Holston River Fishing Report - TN
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Published on 05-03-2014 10:52 AM
Conditions for May 3rd, 2014
River: Holston
Location: Cherokee Dam to River Mile 7-8
Sunrise: 6:40AM
Sunset: 8:23PM
Time Fished: 9:30AM until 5:30PM
Temps: 60F rising to 74F by 5:30PM
Barometric Pressure: 30.01(inHG) Falling to 29.94(inHG) by 5:30PM
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent 18% visible
Winds: Steady with gusts up to 20MPH
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Generation Schedule: 9AM-10AM 1; 10AM-3PM 0; 3PM-4PM 1; 4PM-9PM 0
Water Conditions: Low Flow
Water Color: Clear with 2-4 feet of visibility
Water Temps: Held steady at 54-56F
Pictured: Luther with a Holston River Rainbow
I was fortunate this past Saturday because I was given the opportunity to float the upper river with two great spin fishers, Luther and Vivian from Dayton, TN. The boat was launched by 9:30 AM as the one generator pulse was beginning to slowly fall. TWRA stocked the week prior so several smaller fish were caught on silver Rooster Tails and gold Panther Martins. The larger fish were caught on small Rapala's in silver, gold and brown trout patterns. The river fished okay for the first five or six miles but due to the lack of two generator flows over the last six weeks, there was a lot of free floating grass and algae which made for a lot of lure cleaning between casts. What I found interesting is that the further down river we went, the better the water clarity and the less debris we had to deal with. Our best fish were caught in the last two miles of our float. These fish were taken in the largest deepest runs that we drifted through. As we arrived at the boat ramp, there were several good fish rising to Caddis, Sulphur dries and emerging Crane flies. I have been tinkering with ways to present flies with a spinning rod and Luther was willing to try it. We placed a foam float on his line with a split shot directly under it. I then attached four to five feet of 4X tippet to his main line and tied on a size sixteen Caddis Dry. Luthers last two fish came on this set up. I know I am not the first person to ever try this, but with a little more fine tuning, I think it will work just fine in most cases and this gives the spin fisher a wider variety of fishing presentations and lures to choose from. Never stop trying new things and tight lines.
Luther with a healthy Holston River Rainbow
A Holston Rainbow
A Sulphur dry from the Holston River
Luther with another Holston River Rainbow