Clearwater Fishing Company, fly & light tackle

Where the Buffalo roam,

2012-02-29T16:42:00.000-05:00

Bruce Jones

Well here we go again. The cold weather is almost gone and the warmer days that we are having now are just a taste of the spring to come. The Hiwassee is fishing great and so are many of our regions tailwaters, but that’s all old new now. This year it’s going to be the warm water species that take the brunt of my fishing. Parksville lake has some great spots, the lower Tellico River and Tellico lake have some nice spot and smallmouth action. But bass are bass and they are everywhere. I’m looking for a couple of days on a secluded stretch of river. Yeah, imagine that on a southeastern tailwater. Where the fish are big and there’s not another person around, except maybe the folks I’m fishing with. And people always wonder, what can this be? Booffalo that is, of the smallmouth variety( Ictiobus bubalus orSmallmouth buffalo). Gray fins, big tails, with shoulders as wide as an elephants. Well maybe not that large, but big ok.

On the lower Hiwassee every year we have an awesome sucker spawn with both Red Horse and Smallmouth Buffalo. This usually only lasts for week or two but it’s great if you can find the fish. When the Buffalo spawn here it gets crazy on the water. Big cows rolling with smaller males on either side trying to cover. The water is churning and rolling from one side of the river to the other and there’s fish everywhere. The air even gets kind of smelly too.

The Dork fish.

This is a good average size.

Everett Kuglar

I usually use at least a 7 weight but a 9wt works really well. I have used lighter rods in the past and you can get by with a stiff 6 weight, but you will be fighting every fish for at least ten minutes and have to hope that they don’t just get up and go with all your line. I started using heavier rods after the first year I started this. Myself and a friend of mine Bruce went out for an afternoon run on some fish. We had been catching fish steadily for a while and we even had to chase a couple down river to get them into the boat. Bruce had hooked up on a pretty nice fish and had been fighting it for a bit, I was getting ready to go for the net when the fish when it surged pretty hard and the 6 weight he was using snapped in the middle. It sounded like a small caliber gun going off and it was one of those times when there’s not really much you can do but shake your head. That's how it all started for me and it's been downhill since then.

The Buffalo run is what got me started in on fly fishing for carp and suckers around five years ago. These fish have been gaining in popularity over the past couple of years mainly do to a couple of facts. First, these fish are spooky. If you make a bad cast and line the fish, don’t expect him to hang around and give you another chance. Second, carp will test your gear. You think a brown will peel off some line? Wait till your hook your first carp. Your drag will scream as line peels out ripping through the water. Don’t pull on them to hard or all the work you have done so far will be for nothing when you brake off. Just hang on and settle in for a good fight, it will all be worth it when you can bring it to hand.

Everett & Dorry

I will start going out looking for the buff and carp sometime in april and keep at it until I either can’t find them anymore or I’ve had my fill. Either way it’s good stuff. Here's a couple pics from the past couple of years.

Dry Fly Fishing in Febuary,

2012-02-27T11:02:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was just to nice to stay indoors. I had to wash a boat anyway after a trip from the day before so i decided to go ahead and float for a bit. So here's a the short and sweet of it all. I put i at the powerhouse boat ramp with one generator flow around 1700 cfs around noon. While drifting down river i rigged up with dry dropper combination to throw at any rising fish i came across. The warmer weather that we are having now is really bringing the bugs out and fish are rising from one end of the river to the other. I did stop a little here and there to watch some fish rise and to see how many were actually coming to the top. The trout are spread out all over the river and so are the bugs. If this year continues on the way it's going then get ready for a great season because it's going to be good. The bugs that i'm seeing are Winter Stones, Blue Wings, and Midges. The fish are taking a little bit of everything, for me a combination of chicabou caddis and small bwo's have been the best, but the fish are eating elk hair caddis and adams patterns as well.

Hiwasee River brown from the Delayed Harvest section.

