This past Saturday, Steve and I finally had the opportunity to go trout fishing, something that has escaped us for all too long. We decided to leave Charlotte at 6:00 am and drive four hours up to Bluff City, Tennessee to check out the sulphur hatch for ourselves since the South Holston is so famous for sulphurs. First, we stopped by Bojangles for 2 ham biscuits!
We arrived about 10:00, and promptly went to the Hickory Tree Super Market to purchase an out of state fishing license. (The price of a 3 day fishing license is $33 at the store but $36.95 if you purchase it by phone or email.)
We found a pull-over spot on the Big Springs Road, parked and cut off the ignition, just as the first rain drops splattered on the windshield. Not to be discouraged we started down to the water and found that the stream was clouded in fog so thick that you could hardly see the end of your pole. Since we did not expect the hatch to start until afternoon when the temperature rises, Steve tied on a streamer. After a few casts, he landed a nice fat feisty brown, but the intensity of the rain dampened our enthusiasm.
So we took the opportunity to drive around, checking some access points that we wanted to verify, while we waited until the afternoon when it turned out to be warmer and in fact a beautiful warm day! The temperature of the water had risen from 46 degrees F to 54 degrees.
The sulphur hatch had started by the time we arrived at the pull-over and the trout were indeed active. We had a great time fishing for them but unfortunately we did not have much time since we soon had to start the 4 hour return trip to out home in Charlotte, NC.
We have only two regrets. First, we regret that we could not stay for the spinner fall expected to start just before darkness. The females usually drop their eggs from above the water over the riffles and then fall spent on the water. The spinners will congregate at the ends of the 
riffles, heads of pools and current eddies making a great feast for the trout as well as a great time for the anglers.
Second, Steve’s camera had decided it had too much rain and we may not be able to recover any of the photos. Just our luck! However, here is a picture of a "Perfect Fly" Sulphur Spinner and we will include the pictures if and when we can recover them.