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Home > Trip Reports > Tellico River Outing - January 2007
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Photo of the rainbow caught on the third run.
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Scott with a nice rainbow. Can you see the giant golden stonefly nymph in the mouth of the fish?
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Group photo of everyone from the club (From Left to right: David, Donna, Jack, Bill, Rich, Scott, Knud, Roy, and Eric).
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Tellico River Outing - January 2007
January 2007
Tellico Plains , TN
posted by Buster
Tellico Trip, January 2007
The winter months can really slow down fly fishing trips. The winter is good for fly tying and filling up your fly boxes, catching up on magazines, and possibly reading a few good books. It’s the winter, what do you expect? As for filling up fly boxes and fly tying, I am always researching new patterns, as well as tying flies. For this trip, I was researching and tying stoneflies: adults and nymphs. When it comes to magazines, I think I subscribe to four magazines: American Angler, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod and Reel, and Fly Tyer. There is always something to read about fly fishing; there are articles that I missed in past issues and catalogs at the beginning of the New Year. Books, books, and more books; I have more books that I have bought with the intention of reading, but haven’t. They are just sitting up on the shelf and one day, I will get to them, but for now they are in the right place, on the book shelf. But one book I have read that I think everyone should read, whether a fly fisher or not is “Travers Corner” by Scott Wildie. After you read it, you will understand.
The weather is another factor why there is not as much fishing in the winter as in the summer. During the summer, the water is cold, but the sun is warm and if you are wearing clothing that dries quickly and you never seem to mind the cold temperatures of the water. And as I mention, the water during the summer ranges between 60°F to 65°F. During the winter, the water from the tailwaters is cold. But since we use heaters in our homes to keep warm, the dams at the tailwaters must generate electricity to keep up with this need for electricity. This in turn means a lot of water on the river which means no fishing. However, living in the great state of Tennessee, we have the mountains to the east of us. And in those mountains are mountain streams, and in those mountain streams are trout. With the crazy weather of the south, there are days with an inch or two of snow and the temperature is 38°F, and there are those days when the sun is out, the sky is clear, and the temperature has been 60°F for the last week; I think those are the good days.
I wrote an article for outdoorzy.com back in September about my fly fishing trip to the White River in Arkansas, and in the beginning of that article I briefly mentioned fishing the Tellico River in East Tennessee. Well, that time has come. The second outing for MTFF of the year is fly fishing the Delayed Harvest Section of the Tellico River in Tellico Plains, TN. The Delayed Harvest Section simply means that I can not harvest or keep fish from a section of the river. The TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) stocks trout in the Tellico River throughout the year, but from about November to March, fishermen are not allowed to harvest fish from a certain area of the river. After March 15th, it is open season for harvesting fish from the river. Just for everyone’s information, the Delayed Harvest Section on the Tellico River starts at the tributary of Turkey Creek and ends at the tributary of the North River.
Just as a side note, if you read the White River Report I wrote a few months ago, I held back a lot of the river trip. I decided then, that if I did another one, I would not hold back as much. So this could be a good time to get a drink and a snack; this is potentially going to be a long report. I hope you enjoy this story.
I took a vacation day for Friday, January 26, so I could get up early and drive the 3 ½ hours from Nashville to Tellico Plains, in hopes that I might be able to wet a line for a few hours before I went to my friend’s family cabin, which is near the Tellico River. My friend, Scott, had also taken Friday off, but he was leaving on the day before on Thursday about noon. So, after a few stops for gas, lunch, beer, and possibly picking up a few flies, he should be at his place about 5:00 or so. Well, luck was on my side. I had to travel to Rockwood, TN, on Thursday morning to do a little bit of work. On Thursday, I got up early, and made the 2 to 2 ½ hour trip to Rockwood, worked for about 2 ½ hours and finished up by driving to Knoxville, and then on to Tellico Plains. I eventually met up with Scott and another guy, Bill, about 5:30. The fishing trip has begun.
In the mountains, the temperature is much cooler as would be expected and Friday was no exception. I woke up on early on Friday and slowly strolled my way out of the bedroom to the living room. Bill was already up with a cup of coffee in hand and a fire was roaring in the fireplace. Then I noticed someone else, I first thought it was Scott, but after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I noticed the door to Scott’s room was closed. He was still “sawing logs’. This was a new member of the club, Roy. Roy had explained he had just mailed in a payment, club dues, and this was his first outing. So, Bill, Roy, and I all sat around the fire, drank some coffee, talked fly fishing, while Scott snoozed the morning away. I finally saw the electronic outdoor thermometer…it was 22°F and the sky was clear. As for inside the cabin, it was heating up and was a nice 68°F inside.
