September OVERVIEW

September fishing on the South Holston River and Watauga River showed us what early fall fishing has to offer. Varying flows allowed both wade and drift boat anglers to have very successful days on the two tailwaters. With changes in the weather, cooler mornings and warmer afternoons produced great conditions for the bugs and fish behavior.

The normal 10 cfs (low water) in the mornings allowed wade anglers to get on the South Holston until the TVA would generate starting around 12–1 p.m., depending on the day. With the later generation time, drift boat traffic on the South Holston stayed to a minimum. Most everyone was doing the same thing: HEAD HUNTING!

As the month progressed, wade anglers had a shorter time window as the TVA would start releasing around 11 a.m. Don’t be afraid to find wadeable water on the lower end of the South Holston. It can definitely be the road less traveled and a place to find happy fish this time of the year.

On the Watauga, we usually saw an early morning one-hour pulse and then low water until 1 p.m., with the occasional low water all day. This held true in giving anglers the most amount of time to fish on foot. In the month of September, wade and drifting anglers had all the opportunities in the world to achieve what they were wanting to get out of their fishing experience each day.

We are getting closer to our fall/winter brown trout spawning season. We are already starting to see larger fish stack up on the upper ends of the river. The pre-spawn bite can be very productive when targeting larger trout. AS ALWAYS, any signs of early spawn, let the fish do what they need to do, leave them alone!

SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER

High water fishing in September was pretty spectacular. TVA releasing around 2,000 cfs like normal hasn’t been anything different from what we have seen before. With the average air temperature being in the mid to upper 80s combined with cold water temps, the bugs and fish were very happy. Fishing out of a drift boat consistently gave opportunities for productive nymphing with good dry fly fishing in the afternoon to early evening.

Several nymphing techniques have been productive for us. In-line nymph rigs running between 5–6 ft deep with a little help of split shot have been productive, especially when targeting softer, slower currents along the banks. Some places the banks can be too fast. When this happens, fishing deeper, slower currents more in the middle of the river can be very productive with this nymph rig.

A 7.5–8 ft leader allows for easier turnover when throwing these heavier nymph rigs. Running your fluorocarbon directly below your indicator allows for a quicker sink rate and less leader material near the flies. A small tippet ring or micro swivel can help with this type of nymph rig.

Fulling Mill’s Pink Bead CDC Jig, Pink Bead Track Suit, and Gut Sack Sow Bug have worked well. Donnie’s Quill Body in #18 with a 2.5 mm copper bead has been a good pattern for the smaller sulphur mayfly nymphs that we are seeing consistently.

Sometimes the trout aren’t looking up as much and can be glued to the bottom. Throwing deep and heavy nymph rigs has helped when this happens. Just changing depth and weight vs. your flies typically will get the job done.

DRY FLY FISHING

Dry fly fishing has continued to be good for those anglers wanting to target rising fish on both low and high water. We have been seeing bugs tapering off earlier every day, but don’t let that discourage you. If you can find those hatches with the right timing, you will not be disappointed.

Longer leaders such as the TroutHunter Finesse 10–12’ 5x have been the perfect leader for some of these more selective fish eating dries. Solitude’s Comparadun in #18 and the Sparkle Dun in #18 have been some of the top-producing patterns in our boxes.

Long drag-free drifts are the key to a successful dry fly angler as the season continues to push into fall. We are approaching the time of the year where we will start to see BWOs, so don’t shy away from throwing a few in the box already. Throwing a BWO dun in these later-season sulphur hatches can produce a fish or two when the trout are being very selective.

STREAMER FISHING

Streamer fishing opportunities are there to be had during high water as well. Full sinking streamer lines like the Scientific Anglers I/3/5 have been perfect for hitting the banks or big open water when throwing streamers. Streamers like Galloup’s Peanut Envy, Mini Dungeons, and MFC Sparkle Minnows have been getting more productive as the fall approaches.

WADE FISHING NOTES

On low water, midge hatches were strong in the mornings, allowing good to great nymphing with even opportunities for rising fish on small midge dries. Technical, yes, but fun fishing when making the right drift and presenting these small flies.

Scuds and sow bugs continued to do well in deeper, faster runs. Stomach samples showed a consistent diet on midges, scuds, and sow bugs.

In long, slow runs, a #18 olive midge copper bead and a black nickel-beaded #20 Stripper Midge did the trick. These fish have a long time to look at flies in low water, so combining these small flies with long leaders like a 10–12 ft TroutHunter Finesse Leader with a trimmed-down yarn indicator helped fool these fish.

In faster, deep runs, running a scud or sow bug with the midge and a smaller piece of split shot to help it get down worked well. Sometimes throwing a heavier fly above the small midge or scud/sow bug did well too. You’d be surprised how often these fish will eat bigger flies on low water.

A #18 Pheasant Tail like the Fulling Mill Jig Pheasant Tail with a larger bead helped these smaller flies get down and showed to be productive as well.

Click here for the South Holston Dam generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Nymphs

Donnie’s Quill Body #18
Weiss Dark (Copper Bead) #18-20
Fullingmill Gut Sack Sow Bug
Fullingmill CDC PT (Pink Bead)
Olive Midge (Black Nickel Bead) #18-20

Dry Flies

Birchell’s Hatch Midge #18–20
Sulphur CDC Comparadun #16–18
Sulphur Deer Hair Comparadun #18
Sulphur CDC Puff Daddy #18

WATAUGA RIVER

The Watauga River, like the South Holston, has had varying flows in the month of September. A consistent one-hour pulse of water in the early mornings, paired with either low water the rest of the day or a generation schedule starting around 1 p.m. and running into the night.

The one-hour pulse in the morning comes and goes fairly quickly, so don’t let that stop you from getting out and wading. The falling water continues to be very productive, and anglers are able to get away with throwing larger bugs in the Pheasant Tail and Perdigon family.

The cooler mornings produced good midge fishing along with small baetis patterns. Small baetis nymphs with light tippet to get down to the fish in the quick runs were our typical setups in the mornings.

Our afternoon setups did not change much, just making sure we had a rod rigged for the fish starting to feed on top. If we fished the flat water, running a little heavier point fly paired with some sort of small midge, typically in the olive color, or a basic Pheasant Tail would give us fish to the net.

The heavier point fly would set our smaller fly in the correct position for the fish that were not willing to move to a fly. Remember, both of these techniques can be used from foot or boat.

When TVA did generate in the afternoons, we found the in-line nymph rigs still to be the best, running them around 5 ft deep with some heavier “flashy” flies with a smaller nymph below.

Adding split shot and constant depth changes can make a day go from good to great. Some days we saw clean water when generating and some dirty water. The dirty water days tend to be a little slower and more difficult, keeping your flies clean.

Click here for the Wilbur Dam generation schedule!

Suggested Patterns

Nymphs