Water flows have been down recently due to less generation on the South Holston and wade fishing has been much more accessible! There has been a good Blue Winged Olive hatch that should continue throughout the winter.

Also, as always, midges are abundant and even through the snow there have been good hatches. The Watauga has also offered a chance at more wade fishing due to less generation and there have been steady Blue Winged hatches. Nymphing during faster flows seems to be the best method for getting to the fish!
Fishing can be very rewarding this time of year! Many fish that have been pressured throughout the summer are less picky and continue to feed on subsurface insects. With that being said, we have had some extremely cold weather lately and most small streams are frozen. We are expecting warmer weather this week and it shouldn’t take long to open these streams.

Most days we are seeing Blue Winged Olives in sizes 18 and as small as 22. Midges are also prevalent and fish eat bunches of them in the larvae stage. They are typically sizes 20 to 24. Occasionally, we are still seeing some caddis flies hatching mid-day in a dun or brown color. Most of these will be a small size 16-20. As always, nymphs offer the best results this time of year!