Scott finally rolled out of his room about 10:00 AM and soon after that, Rich showed up. For the Friday fishing crew, it was going to be Scott, Bill, Rich, Roy, and I. We stayed in the cabin for awhile before we left the cabin for the river. The high of the day was suppose to be 38°F, so we figured about 11:30 AM would be a good time to hit the river. The sun was out and beginning to warm the air, the sky was clear, and we had a decent chance at a hatch of some tiny winter stoneflies. We started fishing the Tellico well below the Delayed Harvest Section of the river, and with not a lot of luck, we decided to head up river. We focused our attention on sections of the river that had sunlight on the water for any given period of time. We hoped that the water would warm up and possibly start a stonefly hatch. In turn this would get the fish a little active and maybe we could catch a fish or two.
We moved up and up the river numerous of times, focusing on the river with sunlight, in hopes to see some fish feeding on the water surface, but nothing. And when I say “nothing”, I mean nothing. We didn’t see fish feeding and we didn’t catch any fish all day. We did see several insect hatches in the sunlit areas. We saw some tiny dark stoneflies and dark caddis flies as well as numerous tiny midges coming off the water, fluttering their wings in the sunlight. But the water was too cold. Scott measured the water temperature sometime during the day and the water was a chilling 34°F. I thought I over heard someone say at the cabin that night that they saw ice on the water in some sections of still water. I would believe it. I saw a plant on the bank of the river that weekend with ice all over it due to water mist and water splashing on the plant.
Friday was an interesting day. For the first time in my fly fishing life I broke a fly rod. I had tied some golden, black and brown stoneflies just for this trip. Actually, I tied a lot of stoneflies for this trip. I tied them in three different colors and in sizes from Size 6 to Size 16 and when you tie flies; there is a rule of tying at least three flies for any pattern. I will explain that you.
Rule 1: You don’t just tie one fly because you will lose that fly on a fish, tree, or a rock on the bottom of the river.
Rule 2: You don’t tie two because if you are catching fish on that fly, your buddy is going to need one, which puts you back at just having one fly. Please review Rule 1.
Rule 3: You tie at least three flies as a minimum, because you need one to fish, one to give to your buddy, and one as a back up after loosing the first fly.
Just for all you non-fisher types, let me do the math for you on this. That is three flies for golden stoneflies, Size 6, Size 8, Size 10, Size 12, Size 14, and Size 16. (3 x 6 = 18) Now do that for 2 additional colors and that is a total of 54 flies. That was just one pattern, while tying multiple colors of the same pattern. That does not include the other pattern I tied for this trip, again, another 54 flies. So far, that is a total of 108 variations of stonefly. Needless to say, I spent numerous hours at the vise tying flies before this trip.
Now back to the broken fly rod. This could not have been at the worst time. I’m not near home, I’m not near a fly shop, and the next best thing I had with me was a 9 foot, 4 weight. The rod I broke was a 9 foot, 6 weight. The reason for a heavier weight rod was I was casting bead-head heavy weighted stoneflies to us suspecting fish in the river. If I had to use a lighter weight rod, it would have been a little bit more difficult for me to cast the heavier weighted flies. I think while casting, the bead on the large fly hit my fly rod about 14 inches form the tip, and put a big scratch in the fly rod and/or broke the fly rod. Because on my next cast something was different and when I pulled in my fly line, I noticed a twig wrapped around my fly rod. When I got a closer look at the twig, I realized it was the tip of my fly rod.
Let me tell you, you will remember every time you break a fly rod. It happens at the worst possible time and then you remember how much you paid for the rod. I bought this rod while on a work trip. There was a Cabela’s near where I was working and one night after work I made a drive to the store and found the fly rod at 50% off. I still paid over a hundred dollars for the rod, but at least I had not paid the full price. Good thing the fly rod has a 25 year warranty and it is only $40.00 to repair the rod and truthfully, the $40.00 is for paperwork, and shipping and handling. I have already sent the rod back and should have it back in a few weeks.
Now back to the report. After I realized I broke the rod, I strolled on over to Scott, who was just up river from me. I told him I just had my first rod breaking experience. All he could really say was “Ohh that sucks. Do you have another fly rod?” I told him yes, but it was a 4 weight. Scott then mentioned that Bill had a few spare rods with him and that he thought one of them was a 6 weight. I made my way up to the road and walked up to the vehicles. Bill happened to be there. I told him my story and a few minutes later I was back in action with another 6 weight rod. When I broke the rod, I should have just called it “quits” for the day. I spent the rest of the day casting, mending, moving up stream, and repeat. After about 4 to 5 hours of fishing, we all broke down our rods, packed up our gear and headed back to the cabin.
Truthfully, I can not complain about the fishing that day. We were outside, the weather was decent for a winter day, and I was not at work. And based on the history of what takes place at the cabin, I was ready to head back to break into a twelve pack of beer that had my name all over it. Every time we go to the cabin, there is some fishing, plenty of eating, and a lot of drinking. By the time we got back to the cabin, it was about 4:30 or 5:00 PM in the afternoon. When we go to the cabin, we take all kinds of food; there are snacks, drinks, big breakfasts and bigger dinners.
