After such a fantastic day on the Hiwassee River last week, I had to go back for more. A couple of friends planned to meet me for an afternoon of fishing.
We planned on meeting just about the time they cut off the generators, but instead of starting at the powerhouse as I did two days prior (if you haven't read it, you will want to do so then come back), we started a bit further down the river. Since the water was still high, we had to be extremely careful wading as the water slowly dropped out. The Hiwassee is one of the slickest rivers I know, and more than once I came close to taking a spill when my wading boots slipped on the slick ledges of the big river.
Both of my friends quickly got into a trout or two on nymphs and streamers. There were a couple of flashes in the vicinity of the streamer I started out with but otherwise it was slow compared to the last trip.
Once the water dropped out enough, I switched over to the same dry/dropper rig that had produced so well for me earlier in the week. That proved to be the ticket once again, especially once the water levels dropped out close to the minimum flow level. Fish again showed a distinct preference for my subsurface offerings instead of the dry fly.
Not too long after we had slowly slipped and stumbled our way across the river, my buddy Chase hooked a hot fish. After a strong fight, he finally managed to land it. We were both surprised that the fish wasn't any larger. Based on the fight, this fish should have gone more like 16-17 inches, but that is the effect a tailwater has on fish. I never cease to be amazed at how strong fish from area tailwaters are.
Meanwhile, Jayson was off fishing some ledges above us. He continued to catch a fish here and there. I happened to be nearby for at least one of them and snapped a picture of one of his fish as well.
I was pleasantly surprised to catch my first ever brookies on the Hiwassee River on this trip. While they may not be the best use of TWRA's money (seriously, they just become bait for big browns and stripers), they do provide a bit of a break from the routine of stocker rainbows and fingerling browns. The average size of stocked trout on the Tennessee tailwaters seems to have decreased over the years. I'm guessing that it has something to do with the budget and cost associated with raising larger fish. Interestingly, in some states at least, they have discovered that they can stock fewer but larger trout and actually provide better catch rates.
Catching a Hiwassee River slam was a nice first for me. The brookies are sadly pale compared to their wild counterparts that I love catching so much in the Smokies but they are still brookies.
The day had one last high point for me. With the sun sinking quickly, I found myself in the same area that I caught the nice brown on the previous trip. Throwing my fly in the same run the brown came from, I hooked a strong fish. When I got it closer, I saw that it was one of the prettiest rainbows I have seen in a long time. It reminded me a lot of the beautiful rainbows I caught in Colorado.
Shortly after catching the rainbow, the generators came back on for the night. With rising water approaching, we made our exit from the riverbed and headed home completely satisfied with another great day on the water!
You may enjoy reading some of these other recent articles:
Also, sign up for our newsletter to get great fly fishing tips and tricks, more great photography and fishing stories, and news and special offers about guided trips with Trout Zone Anglers.