Hiwassee River

2012-02-13T11:06:00.001-05:00

Low water is here for the spring. TVA is currently working on one of the units at the powerhouse now. I was told that this work is scheduled to take a 3 months to complete. So its one generator for a while unless TVA starts spilling water through the old river bed. So cross your fingers and lets all hope for a constant one generator flow for spring.

Low Flows on the "Wass"

2012-02-02T15:59:00.002-05:00

It looking like we will be starting to get some lower water flows on the Hiwassee. These flows will more than likely take place closer to the weekends to accomadate a higher number of user days on the water. The operating guide for the Hiwassee reservoir is back down to the flood guide and TVA has been giving us some really nice one generator flows over the past couple of days. With any luck the water levels will stay leveled out and we will Keep seeing this type of release. Now as a boater i love rowing on two generators, but float fishing on one generator is just flat out awesome. It takes a little extra effort for us to row the river, but it also gives us more opprotunities get out and wade. It's the best of both worlds. Keep your fingers crossed and lets see what happens, and get your blue wings ready.

I did fish the cowfields the other day on two wheels for a bit when the water was running and there are fish to be had. I brought a dozen or so too hand in a couple hours of drifting before i headed back up river to the ramp. Nothing much as far as size goes, but a few fish were looking up and thats what made the day for me.

one nice fish.......

2011-12-31T21:34:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post this pic from today. Aaron Franckhauser landed a fine South Holston brown while we were on the river today. He's still learning to fly fish, but i think he's doing pretty good so far.

23" brown on a size 18 trooper, one nice fish,
Happy New years everyone!!!

South Holston River Trip:

2011-12-23T14:34:00.003-05:00

The South Holston is fishing good. It's just that simple and i do not know of any other way to put it. Brad Thomason, Jeff Sharpe, and myself spent a couple days fishing the river this past week and we have no complaints. It was a well deserved trip for us all as it seems to get a little harder to find the time to get away each year. The weather was nice for December and the water flows were decent as well. TVA was generating water in the mornings and gave us a low water window in the afternoons from around mid day until dark. It was the best of both worlds as far as i was concerned. We floated in the mornings until the water shut off. Then it back to the ramp, load the boat, and find somewhere to wade in the afternoon. I am not really sure what else i can say except that if you have not fished this river in the winter then you are missing out on a good time.

2011-12-14T09:47:00.001-05:00

Myself and a friend are leaving out on saturday for the South Holston River for 4-5 days of some well deserved good fishing. I am hoping to get some good pictures while we are there and maybe if i get lucky i will have some decent video as well. If so it will be posted before christmass.
Bill

Winter Special:

2011-11-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

     The winter season is here and we still have a lot of good fishing to come. We realize that many people prefer to hunt through the winter or just think it's to cold for good fishing. These trips are fun and yes it is a little cooler outside. This usually makes for some good conditions on many of our local streams as it greatly reduces the number of anglers on the water. With that in mind I started an off season pricing for trips from November first through Febuary 28th 2012. If you would like any additional information please give me a call or send an email.
Bill Stranahan 423-208-8602
billstranahan@ymail.com

     Mountain Town Creek: $300.00  (private water)
     Toccoa River                $250.00  wade $300.00 float  1 or 2 anglers
     Hiwassee River:             $250.00   (section 2 or 3) wade or float
     Clinch River                   $300.00
     South Holston trips         $750.00 2 days & 1 night lodging

All trips include the use of appropriate tackle rods, reels, & flies.
If you do not have waders i can make arrangements for rental gear through one of our local fly shops.

Delayed Harvest (DH) Waters:

2011-10-28T16:26:00.000-04:00

The fall season is rolling along pretty good right now. The Delayed Harvest regulations have kicked in on both the Hiwassee and Tellico Rivers in East Tn. as well as the Upper Toccoa in North GA. Not a whole lot to say other than that everything seems to fishing as well as can be expected. The Tellico and the Toccoa are still running on the low side, but it makes for easy wade fishing. The Hiwassee is fishing good also and we have been running trips over the past couple of weeks that are producing some good fish.