With all of the food we had up there, we could have easily been there for a week. Thursday night, there was nothing special for dinner; I had a PB&J sandwich, chips and a few beers. But Friday night was different story. Roy brought three full racks of ribs that he smoked the night before. Scott had brought a couple packages of venison summer sausage, venison steaks, chips, and other goodies. Bill brought several tender loins, cheeses, packages of country ham, and drinks. Rich brought stuff for breakfast and there were going to be some serious breakfasts. Rich had about two dozen eggs, a couple bags of frozen biscuits, several packages of sausage patties, and numerous packages of sausage gravy mix. Add the packages of country ham that Bill had, and we had a better breakfast than what any restaurant would be able to serve. I brought several packages of sandwich meat, a steak, salad, salad dressing, and all the fixings for baked potatoes and let’s not forget the beer.
On Friday night, we started eating the ribs that Roy brought. Then it was on to the summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. And of course, there was some consumption of adult beverages. We were waiting for a few others to show up that night. During the time of the first small dinner, Jack showed up and then followed up by Knud. At that time, I think everyone had emptied their vehicles of sleeping bags, fly tying kits, food, drinks, and fishing equipment. I guess it was about 9:00 or 9:30 PM that night when we decided that we might as well and grill up the steaks and other meats that we had brought for dinner that night. In addition to the steaks and stuff, we also have a nice little salad. After dinner, we all retired to the living room with the nice roaring fire in the fireplace and waited for David and Donna. After several more beers and many more logs on the fire, David and Donna showed up at the cabin about 10:30 PM. After everyone was settled into the cabin and was full from dinner, we watched a movie and some TV programs before heading in for the night. I know when I turned in; it was somewhere between 12:00 to 1:00 AM in the morning.
On Saturday morning, I woke up to the sounds of cooking in the kitchen. I guess it was about 8:30 or so. Rich, Bill and Roy were in the kitchen making the gravy mix, fixing biscuits, and cooking some country ham and sausage. The rest of the gang was still resting their eyes. I grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat down at the dining table. On Friday we had seen a few little winter black stoneflies fluttering around in the sunlight. Before the trip, Scott and I had talked about fly tying. I told him that I would hold a fly tying class on eastern Tennessee flies. The flies would include: Stonefly Adults and Nymphs and various Wulff Patterns. Before the trip, I sent out a materials list on what to bring for these particular flies.
I pulled out a few of the materials I had brought with me and I tied a few flies that might look similar to the little black stoneflies that we saw on Friday. By the time I finished up the stoneflies, everyone was up and moving around; basically walking up to the fire and warming up and then going to the kitchen for a fill up of coffee or juice. The Saturday crew was going to be Scott, Rich, Roy, Bill, Knud, Jack, David, Donna, and me. After everyone was up, the cooking really began. There was big breakfast to be had by all.
That morning the temperature outside was 32°F; that was good ten degrees difference from Friday morning. The high for the day was supposed to be around 46°F to 48°F. This was great news. We needed the water to warm up. As mentioned earlier, the water warming up could start a whole chain of events, which we hope results in everyone catching a fish. After breakfast, a few group photos, and gearing up; we all loaded up the vehicles, and headed to the river. After about a 15 minute drive, we arrived at the first spot we wanted to fish. On Friday, we started below the Delayed Harvest Section and ended up the in the Delayed Harvest Section. For Saturday, we decided we would start in the Delayed Harvest Section and if things were not happening here, we would move on. There is plenty of water to fish in the area.
Scott and I in one vehicle, Bill and Rich in another vehicle, and Roy in his own vehicle stopped to fish a large area of the river that had sunlight. David and Donna, Jack and Knud fished an area of the river below where we stopped. Bill went a little down stream, Rich fished an area near where we park, I headed up river to give Rich plenty of room, and Scott headed up stream of me. When I entered the river, I measured the water temperature and the water had warmed up four degrees to a chilly 38°F to 39°F. The fish are very lethargic during the winter months. When choosing a fly to fish, the fly has to be large and enticing. A fish will not want to use energy to get a small fly because a large fly will be more food and energy.
On Friday I fished a large stonefly, but I did not use a strike indicator. So on Saturday, I stuck with a similar plan. I tied on a Size 8 Golden Stonefly, but this time, I looped on a strike indicator. I was casting here and there with no solid strikes. However, I did notice my strike indicator would pause shortly in some of the runs. This pause could be one of two things: One – the fly was hitting the bottom the river and getting slightly hung up and then releasing. Basically, the fly was bumping across the bottom of the river. Two – A fish was hitting the fly for a short period of time. I was standing in the river and made the decision I would lift the rod every time this pause would occur; maybe I could get lucky and hook into a fish.
