed to Sulfur Compara Duns with midge droppers and moved down the river to a different spot.

When we waded back out in the water the fish had started feeding like crazy. I caught one or two medium size rainbows and I could see several nice fish taking flies just below me. To get a fly to them, I had to make long cast across and down, and play out line to keep a drag free drift. I let the fly make two or three drifts across a large fish and suddenly the water erupted. I raised the rod tip and I was into a giant fish. He made three fast dashes back and forth thru the middle of the river. The next run he made ended in an explosion out of the water with one of the biggest browns that I have ever hooked. He looked like he was 30in. long! I hollered at Carolyn and she move toward me to try to get some pictures. I started moving slowly down the river as I played the fish, trying to keep the distance closed between us.

All of a sudden, I felt like my feet were tangled in something. I could only move them a short distance. I thought that I was tangled in a glob of fishing line that was wrapped around moss and rocks. I finally got my boot up on a rock and I saw that my boot lace was tangled in the small hook on the bottom of my gravel guard. I had to do some fancy footwork and try to keep control of the fish at the same time. I finally got untangled and continued to work the fish down slowly. He just made short runs and bulldog head shakes from this point on. It took about 20minutes to wear him down, but I finally got him close enough to start getting pictures and thinking of how this was going to work, without a net. As I got the fish up close to me and started to try to get my hand on him, I saw a tangled mess around the fish's mouth and head. I could see both flies and neither of them were in the fish's mouth. Wow!, what was holding the fish? He moved back and forth in front of my feet and I could see that the line had wrapped around his jaws and thru his teeth but the hooks had come out. How in the world was I going to get him untangled? I wasn't about to stick my hand into the mouth of a giant brown trout. Not with all those razor sharp teeth! I got him close enough to measure and he was 27 in. long. I then grabbed the leader to try to work it loose, and he gave a tail sweep and was loose.

We said goodbye to the biggest brown trout that I have ever caught from the South Holston River. He had been a brave warrior. Carolyn and I fished on until 4:00PM catching several more nice rainbows, but it was all anticlimatic after that. The glare on the water did not help too much with the picture, but I hope that you enjoy the story.
    Hugh Hartsell---East Tn.

[Trout Chaser]

Hugh,

All of your reports are great to read, this is definitely one of the best.  Congratulations on a truly great fish. 

TC

[Stuart R.]

Good job Hugh! I was going to go today but my plans got all bummed up I wish I had now, You Make Me Sick! That is a great story though. I will probably try to go first of next week though. SO the sulpher are still hanging around hugh. I hope they are next week. I would love to fish one more good hatch. Are you fishing up near the dam or farther down no details just the general area? GOOD JOB!

FM

[Hugh Hartsell]

  Thanks guys, I apologize for the quality of the picture, again.
  FM, I was not real close to the dam. I hope that you get back up there. BE PREPARED FOR CHANGES IN THE TYPES OF FLIES THAT YOU WILL USE. The cooler weather is going to slow down the Sulfur hatch.
     Hugh

[Woolly Bugger]

Nice Hugh, very nice indeed!

[Stuart R.]

Ya the weather is what I was worrying about I hope for one more sulpher hatch in my future though. I like the BWOs too but the black fly can be frustraiting. SO TINY.  Thanks for the info on the hares ear dropper is that a year round fly for  you?

FM

[Hugh Hartsell]

  FM, I'm sure that it can be a year round fly, but I tend to look at what's going on in the creek or river when I make a choice on flies. When those Blackfly hatches become heavier or BWOs become the predominant fly on the river, you may want to have something that resembles these insects, just in case. Two good examples that you might want to consider having all the time are: Griffiths Gnat and some smaller sizes of Beadhead Pheasant tail nymphs.
     Hugh

[phg]

I was reading somewhere that the Griffith's Gnat was a "cluster fly", that is, it represended a cluster of midges.  Have you noticed the midges being is clusters?  I've never noticed that behaviour myself, but then, untill last year, I havn't done much winter fishing, nor have I paid much attention to midges. 

If clustering is a common behaviour, though, that would suggest that different colors of gnats would be called for... ::) More flys to tie....

[Hugh Hartsell]

  Paul, quite a few years ago when the Little Tenn. River was at it's peak, the midge hatches would be so heavy that you couldn't tell your fly from the real thing. It is that way sometimes on the Clinch River now. I haven't seen hatches that heavy on the South Holston but that may happen in cooler weather. The Creme Midge Hatches can be awesome on most of the rivers and they would require some type of fly like that. This is something we'll have to check out this late season.
      Hugh

[RonS]

That was great. Thanks for taking the time to make your reports and share them with us. 

[Stuart R.]

Ya do fish a small PT in the winter alot. I don't usually use a beadhead though. I just tie them with a little bit of light lead wire. I don't use a griffins gnat much on holston I do in the MTNs though. I use a little 22 24 black midge for the blackfly. It iis simple hook, thread and grizzly hackle. Thread body and about 2 turns of small hackle. It works well in the midge hatches. I found a new hood for these a TMC 500U nice. Upturned eye 2xshort and a little wider gap then average midge hooks. I ahve tied on them but yet to get on holston to try them out. I am curious. If TVA woudl cut off the water long enough I am do a trip wanted to go tomorow but i will have to hit the MTNS tomorow I guess only leaving water off till 11am not log enough for me to make the trip.

FM