We do need all the help we can get though. If you like to fish on any of these Delayed Harvest (DH) waters. Please contact the appropriate agency if you see anyone violating the DH regulations. I have been seeing a lot of this on the Hiwassee and I am sure its happening on all the other streams as well. We are trying to inform as many people about the new regulations on the Hiwassee as it has not been marked well and we are trying to get some signage from the TWRA to mark all the roadside pulloff's.

Here's a link with some footage of the Tellico DH we shot the other day. This is a first and so it's a little rough around the edges.
http://youtu.be/6-_UovBEPPg

Tennessee Poacher Tip hotline region III: 1-800-241-0767

Georgia Poacher Tip hotline: 1-800-241-4113

North Carolina Poacher Tip hotline: 1-800-662-7137

Warmwater Update

2011-08-16T09:21:00.006-04:00

Lately we have been trying to mix it up a little. Sometime you just have to go out and do something a little different. Back in the winter at the end of last year I found an old beat up john boat to work on as a project and the least I can say is that I have had a lot of fun fishing out of this little boat. Myself and a few friends have been fishing for bass on the fly. So far we make it a point to leave all the spinning gear at home when we go out to do this. That way we don’t worry about being tempted by the dark side. We have been spending a fair amount of time fishing on the Lower Hiwassee, Parksville Lake, and the Lower Tellico river. All of these waters have good populations of a variety of bass.

Parksville Lake is the home of the current state record yellow perch and also hosts a good population of spotted bass. The lake is rather small in comparison to the other reservoirs in the area. The Ocoee/Toccoa River is the main tributary to this small river impoundment. The fishing in Parksville is good, anglers just need to have patience. The banks drop of steeply into the depths here and the fish are always suspended somewhere in the water column. Finding fish that we can target with a fly rod is sometimes a chore, but we are often rewarded with some nice ones when successful. For now I am thoroughly enjoying the bass fishing here. We have started looking for carp on the flats here and i think this is going to be the fun stuff once we get a handle on their movements in the lake.

The Lower Hiwassee River is probably where I have spent most of my time since I have started to get out with the little boat. The fishing here is just flat out fun because you never know what your going to get into. I usually end up with a nice mixture fish by the end of an afternoon or morning session. Brim, shell cracker, spotted bass, largemouth, smallmouth, yellow bass, white bass, and catfish have all fallen for our flies on the lower river. It’s always fun trying to guess what kind of fish you just hooked, but after a short time on the water you can get pretty good at it. During the summer months we also see some of our big fish down here as well. On just about any day that I have hit the water down here I can usually jump up a couple of stripers in the lower river as they work their way upstream.

When you mention the Tellico River to people the first thing that goes through an anglers mind is “TROUT”. It is kind of hard not to make that association when thinking of the Tellico area, but we going after the smallies and spots now. The lower section of the Tellico is a completely different ballgame. There are some really nice bass in this section of the river especially during the fall and spring season, but there are always some nice ones hanging around throughout the year as well. You just have to be able to move around to find them. This fishery is similar to that of the lower Hiwassee in that you never know just what your going to catch. We try to focus on the bass and everything else is just a bonus.

I will be posting some more pics once we're able to get out on the water a few more times.

Strippers, Stripahs, Stripers......

2011-06-10T12:44:00.002-04:00

The stripers are here!!!

Gavin with 32lbs on the fly.

Bobby Cagle 2010

We caught our first striper of the summer run on june 8^th this week. The fish was caught by Amanda Parks from Atlanta, Ga. Now I need to make a comment about this trip. This trip was set so that Amanda could see the upper section of the Hiwassee by her coworker Mike Logan. According to a reliable source this was only the second time that she had ever been fishing. Even though she felt sorry for the fish she still managed to hook them with only the slightest bit of sympathy. So, without any more delay here’s the stats. This fish was taken on a light spinning tackle and weighed a good 26lbs on a boga-grip. The look on her face was priceless.