I started casting again and at every hesitation of the strike indicator, I would lift the rod, but nothing. Fly fishing is basic repetition of movements: cast the fly, watch the drift or strike indicator, if there is not a strike, repeat the process. After several cast to the same area with no results, you move to the next run, and again repeat the process. Cast the fly, watch the drift or strike indicator, if there is not a strike, repeat the process. You end up doing this hundreds of times a day and you cover a lot of water. After doing this for sometime, I spotted three sweet little runs next to each other. They were separated by rocks and shallow water; they were all within 50 to 60 feet of each other. The first run I was going to fish, the water was channeled through two huge rocks that were exposed out of the water. I was about 20 feet away. I waded up to the run to get a good angle on the water. I was standing between two great runs, but I was closer to the run on the far right. This is where I would begin, and then move right to fish the second run, and then even further right to fish the third run.
I casted my fly to the top the run and as the fly came down towards me, the fly entered into the seam where the fast water and the slow water come together. If I was going to catch a fish, this would be where they would rest, and this would be my best chance. I watched the strike indicator as it moved closer and closer. The strike indicator paused, but didn’t go under the water. I lifted the rod and there was some weight at the end. I watched as fish briefly take the fly and move to a lower section of the river. As soon as the fish was on, the fish was off. But at least I had a good game plan now.
I waded over to the second run. Again the water was channeled through two huge rocks that were exposed out of the water. I casted to the seam in the water and let my fly drift through the run….nothing. I repeated the process over and over again, but with each new cast I would cast the fly about a foot past the drift before. This would allow me to systematically fish the entire run and would be my best bet for putting a fly in front of a fish. After about my fifth or sixth cast to the second run, the strike indicator pause for a split second; I lifted my rod and a fish was on and again, as soon as the fish was on the fish was off. But this time I was able to get a better look at the fish. It was a rainbow trout about 8 to 10 inches in length. I had turned the fish over while it was on the fly and exposed it silvery side and white belly. This was good news. I know what fly the fish are taking and I have plenty of them.
After casting to the second run a few more times, I waded over towards the third run to the far left. I checked my fly, the knots, and my strike indicator. I began to false cast to the third run, and I dropped my fly at the top of run. I was watching my strike indicator as it traveled down the run. All in a split second the strike indicator dropped below the surface of the water. At first, I thought fly was stuck on a rock or plant below the surface of the water. But when the strike indicator didn’t rise back to the surface as quickly as I thought it should, I lifted the rod and my line started moving to the left towards the bank. Yes…Fish On! Finally, after all this work I have a fish on. Now comes the second difficult part…landing the fish. I worked the fish over to shallow spot near some grass and grabbed the fish. I pulled out my digital camera to get a photo the fish. Just as I put the fish on the grass, the fly came out of its mouth. Now this was really going to be tricky. I had to keep the fish still long enough to get a photo without it flopping around and possibly falling back into the water. After a couple of photos, I returned the fish back to the river and off it swam.
For me, this fishing trip was a success. It is always a success when you go on a fishing trip and you catch fish. But when you are fishing in the winter and the water is below 40°F, catching a fish is big deal. Now I need to make sure others are catching fish, so they can say they had a successful fishing trip. My life is full of “Even Stevens”. If something “bad” happens, I can always count on something “good” happening. This trip wouldn’t be any different. I broke a rod on Friday and a caught fish on Saturday. All I can say is “Even Stevens”.
After releasing the fish, I decided to head up stream and find Scott to see how he was doing. I caught up with him about 75 to 100 yards up stream. He asked if I had any luck and when I told him I had caught one and missed two, he had a look as if I was crazy. I showed him the photo of the fish and told him what I had caught the fish on. I asked him if he had any golden stoneflies with him. I had previously given Scott about half a dozen stoneflies about a week or two before the trip. He told me he had some, but at the time he was fishing another nymph pattern. I said “Here, take on of these.” I handed him one of the flies I had tied just for this trip; it was one of the same flies I had just caught my fish with. I also told him I had been fishing with strike indicator because the “take” from the fish had been so light, the “take” was too difficult to detect without a strike indicator.
Scott tied on they fly and put on a strike indicator. Scott had been fishing a run at the time when I walked up to show him the photo. On Scott’s first pass with the new fly and strike indicator on his line to the run had been fishing, he had a fish chase the fly as he stripped the line back to him. It was hilarious to him say “Common on, common on, take it!” After the first cast to the run, Scott pulled in his line and casted back to the same spot at the top of the run. The strike indicator flowed down the seam of the run and magic. The strike indicator dropped below the surface and again, it was fish on, but this time it was Scott’s turn. As a fly tier, you tie flies in hopes that they will catch fish. That might sound stupid and simple, but you can tie what you think is a “buggy” looking fly and it may never catch a fish. Personally, I would like to be known as a good fly tier; who wouldn’t? I will tell you this. It is especially nice when you hand your buddy a fly in hope he catches fish too and on his second cast he lands a nice 11” to 12” rainbow trout.
