My family and I spent the weekend camping up on the Hiwassee this past weekend and joining us for some R&R , fishing and fun was my sister, brother-in-law and their 3 year old son. We had a great time however we found the fishing to be extremely tough emoScratch . TVA was doing their normal summer pattern (0 generation till 10am, 1 generator from 10-11, and 2 generators from 11 till 7pm). Friday evening my brother-in-law and I started at Bigbend and fished roostertails as the water was still running wide open but would soon begin to recede. I had caught several fish in this area the past few weeks and was expecting to do the same this weekend!!!!! Wrong!!!!!! emoConfused Friday evening using Black roostertails I managed 4 or 5 fish with them all being Browns. I did manage one Brown that was a little over 15in. and a great fight, so I am not complaining however I have got a little spoiled and was use to and expecting to catch a few more fish. Brother-in -law caught a couple that evening.
Saturday morning we started in the same area, expecting a good morning bite since it was slow Friday evening!!! WRONG!!! We fished hard all morning and between the two of us caught 5 Trout (4 small Browns and one small ACROBATIC Rainbow! As the water was about to come up we headed down river to the beginning of the Trophy area and fished...very little success. We changed colors and I did manage 1 Rainbow on the Rainbow color Roostertail and the Bro. law caught one on Black.....plus some Horneyheads. I tried the Rebel crawfish and all. It was slow...... Sat. evening we moved up river and I used the Tube Float .......managed 4 small fish and 1 Brown a little over 14in. (right at dark). Sunday morning was even slower...2 fish.
I talked with Jerry the owner of Reliance Fly and Tackle and he said everyone was having a real tough time. Jerry also informed me that TVA was suppose to stock 10,000 + Trout in the river for that weekend since it was the free fishing weekend but hadn't stocked a single fish in 3 WEEKS emoMad . I TALKED WITH SEVERAL FISHERMEN AND ALL THE STORIES WERE THE SAME.......SLOW!!! I tried to encourage most all that I came into contact with and let them know it usually wasn't this slow but I could tell some folks were a little discouraged and it wasn't near as good as those good old days they would insist on telling me about. All in all I had a great weekend , caught a few fish and enjoyed the time with family and friends!! Will be spending the entire week of July 4th up there and most likely will return before then for at least a day trip or 2!!
All fish were returned to the River to fight again another day!!
I also watched a good size Rainbow jump and take a bug which was at least 6in. off the water (I new they had good eyes but I thought the bugs they snatch were all on the surface of the water) WRONG AGAIN!
Brother-in-law also got to watch a Trout attempt to jump up and navigate its way up some falls! He said the fish was unsuccessful the first couple attempts but finally managed to work his way up!
JSV
Saturday morning we started in the same area, expecting a good morning bite since it was slow Friday evening!!! WRONG!!! We fished hard all morning and between the two of us caught 5 Trout (4 small Browns and one small ACROBATIC Rainbow! As the water was about to come up we headed down river to the beginning of the Trophy area and fished...very little success. We changed colors and I did manage 1 Rainbow on the Rainbow color Roostertail and the Bro. law caught one on Black.....plus some Horneyheads. I tried the Rebel crawfish and all. It was slow...... Sat. evening we moved up river and I used the Tube Float .......managed 4 small fish and 1 Brown a little over 14in. (right at dark). Sunday morning was even slower...2 fish.
I talked with Jerry the owner of Reliance Fly and Tackle and he said everyone was having a real tough time. Jerry also informed me that TVA was suppose to stock 10,000 + Trout in the river for that weekend since it was the free fishing weekend but hadn't stocked a single fish in 3 WEEKS emoMad . I TALKED WITH SEVERAL FISHERMEN AND ALL THE STORIES WERE THE SAME.......SLOW!!! I tried to encourage most all that I came into contact with and let them know it usually wasn't this slow but I could tell some folks were a little discouraged and it wasn't near as good as those good old days they would insist on telling me about. All in all I had a great weekend , caught a few fish and enjoyed the time with family and friends!! Will be spending the entire week of July 4th up there and most likely will return before then for at least a day trip or 2!!
All fish were returned to the River to fight again another day!!
I also watched a good size Rainbow jump and take a bug which was at least 6in. off the water (I new they had good eyes but I thought the bugs they snatch were all on the surface of the water) WRONG AGAIN!
Brother-in-law also got to watch a Trout attempt to jump up and navigate its way up some falls! He said the fish was unsuccessful the first couple attempts but finally managed to work his way up!
JSV