Hopefully the striper run will be a good one this year. They are in the upper sections of the river now. I just don’t know how many have made it up so far. I have only spotted one other fish than the one we caught, but given how quick we have started on them this year I feel that it’s safe to safe there’s going to plenty more moving up in the river as the summer goes on.

If your interested in a striper fishing trip on the Hiwassee this summer give me a call or send an email and we will discuss the details and set up a date. We are the only outfitter/guide service that targets stripers on the Hiwassee. I have been actively fishing for stripers on the Hiwassee for the past five seasons. Last year wasn't the greatest for numbers of fish, but we did land our biggest to date. I personally weighed two fish over 40lbs last season and hopefully i will have some more big ones this year as well. These are not small fish and you will work hard for every one you catch, but it’s a lot of fun. We will be fishing for stripers through the summer up until October in the upper river. After that it’s back to the lower sections of the Hiwassee to finish off the chase.

Congratulations Amanda on a really nice fish!

Amanda Parks 26lbs, June 8th 2011

An article on degree days.....

2011-06-02T09:57:00.001-04:00

I received the following article a couple of days ago. I have read it a couple of time and thought about it for a bit, and i think it's an interesting take on the life cycle of our bugs. Over the years i have read many articles and books on midges, mayflies, & caddisflies, but i have never came across this before. Maybe i just missed it, who knows? So here's the skinny on it, this was published somewhere at some point in time. I do not know where and when Just that it was written by C.E. Cushing. PH.D. of Estes Park, Colorado.

"Temperature Triggers"
Water temperature plays a huge and complex role in development and distribution of aquatic insects in streams. However, I've noticed in Fly Fisherman phrases such as "triggers the hatch" and "when the water temperature reaches," all referring to specific temperature ranges that cause insects to hatch. These statements give the impression that specific water temperatures or ranges are the causative factor in emergence. Though not unrelated, these is only part of the story. I thought anglers might be interested in knowing the rest of it.

All aquatic insects require a certain thermal history to mature from egg to adult. This thermal history is measured in degree-days, where a degree-day is defined as the average water temperature during a 24-hour period. Here's an example of how it work: Let's say a mayfly deposits eggs when the water temperature is 15 degrees Celsius. At the end of 24 hours, the eggs have accumulated 15 degree-days. For simplicity, let's say the water temperature averaged 14 degrees for the next 20 days; that would be an additional 280 degree-days for a total of 295 degree-days. As the water cools down as winter approaches, we'll say the water averages 10 degrees for the next 60 days, providing an additional 600 degree-days for a total of 895 degree-days thus far into it's development. This continues until the immature insect has accumulated the required number of degree-days to mature into an adult, then it emerges. This number of degree-days required by each insect varies both with species and with geographic location. Actual values are known for only a few species, and determining these values is tedious work.

The point here is that insects do not necessarily emerge when the water reaches a specific temperature. It only means that they have acquired their necessary number of degree-days to complete their development.

This doesn't invalidate angler observations that a certain hatch often comes off at certain temperature. What it means is that in a normal, average year when the water reaches that magic temperature, the necessary thermal history has also been attained. If water temperatures for a particular year have also been below average, hatching time will be delayed.

Thermal history also explains why small insects such as midges can produce several generations per season--they don't need as many degree-days to mature. Conversely, large nymphs such as salmonflies may require more than a single year to acquire their necessary thermal history, which explains why you find more than one size class of these and other nymphs present at the same time.

As a retired stream ecologist, I've been "jousting at this windmill" with anglers for some time, and find that deep-seated beliefs are hard to change. I hope this explanation convinces a wider audience of anglers that absolute water temperatures in relation to insect emergence are correlative and not causative.

C.E. Cushing. PH.D.
Estes Park, Colorado

Hiwassee River water schedule

2011-05-24T08:58:00.000-04:00

The TVA authority will begin the recreational release schedule for the Hiwassee River this weekend on the 28th. Appalachia powerhouse will start operation of one generator at 10am, two generators at 11am, until at least 7pm. This is the 2011 schedule until labor day weekend.