I guess I should go ahead and tell you something else since I mentioned “Even Stevens”. While I was wading up to meet up with Scott, my foot slid on a slippery rock and I went down and I went down good. I fell into the water forwards and took in what seemed to be a gallon of water. Scott heard the commotion and asked if I was OK. I was, but now I had what seemed to be a gallon on 38°F mountain stream water in my waders. My pants and long johns were soaked. I will admit the water had not made it to my socks…thank goodness. My toes were still nice and toasty in my SmartWool socks. I also have to admit I was a trooper. After taking a good “drink” of the river in my waders, I didn’t immediately want to go back the cabin. I keep on fishing for a good hour or more after the spill on the rocks. However, when we were walking back the truck to go to another spot on a different river, I did mention to Scott I would not mind going back to the cabin. But there was more than just one reason. Well…obviously the first reason is that I am soaked to the bone and the sun was starting to go down below the mountains, which was making me a bit colder. The second reason for heading back to the cabin was Scott was making chili that night for dinner and he needed to get started soon, so that we would eat at a decent hour. Yeah, that sounds like a good second reason.
When we got back to the truck, we learned Roy had to be home that night and he had driven separately and by now, he was on his way back home. Roy, it was real nice meeting you and I hope to see you at the next meeting or outing. Also, Roy don’t be discouraged by the trip. Fishing the mountains is a difficult. There is a lot of technical casting and the fishing is a little bit tricky. Not everyone catches fish when we go up to the mountains, but we do try to have a good time. When Scott and I got back to the truck, Bill and Rich were loaded up in Bill’s vehicle and they were heading up to the North River to try their luck on some smaller water. Scott and I took off our gear, loaded up and decided to head up to the North River too. After as short ride, we caught up with Bill and Rich on a section of the North River. Scott and I got out and we just walked around looking for trout hanging out in the small stream. After spooking a few trout down river, we headed up to where Rich was wading. When we got up there, Rich had just caught and released a brown trout.
An important part of the club is education. We try to hold about four to five classes a year through the club, such as “Beginning Fly Tying” and “Beginning Fly Fishing.” But education just doesn’t stop at a classroom or meeting; we try to educate people whenever possible. That is why I suggested the fly tying class at the cabin during the outing. Scott was giving advice to Rich on how to fish the river, which runs to fish first, where to cast, and etc. I headed up to Bill to see how he was doing and Scott stayed with Rich. I don’t think Rich caught any more fish that day, but I am more than positive that he had a good time. When I walked up to Bill, he mentioned to me that he saw Rich catch a fish. I then watched Bill cast to a few runs for awhile and told him about me falling into the water earlier that day. Of course he laughed, who wouldn’t? After about an hour at the North River, Scott and I headed back to the cabin.
When I got back to the cabin, I could not wait to get inside, change clothes, and hang out by a fire for awhile. I think Bill and Rich were the next to get back to cabin, then Jack and Knud followed up. David and Donna were the last to show up at the cabin that day. By that time, Scott had already started browning some venison for some chili. That is when the food started coming out. David started cutting up some beef summer sausage, venison summer sausage, and some cheese. Then Donna cut up some oranges. I think we snacked for about an hour and half before we sat down at the dinner table for some chili and some cornbread that Jack made before the trip. It was a good night. We hung out by the fire that night and drank a few brews and snacked for the rest of the night. I think it was about 11:30 PM when I decided to “crash” for the night.
The next morning, everyone was up and at them at an early hour. We had a cabin to clean, vehicles to pack, and about a three and half hour drive back to Nashville. I decided the night before I was not going to fish on Sunday. Andrea, my fiancée, was missing me and of course I missed her. I can’t blame her. I left on Thursday afternoon, so I had not seen her or spent any time with her for at least three days. Everyone helped gather trash, sweep the floors, tear down beds, gather towels, and all the other stuff that you have to do to clean a cabin after nine people have been hanging out for three nights. I ended up leaving about 11:30 AM and getting home about 2:45 PM.
It was a great trip. There was some good food, a lot of fishing and good time had by all. I can’t wait to get back to the cabin and Tellico River.
