June 2010

The scuds, midges, and sulfur nymphs continue to dominate the food supply for our beloved S. Holston trout. The best dry fly activity has been early morning for the midges and early afternoon for the sulfurs. The TVA has limited generation to a few pulses a day, making for warmer waters in the lower sections of the river in late afternoon. The best bite has definitely been in the morning hours on most days.

Today I was on the phone with my good friend James Marsh discussing fly fishing for trout in the Southern states vs. fly fishing for trout in the Northern states; and there are differences. The major difference is that there appear to be far more trout anglers in the Northern states than in the Southern states. He pointed that numerous books that have been written about fly fishing in the North but very few written about fly fishing for trout in the South.

We at Trout University have the privilege of co-linking with Flyfishingnc.com and since I have written about stoneflies for the summer, I decided to see what Flyfishingnc.com had to say about the subject. Answer: Plenty, so here is a reprint from flyfishingnc.com.

The Order Plecoptera, known as the Stone fly. The stoneflies are terrestrial as adults, but in the nymphal stages they are strictly aquatic, and most are restricted to flowing waters of relatively high oxygen concentrations due to their gills. That is why they are usually found in faster moving water.