This is the official kickoff for our busy season here on the Hiwassee. The water will run 7 days a week until the end of summer and then some through fall. The sulphurs have started to show up on the river, but i still have not spotted any of the heavier hatches. Hopefully a two turbine flow will give us that little extra bump we need to really get the bugs going.

I have been fishing in the lower river on a regular basis doing the warm water gig for bit. I have had a couple of chances on some stripers down there, i just haven't been able to get a good hook in one yet though. I will say that when the water starts running the stripers should move up fast. I'm not sure exactly what to expect as far as numbers of fish, but i am hoping for a good run this year.

Tellico Brook Trout Restoration Project

2011-05-20T16:22:00.000-04:00

This will be of some interest to anyone who fishes in the Tellico area. The Forest Service started working on the rearing station at pheasant fields about a year ago to prepare it for use in the very near future. This is a joint project between the Forest Service, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, and Conservation Organizations.

The following links are for both a blog and a website with information on the project.

Tellico SA Brook Trout Hatchery Blog - http://brooktrouthatchery.wordpress.com

Tellico SA Brook Trout Hatchery Website - http://www.wix.com/brooktrout/hatchery

Toccoa Tailwater......

2011-05-16T16:30:00.001-04:00

I had the pleasure to fish with couple of good guys on the Toccoa tailwater this past week. Myself, Eric, & Mike spent the day fishing the lower stretch of the river from the switch down to horshoebend park. The weather was perfect, well maybe a little warm for this early in the year, but it was still great. I was hoping to see some top water action during the day, but it just never really happened. The water was still stained, but it was clearer than it's been in a long time.
We did see a few fish rise, but the hatch never started and the fish just stayed glued to the bottom for the day. We did take a fair number of fish using streamers in a size 6 crayfish pattern and the rest of the fish were all taken on a variety of nymphs. The steamer fishing was the only constant throughout the day. All the fish that we caught were healthy with good color, so i think it's fair to say that the river is doing well. It shouldn't be long before the sulphurs make their annual appearance on the tailwater. The hatch last year was great so i am hoping that the bugs will come out and maybe we will get some good hatches as well this season.

SUP--------Stand up Paddle Board

2011-05-02T19:32:00.001-04:00

    Ok, so you can stand on, but can you fish from it?

Today a few of us went out on the lower Ocoee River below Ocoee Dam #1 to do a little paddling and see if we could catch a few fish. The river was off today so the water was low and clear and the fishing was pretty good. We all managed to catch a few fish some were bigger than others, but overall i will not complain one bit. All of the fish we caught we spotted bass except for one rainbow trout and one small sunfish. I was pretty surprised at the number and size of a lot of the fish we caught today. I'm not sure when i will get the chance to get out and do this again, but i definitely plan on it.

Myself, Aaron koch, Ryan Macmurdo, Mariella Aguirre, & John Shannon all from Cascade Outdoors.

Your premier outfitter for whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River.

www.Cascadeoutdoors.com

All paddle boards were provided by Aaron Koch from Cascade Outdoors and Emotion kayaks/paddleboards.

For more information on paddleboards:

http://www.emotionkayaks.com/HTML/Kayaks/traverse.html

Low water flows on the Hi.

2011-04-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

Well it has finally happened. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has reduced the flow rate on the hiwassee from 5700 to around 200cfs or so. So far they have opted to keep a low spill rate instead of the one hour generator pulse every fourth hour. This is the predicted water release schedule for the month of may unless we recieve some heavy rain. The recreational release schedule will resume on the Memorial day weekend and continue on through the summer as usuall.

