Fishing Reports

South Holston River Fishing Report- Summer fishing on the South Holston. When it gets cold, the fishing gets HOT. Its time to catch that great trip you have been after.

Summer is often thought of as a slow season for trout fishing. Not in East Tennesse! Here on the South Holston River, we are fortunate to have BIG opportunities in the summer. This is when customers can land a Trout of a lifetime if they bring their best. In today’s post, we will highlight the Summer fishing on the South Holston River. The South Holston River is a tailwater river in East Tennessee. It is managed by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). The river is about 15 miles long and has thousands of brown and rainbow trout per mile. Many don’t know this but the South Holston River has more huge wild brown trout per mile than any other trout fishery in the nation!! we hope you get the chance to take a trip with us… as you have heard before, seeing is believing!

Sight fishing to large brown trout with small flies is the name of the game. Typically we are fishing nymphs under a dry fly as an indicator. This style of fishing is challenging and takes patience but successful drifting can provide a big reward! The South Holston River is a special place. One of the few in the east coast that a fisherman can catch large brown trout in the 24-30” class! But, they don’t come easy.

Anglers with considerable experience have the best chance at landing one of these big South Holston River brown trout, but we have put anglers of all abilities on these trout. Come try your hand at it. We are excited to show you what we have learned.

Remember to always stay safe and check the flows when fishing downstream of dams like on the South Holston River. This link will take you directly to the Tennessee Valley Authority website flows page for the South Holston River – https://www.tva.com/environment/lake-levels/South-Holston

Needless to say, March is one of the best months to catch a trophy brown or rainbow trout. Just in the last dozen trips in Tennessee, customers caught 10 fish over 20", some of which were in the mid to high 20s range. The "fish of the month" award would go to David...

This time of the year, anglers can anticipate successful nymphing using large flies, particularly with BWO trailer nymphs trailing. Streamer fishing is becoming increasingly productive, making it worthwhile for those seeking the thrill of catching sizable trout...

This time of year you can expect to Nymph eggs and blue wing flies for most of the day, however streamer fishing is becoming more productive and definitely worth the effort. We are also seeing blue wing olive hatches daily and we can usually dry fly fish to particular rising trout almost any afternoon. During BWO hatches, the trout are picky compared to late Spring when we experience the famous South Holston Yellow Sulfur hatch. When Nymphing, December and January are a couple of the special months where it is most likely to catch the giant brown trout found in the S. Holston and Watauga Rivers.