The winter months can really slow down fly fishing trips. The winter is good for fly tying and filling up your fly boxes, catching up on magazines, and possibly reading a few good books. It’s the winter, what do you expect? As for filling up fly boxes and fly tying, I am always researching new patterns, as well as tying flies. For this trip, I was researching and tying stoneflies: adults and nymphs. When it comes to magazines, I think I subscribe to four magazines: American Angler, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod and Reel, and Fly Tyer. There is always something to read about fly fishing; there are articles that I missed in past issues and catalogs at the beginning of the New Year. Books, books, and more books; I have more books that I have bought with the intention of reading, but haven’t. They are just sitting up on the shelf and one day, I will get to them, but for now they are in the right place, on the book shelf. But one book I have read that I think everyone should read, whether a fly fisher or not is “Travers Corner” by Scott Wildie. After you read it, you will understand.
The weather is another factor why there is not as much fishing in the winter as in the summer. During the summer, the water is cold, but the sun is warm and if you are wearing clothing that dries quickly and you never seem to mind the cold temperatures of the water. And as I mention, the water during the summer ranges between 60°F to 65°F. During the winter, the water from the tailwaters is cold. But since we use heaters in our homes to keep warm, the dams at the tailwaters must generate electricity to keep up with this need for electricity. This in turn means a lot of water on the river which means no fishing. However, living in the great state of Tennessee, we have the mountains to the east of us. And in those mountains are mountain streams, and in those mountain streams are trout. With the crazy weather of the south, there are days with an inch or two of snow and the temperature is 38°F, and there are those days when the sun is out, the sky is clear, and the temperature has been 60°F for the last week; I think those are the good days.
I wrote an article for outdoorzy.com back in September about my fly fishing trip to the White River in Arkansas, and in the beginning of that article I briefly mentioned fishing the Tellico River in East Tennessee. Well, that time has come. The second outing for MTFF of the year is fly fishing the Delayed Harvest Section of the Tellico River in Tellico Plains, TN. The Delayed Harvest Section simply means that I can not harvest or keep fish from a section of the river. The TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) stocks trout in the Tellico River throughout the year, but from about November to March, fishermen are not allowed to harvest fish from a certain area of the river. After March 15th, it is open season for harvesting fish from the river. Just for everyone’s information, the Delayed Harvest Section on the Tellico River starts at the tributary of Turkey Creek and ends at the tributary of the North River.
Just as a side note, if you read the White River Report I wrote a few months ago, I held back a lot of the river trip. I decided then, that if I did another one, I would not hold back as much. So this could be a good time to get a drink and a snack; this is potentially going to be a long report. I hope you enjoy this story.
I took a vacation day for Friday, January 26, so I could get up early and drive the 3 ½ hours from Nashville to Tellico Plains, in hopes that I might be able to wet a line for a few hours before I went to my friend’s family cabin, which is near the Tellico River. My friend, Scott, had also taken Friday off, but he was leaving on the day before on Thursday about noon. So, after a few stops for gas, lunch, beer, and possibly picking up a few flies, he should be at his place about 5:00 or so. Well, luck was on my side. I had to travel to Rockwood, TN, on Thursday morning to do a little bit of work. On Thursday, I got up early, and made the 2 to 2 ½ hour trip to Rockwood, worked for about 2 ½ hours and finished up by driving to Knoxville, and then on to Tellico Plains. I eventually met up with Scott and another guy, Bill, about 5:30. The fishing trip has begun.
In the mountains, the temperature is much cooler as would be expected and Friday was no exception. I woke up on early on Friday and slowly strolled my way out of the bedroom to the living room. Bill was already up with a cup of coffee in hand and a fire was roaring in the fireplace. Then I noticed someone else, I first thought it was Scott, but after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I noticed the door to Scott’s room was closed. He was still “sawing logs’. This was a new member of the club, Roy. Roy had explained he had just mailed in a payment, club dues, and this was his first outing. So, Bill, Roy, and I all sat around the fire, drank some coffee, talked fly fishing, while Scott snoozed the morning away. I finally saw the electronic outdoor thermometer…it was 22°F and the sky was clear. As for inside the cabin, it was heating up and was a nice 68°F inside.
Scott finally rolled out of his room about 10:00 AM and soon after that, Rich showed up. For the Friday fishing crew, it was going to be Scott, Bill, Rich, Roy, and I. We stayed in the cabin for awhile before we left the cabin for the river. The high of the day was suppose to be 38°F, so we figured about 11:30 AM would be a good time to hit the river. The sun was out and beginning to warm the air, the sky was clear, and we had a decent chance at a hatch of some tiny winter stoneflies. We started fishing the Tellico well below the Delayed Harvest Section of the river, and with not a lot of luck, we decided to head up river. We focused our attention on sections of the river that had sunlight on the water for any given period of time. We hoped that the water would warm up and possibly start a stonefly hatch. In turn this would get the fish a little active and maybe we could catch a fish or two.