I had a chance to get out on the water and fish for an hour or two just before dark last night. At first there wasn't much happening on top so i opted for a mid size bugger with a P.T. flashback dropped of the back end. The fish didnt't care for the bugger, but they really like the little flashback. Ben and myself started fishing around Towee Creek. We caught several fish out of the main pools as we worked our way down in the runs in the main shoal itself. I took several more fish out of the heavy runs in the shoal with the same rig, but i did switch it up as i dropped both fly's under and indicator. All of the dozen or so fish ate the nymph.

We moved on down the river a couple hundred yard to fish a few runs where we actually had a nice hatch coming off and had a few fish rising. There was a nice hatch as it was a true mixture of bugs. Hendricksons, Bwo's, Caddis, along with some of the big white mayflies as well, all poping up at once. We took quite a few fish on dries, nothing in particual as different fish keyed in on different things. But it was fun to say the least, after the hatch died off we started swinging some softhackle and continued to catch fish right up until dark.
It was a good way to finish off a day.

Summertime Stripers on the Hiwassee River

2011-04-27T12:31:00.001-04:00

kip & tom gilliam 2010

It's almost that time of year again. We should start seeing some of our bigger fish showing up in the river in the next couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how heavy the run will be this year as it always varys a little from year to year. If you have never tried striper fishing on the Hiwassee, well you should try it at least once. I will say that it's not for the faint of heart. If numbers of fish are what you are looking for then this is not for you, but if you have always wanted a chance a 30lb plus monster, well that's what we have here. Last season gave us a couple of fish that were our best catches ever with two fish over 40lbs and almost 48 inches in length.

It's kinda like a southern steelhead type thing where you fish hard and if you put in the time, you will be rewarded sooner or later. Instead of the cold and freezing temperatures, we have the summer heat to deal with. This year we will be offering a couple of different types of float trips. Our main trips as always are on the upper sections of the Hiwassee River, but we will also be working a fair amout on the lower portions of the river this year as well. I am working on a small river boat that gives us the ability to be very mobile and cover alot of ground during a day.

The Tennessee Valley Authority have been moving large amounts of water through all parts of the tva river system for quite a while now. This may have brought some of our fish up into the lower reaches of the river a little early this year. The water flow schedules will be reduced to normal flow rates within a week or so and once this happens i am expecting the lower reaches of the river to fish well. We will starting our early runs into the lower river to see where the fish are as soon as this happens. I am fairly excited and looking forward to see what we can get into down there this year.

I will give some more information once i have been able to get on the water and see whats happening this season.

If you are looking for a chance to get on these fish, give us a call and set up a trip date and see if you can handle one of the big ones.
Billstranahan@ymail.com

423-208-8602

Hiwassee River, Apalachia Tailwater, 26 April 2011

2011-04-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

I floated the Hi yesterday with some folks yesterday. We did a quick run from the power house all the way down through to reliance. The water flow right now is fairly high running around 5700cfs, but the water is still fairly clear considering the higher water. The fish are fat and healthy right now taking a little bit of everything along the way. Streamers on sink lines, big buggers with a little flash, zoo courgars and such will all take fish.
For the nymph fisherman you gotta get down and do it quickly. Add double the amount of shot that you think will work then back it off from there until you find the rigging that's right for you. The trout are taking a wide variety of nymphs right now so be ready to mix & match and contiue to do so throughout the day. Large princes, hare's ears of different colors, rubber legged nymphs, batman's, pheasant tial, copper john's, etc.......
If the bugs are going to come out it will be mid day around 2pm or so for the heaviest activity. The main hatch that's been happening is the hendrickson, but there also a nice mix of bwo's and some caddis as well.

One of the main things that i have noticed this year is that i have started finding fish in places that i have not seen them in years. The way that the river has been fishing reminds me of around 5-6 years back and it's nice to see. On several different day i have been able to find fish rising almost all the way down towards just above Big Lost Creek. On a couple of evenings i have float a little ways down below webs to fish and i have been finding some nice fish and some good bugs as well down in the cow fields.

So if you haven't fished the Hiwassee in a while this year will hopefully be one of the best ones that we have seen in a long time.