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Tennesee Moon Doggin'

Started by OldDominionAngler, May 18, 2010, 23:18:38 PM

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OldDominionAngler

My good friend Ben flew into Reagan from St. Louis at 4pm on Thursday afternoon and it wasn't long until we hit the road.  After an hour of battling metro traffic, and another hour and a half tracking south on the interstate, we met Kenny who'd traveled west from Richmond.  Our convoy followed Waffle House signs for another four hours until we came into camp late.  We couldn't help but have a few beers and tell a few stories before setting up tents and packing it in.
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Friday morning started pretty much as we'd hoped: cell phone turned off, a cup of coffee, a granola bar, and open water on a prime nymphing run that I'd been thinking about since the last time I fished the SoHo a year and a half ago.  I flipped a few rocks and the sulphers were caked in globs everywhere I looked.
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I couldn't help but tie on a sulpher dry before switching to a nymph rig and picked up a few healthy fish off the bat.
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After tying on a micro mayfly with a bronze beadhead trailed by a yellow bodied soft hackle, I didn't switch flies for probably six hours. The fish were keying on the softhackle, especially on the swing.
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I slowly worked downstream and started picking up some nicer fish in a series of bathtub deep pockets.
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This fish went nuts on the hook set, launching itself three feet out of the air before finding a downstream current and burying itself under a log jam.  I was continually blown away by how these strong these fish are.
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We continued nailing average fish in this run, landing 14-16" fish here and there and bumping a few nicer ones before finally exhausting the run and driving upstream.
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After some late lunch, we posted up at a nice run hoping to get more fish on dries.  We picked up a few decent fish on sparkle duns and then headed back to camp after a thunderstorm chased us off the river.
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The fire got to burning hot quickly and it wasn't long before the beef stew was bubbling.
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In celebration of this seldom occasion, I broke out some homebrew I'd been itching to crack open.  Ice cold citrusy ale coupled with some of Kenny's venison jerky tasted just about right on this damp evening.
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We picked up were we left off on Saturday morning, nabbing fish on yellow soft hackles and zebra midges.
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After limited success on what I thought would be another great nymph run, I stopped casting and starting stalking fish in the slower water.
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I spooked a ton of nice fish before finally cornering a nice brown that was clearly visible on a green mossy back drop.  I was shocked he didn't see me as he continually took nymphs to his left and right.  He took and shook a nymph quickly and I'd thought I'd blown my chance.  But he came back to his feeding lane and took the nymph again.
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More rain forced as back to the truck and we finished the evening casting sulpher spinners close to the dam with no success.  It's tough to see your fly in that fog.
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Damp firewood and more looming storms helped us decide to head into Bristol.  A few pitchers and some fried pickles later and we were sound asleep and sunburnt in our tents.
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More yellow soft hackles was the name of the game on Sunday morning.
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The next four hours of fishing may have been the most exciting of the trip for me.  I was fishing a dropper below a sulpher dry watching intently as big fish were feeding.  Although I didn't get those fish to eat or stay hooked, my buddy Ben took this nice brown on a zebra in deep, slow water.
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This time the thunderstorms hit a little too close to home.  The wind was gusting hard and the lightning was striking close when we finally got back to the truck.  Back at camp, relaxing in the car and drinking beer felt a little too good to re-rig and get back on the water.  Charred brats and some bullshit stories rounded out our last night on the river.
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Monday morning was just enough to round out a great trip, and not quite enough to make me content with fishing the Holston.
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We'll be back soon.
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trouthemp

Damn fine report....you sir suck..... 0--0
were just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl....year after year........

Woolly Bugger

don't hurry back, you sore mouthed too too many fish! :)
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

blue ridge angler

great stuff oda...
those are some pretty fish they got up there..
thanks for the report.. 0--0

dnakamoto


tbird4

That's good stuff there ODA. 0--0 

Trout Chaser

Damn fine report ODA!! That is one fine river. 0--0 I arrived a day earleir than you and left out on Sunday.  Can't wait until the next time I can get back down there.

TC

Rhody

nice report, sounds pretty hard to beat

rhody
My picture weighs more than your picture.
J.M.

troutphisher

Looks like you had a great day..... 0--0
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Get Bent

Damn.... Sounds and looks like you guys had a blast. If I hadn't been in Atlanta, I would have took you up on the fishing. Gotta love the takes on the swing.

;hb 0--0
Konichiwa Bitches!

OldDominionAngler

Glad you'll enjoyed the report.  That fishery is truly incredible.

Too bad we missed you, TC.  How'd you'll do?

jwgnc

Sore arm, sore lips, sore was a great day
Stalk softly and carry a green stick.

flynhokies

sweet report oda...i love that fog picture   0--0
"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration."
-Claude Monet