We moved up and up the river numerous of times, focusing on the river with sunlight, in hopes to see some fish feeding on the water surface, but nothing. And when I say “nothing”, I mean nothing. We didn’t see fish feeding and we didn’t catch any fish all day. We did see several insect hatches in the sunlit areas. We saw some tiny dark stoneflies and dark caddis flies as well as numerous tiny midges coming off the water, fluttering their wings in the sunlight. But the water was too cold. Scott measured the water temperature sometime during the day and the water was a chilling 34°F. I thought I over heard someone say at the cabin that night that they saw ice on the water in some sections of still water. I would believe it. I saw a plant on the bank of the river that weekend with ice all over it due to water mist and water splashing on the plant.
Friday was an interesting day. For the first time in my fly fishing life I broke a fly rod. I had tied some golden, black and brown stoneflies just for this trip. Actually, I tied a lot of stoneflies for this trip. I tied them in three different colors and in sizes from Size 6 to Size 16 and when you tie flies; there is a rule of tying at least three flies for any pattern. I will explain that you.
Rule 1: You don’t just tie one fly because you will lose that fly on a fish, tree, or a rock on the bottom of the river.
Rule 2: You don’t tie two because if you are catching fish on that fly, your buddy is going to need one, which puts you back at just having one fly. Please review Rule 1.
Rule 3: You tie at least three flies as a minimum, because you need one to fish, one to give to your buddy, and one as a back up after loosing the first fly.
Just for all you non-fisher types, let me do the math for you on this. That is three flies for golden stoneflies, Size 6, Size 8, Size 10, Size 12, Size 14, and Size 16. (3 x 6 = 18) Now do that for 2 additional colors and that is a total of 54 flies. That was just one pattern, while tying multiple colors of the same pattern. That does not include the other pattern I tied for this trip, again, another 54 flies. So far, that is a total of 108 variations of stonefly. Needless to say, I spent numerous hours at the vise tying flies before this trip.
Now back to the broken fly rod. This could not have been at the worst time. I’m not near home, I’m not near a fly shop, and the next best thing I had with me was a 9 foot, 4 weight. The rod I broke was a 9 foot, 6 weight. The reason for a heavier weight rod was I was casting bead-head heavy weighted stoneflies to us suspecting fish in the river. If I had to use a lighter weight rod, it would have been a little bit more difficult for me to cast the heavier weighted flies. I think while casting, the bead on the large fly hit my fly rod about 14 inches form the tip, and put a big scratch in the fly rod and/or broke the fly rod. Because on my next cast something was different and when I pulled in my fly line, I noticed a twig wrapped around my fly rod. When I got a closer look at the twig, I realized it was the tip of my fly rod.
Let me tell you, you will remember every time you break a fly rod. It happens at the worst possible time and then you remember how much you paid for the rod. I bought this rod while on a work trip. There was a Cabela’s near where I was working and one night after work I made a drive to the store and found the fly rod at 50% off. I still paid over a hundred dollars for the rod, but at least I had not paid the full price. Good thing the fly rod has a 25 year warranty and it is only $40.00 to repair the rod and truthfully, the $40.00 is for paperwork, and shipping and handling. I have already sent the rod back and should have it back in a few weeks.
Now back to the report. After I realized I broke the rod, I strolled on over to Scott, who was just up river from me. I told him I just had my first rod breaking experience. All he could really say was “Ohh that sucks. Do you have another fly rod?” I told him yes, but it was a 4 weight. Scott then mentioned that Bill had a few spare rods with him and that he thought one of them was a 6 weight. I made my way up to the road and walked up to the vehicles. Bill happened to be there. I told him my story and a few minutes later I was back in action with another 6 weight rod. When I broke the rod, I should have just called it “quits” for the day. I spent the rest of the day casting, mending, moving up stream, and repeat. After about 4 to 5 hours of fishing, we all broke down our rods, packed up our gear and headed back to the cabin.
Truthfully, I can not complain about the fishing that day. We were outside, the weather was decent for a winter day, and I was not at work. And based on the history of what takes place at the cabin, I was ready to head back to break into a twelve pack of beer that had my name all over it. Every time we go to the cabin, there is some fishing, plenty of eating, and a lot of drinking. By the time we got back to the cabin, it was about 4:30 or 5:00 PM in the afternoon. When we go to the cabin, we take all kinds of food; there are snacks, drinks, big breakfasts and bigger dinners.
With all of the food we had up there, we could have easily been there for a week. Thursday night, there was nothing special for dinner; I had a PB&J sandwich, chips and a few beers. But Friday night was different story. Roy brought three full racks of ribs that he smoked the night before. Scott had brought a couple packages of venison summer sausage, venison steaks, chips, and other goodies. Bill brought several tender loins, cheeses, packages of country ham, and drinks. Rich brought stuff for breakfast and there were going to be some serious breakfasts. Rich had about two dozen eggs, a couple bags of frozen biscuits, several packages of sausage patties, and numerous packages of sausage gravy mix. Add the packages of country ham that Bill had, and we had a better breakfast than what any restaurant would be able to serve. I brought several packages of sandwich meat, a steak, salad, salad dressing, and all the fixings for baked potatoes and let’s not forget the beer.
