15 Year old Jack with a 21 inch brown on the fly!

Boy are we tired!  Mike and I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on the river.  Mike went home and I stayed out for two more days before coming back to reality.  I have to say my office in real life sucks compared to the one I was in for five days.  It was hot, humid, and sometimes downright unbearible out there but the fish didn’t really seem to mind.  So on to this week’s fishing report:

Thursday and Friday we had the Greer family from Chattanooga TN.  Mom, Dad, and their two twenty-something sons were all die hards and fished like it was their job.  Thursday we were blessed with a pump being installed at the dam and no water coming from the dam for most of the morning.  Needless to say fishing was amazing.  On Friday we floated a different stretch with 2,000 CFS flowing all day.  Fishing was slower but we still managed a good day.  Saturday we went back to the upper river and fishing was spotty but when we found fish they were plentiful.  Sunday and Monday were painfully slow in the mornings.  It was so slow on Sunday that I called my Monday clients and warned them and gave them the option to bail…but they said let’s fish, so we fished.  On both days the last 1/2 mile of the trip saved the day. 

The river is either dead or on fire depending on where you are right now.  If you find fish, stay there.  The water is looking way better than it has in the past.  It’s still stained with a bit of algae here and there but by no means unfishable.  Being in driftboats we don’t have the luxury of firing up the motor and going through a run 20 times on a trip.  So what are we doing?  We’re changing our floats.  Luckily we have access to pretty much every private ramp on the river so we have options and we’re using them to keep you on the hot spots.  Let’s not forget that we offer full day wade / float trips.  There are some great gravel bars where wade fishing is really good.  We float from spot to spot, picking up fish, and when we get into a hot spot we get out and wade for a while before drifting on down to the next one.

So here’s what worked:

Nymphs:  Big Princes #12 to #10 fished with a midge dropper.  Copper Johns in #12 and 14 also with the midge dropped below.  Egg patterns if fished properly.  Keep them on the bottom and keep that indicator upstream!  We used split shot in faster water and it payed off. 

Streamers:  We fished random streamers with very little success.  Black and White buggers got some action but unless you’re a die hard streamer fisherman then you’ll do just as well or better fishing a nymph rig.

Dries:  Yeah right!  We saw like 10 rises in five days.  Wanna fish dries?  Hope you’re ready for a slow day.

Check our photo gallery for new pics of this weekend’s catch.

Tight lines and slimy hands,
Brandon

Lunch break is usually the only time your guide gets to fish

The Cumberland has been pretty high for the past couple of weeks.  After getting our butts handed to us two weekends ago in 9,000 CFS water we decided to head back to the Clinch and remember what it’s like to catch fish.  Needless to say the fishing was excellent and the weather was painfully hot.  Good thing the water on the Clinch is in the 40’s.  I was numb from the knees down after just a few minutes in the water casting to some risers while my client had lunch. 

The Cumberland is back to a fishable 2,000 CFS with one sluice and one oriface gate open 24/7.  Is the water clear or full of algae?  We honestly don’t know but you bet we’ll be back out this weekend to see for ourselves.  2,000 CFS is an almost perfect flow for the Cumberland.  It’s all about water clarity now. 

See you on the river,
Brandon

Just a quick update.  Some of you may find this hard to believe but as soon as the fishing got really good we got flooded again.  It’s not as bad as it has been but the lake needs to come down about 8 to 10 inches before we’ll have really low water again.  Right now they have one generator and the sluice gate open around the clock so the water is about 7 feet higher than normal.  Wading is out of the question and it will most likely be streamer fishing if you’re planning on going.  Keep your fingers crossed for dry weather in the meantime.

We're seeing a lot of these lately!

The Cumberland is back!!!  We’re finally getting rested up after several amazing days on the Cumberland.  Flows are low, clear, and cold thanks to the sluice gate being cranked up last week.  As a result the fish are more concentrated in the areas you would expect them to be.  Not only are the fish hungry, they’re healthy.  We noticed that even 12″ to 15″ inch fish were screaming away and peeling off drag as we fought them.  Most fish were also looking plenty fat so they’ve obviously been eating well.  This brown pictured in this post was as big around as a football and somehow Gary got her in on 6x.

Remember  to keep your guard up if you’re taking a boat.  The water is low and lots of things that weren’t a factor before are now dangerous.  Look out for tree stumps and rocks if you’re attempting the Cumberland by boat.  If you’re wading you’ll find yourself able to reach holes you previously weren’t able to reach.  Of course the best way to fish the river is out of our drift boats.

Check our photo gallery as we’ll be adding new photos pretty regularly.  Here’s what’s been working for us:

Nymphs:  Prince #14 & #16, Copper John #16, Pheasant Tail #16, and don’t forget the zebras

Dries:  Blue Winged Olive #16 if you find yourself in a hatch, Adams #16 &#18, Winged Ant #18

Good luck!

Brandon

This was on the Clinch...but I couldn't help putting this picture on here.

I’m getting ready to head down to the river so here’s a quick head’s up on what’s going on with the Cumberland.

Good news and bad news:  The good news is that the corps will be cutting back on the generation from 24 hours to 18 hours for the next several days.  The bad news is that they’re turning the generator off from 9:00 P.M. until 3:00 A.M. showing once again they put fishermen at the absolute bottom of their list of priorities.  At this point I’m starting to think someone at PETA is controlling the generation schedule. 

Fishing is much better in low water so with this schedule we’re hitting the water way down river at sunrise.  If you go, we suggest you do the same.  When high water reaches you the fishing becomes much more difficult as the water becomes very turbid and visibilty goes way down. 

Let’s keep hoping for dry weather so we can eventually get to a minimal generation scenario. 

In low water standard patterns are working.  Princes, zebra midges, hare’s ears, copper johns, etc.  In high water go to bright colored egg patterns and off the wall nymphs with bright colors.  If they can’t see it they can’t eat it. 

Good luck and good fishing, Brandon

Nothing like the Cumberland! This river keeps you on your toes.

Whew!  Just got back from a great Memorial Day weekend on the Clinch River in TN.  That sentence pretty much sums up the Cumberland River portion of this week’s fishing report…..in that there isn’t a Cumberland River fishing report.  Until the Corps of Engineers realizes that thousands of fishermen are going elsewhere with their money they’re going to prolong the draw down and keep water levels too high for fishing on the Cumberland.  This week they’re going to 3 generators 24 / 7.  If you’re unaware, they have 6 generators they could be using to draw the lake down.  However, they’re opting for the “keep the river unfishable for as long as possible” strategy.  Now they COULD run zero generators from let’s say midnight until noon, then all 6 generators from noon until midnight and accomplish the same daily average outflow as 3 generators for 24 hours, but that would mean we could go fishing and that’s not in their interests right now.  So as long as this continues we’re taking your tourist dollars to Tennessee where things like “recreational generation schedules” exist.  It’s an amazing concept, and one we’ve been enjoying immensely.

The Clinch continues to fish well for us.  We’re getting them mostly on small midge patterns and pheasant tails in the morning hours.  As mid-day gets around and the fog burns off the water we’re having to use very stealthy techniques to fool these wary fish.  Light tippet and long leaders are a must.  Late afternoons have been a blast with the spring Sulfur hatch in full swing.  Dry flies are always more fun and we’ve seen some pretty nice fish get fooled over the past weeks.  Check our photo gallery for new photos of the Clinch!

We have openings so call us!

Brandon