Family and I spent several days camping on the Hiwassee last week. I was able to do quite a bit of Trout fishing. The fishing had picked up from my previous trip and I did manage to limit out daily. Rather than bore everyone with my day to day report, I will give you my general pattern. The early morning bite was pretty slow however the mornings I did fish, I was able to catch several fish using both white and black roost tails and when it was really tough, I would go to the Crickets. TVA consistently started 1 generator at 10 and ran 2 from 11am til 7pm. During the middle of the day, I would fish both roost tails and a #7 repala (silver) and caught several fish and better quality while the water was being generated. Evening fishing was similar to the morning bite, "tough" but not as tough as the morning bite. I fished several locations between the Power House and Big Bend and never really noticed much difference in the bite in any of the areas. I concentrated mainly on the deeper water with current and tried to locate structure in the water. I did find one sweet hole (above Big Bend) in which, I could catch 10+ fish each trip and the fish in this area were nice size. My biggest fish during the week was a 19in. Rainbow!! 19inches may not be that big on the Clinch and some other Rivers but it was the best one I had caught on the Hiwassee this year and was a great fight!!! I released all fish with the exception of 7 that I kept one evening to cook. The 19inch Fish was let go to allow someone else the opportunity to enjoy his "might and flight" as I was able to enjoy. Looking forward to going back again in a few weeks. The weather was nice for our trip and we only had one storm which lasted about an hour and we were easily able to wade it out.
Hiwassee Trout (07-01 to 07-07-2006)
- Thread starter JSV
- Start date
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flip1up
Well-known member
Good report Jason. I used to fish the Clinch below Norris Dam, and havent fished for Trout much in several years. A 19" Rainbow is a very good fish antwhere. Sounds like a good time, I'll bet little scutterbug had fun too.
rsimms
Well-known member
Yes sirreee Bob (or JSV)... 19-inches of rainbow trout is well over bragging sized.
It was truly a great fight and it had me shaking as I first saw her come soaring out of the water!! I actually thought it was a big Smallmouth at first.........until that second.....third ...and...forth acrobatic routine. I soon realized it was a trout. It took me over 10 min. to ware her down or for her to ware me out!! Fortunately, I had her hooked well in the top solid portion of her mouth and was in a location where I could move up and down the river with her! Indeed it was exciting! It is amazing how much power they have and how quick they can move up river in the swift current and how high they can rocket out of the water. The good thing is she is returned back so someone else can enjoy that same feeling that I was able to experience!!
A 19" trout is excellent for hiwassee. Get any pics? I sure would like to get one that size up there. I fished there last friday morning from 6:15am-11am and found the roostertail bite to be very tough. Only caught 2 or 3 I believe. I switched over to corn after 2 hours of slinging the roostertail and then managed about 15. The most productive area was around Fox's Cabin and down below. We need to hook up one day and go after them.