On Friday night, we started eating the ribs that Roy brought. Then it was on to the summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. And of course, there was some consumption of adult beverages. We were waiting for a few others to show up that night. During the time of the first small dinner, Jack showed up and then followed up by Knud. At that time, I think everyone had emptied their vehicles of sleeping bags, fly tying kits, food, drinks, and fishing equipment. I guess it was about 9:00 or 9:30 PM that night when we decided that we might as well and grill up the steaks and other meats that we had brought for dinner that night. In addition to the steaks and stuff, we also have a nice little salad. After dinner, we all retired to the living room with the nice roaring fire in the fireplace and waited for David and Donna. After several more beers and many more logs on the fire, David and Donna showed up at the cabin about 10:30 PM. After everyone was settled into the cabin and was full from dinner, we watched a movie and some TV programs before heading in for the night. I know when I turned in; it was somewhere between 12:00 to 1:00 AM in the morning.
On Saturday morning, I woke up to the sounds of cooking in the kitchen. I guess it was about 8:30 or so. Rich, Bill and Roy were in the kitchen making the gravy mix, fixing biscuits, and cooking some country ham and sausage. The rest of the gang was still resting their eyes. I grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat down at the dining table. On Friday we had seen a few little winter black stoneflies fluttering around in the sunlight. Before the trip, Scott and I had talked about fly tying. I told him that I would hold a fly tying class on eastern Tennessee flies. The flies would include: Stonefly Adults and Nymphs and various Wulff Patterns. Before the trip, I sent out a materials list on what to bring for these particular flies.
I pulled out a few of the materials I had brought with me and I tied a few flies that might look similar to the little black stoneflies that we saw on Friday. By the time I finished up the stoneflies, everyone was up and moving around; basically walking up to the fire and warming up and then going to the kitchen for a fill up of coffee or juice. The Saturday crew was going to be Scott, Rich, Roy, Bill, Knud, Jack, David, Donna, and me. After everyone was up, the cooking really began. There was big breakfast to be had by all.
That morning the temperature outside was 32°F; that was good ten degrees difference from Friday morning. The high for the day was supposed to be around 46°F to 48°F. This was great news. We needed the water to warm up. As mentioned earlier, the water warming up could start a whole chain of events, which we hope results in everyone catching a fish. After breakfast, a few group photos, and gearing up; we all loaded up the vehicles, and headed to the river. After about a 15 minute drive, we arrived at the first spot we wanted to fish. On Friday, we started below the Delayed Harvest Section and ended up the in the Delayed Harvest Section. For Saturday, we decided we would start in the Delayed Harvest Section and if things were not happening here, we would move on. There is plenty of water to fish in the area.
Scott and I in one vehicle, Bill and Rich in another vehicle, and Roy in his own vehicle stopped to fish a large area of the river that had sunlight. David and Donna, Jack and Knud fished an area of the river below where we stopped. Bill went a little down stream, Rich fished an area near where we park, I headed up river to give Rich plenty of room, and Scott headed up stream of me. When I entered the river, I measured the water temperature and the water had warmed up four degrees to a chilly 38°F to 39°F. The fish are very lethargic during the winter months. When choosing a fly to fish, the fly has to be large and enticing. A fish will not want to use energy to get a small fly because a large fly will be more food and energy.
On Friday I fished a large stonefly, but I did not use a strike indicator. So on Saturday, I stuck with a similar plan. I tied on a Size 8 Golden Stonefly, but this time, I looped on a strike indicator. I was casting here and there with no solid strikes. However, I did notice my strike indicator would pause shortly in some of the runs. This pause could be one of two things: One – the fly was hitting the bottom the river and getting slightly hung up and then releasing. Basically, the fly was bumping across the bottom of the river. Two – A fish was hitting the fly for a short period of time. I was standing in the river and made the decision I would lift the rod every time this pause would occur; maybe I could get lucky and hook into a fish.
I started casting again and at every hesitation of the strike indicator, I would lift the rod, but nothing. Fly fishing is basic repetition of movements: cast the fly, watch the drift or strike indicator, if there is not a strike, repeat the process. After several cast to the same area with no results, you move to the next run, and again repeat the process. Cast the fly, watch the drift or strike indicator, if there is not a strike, repeat the process. You end up doing this hundreds of times a day and you cover a lot of water. After doing this for sometime, I spotted three sweet little runs next to each other. They were separated by rocks and shallow water; they were all within 50 to 60 feet of each other. The first run I was going to fish, the water was channeled through two huge rocks that were exposed out of the water. I was about 20 feet away. I waded up to the run to get a good angle on the water. I was standing between two great runs, but I was closer to the run on the far right. This is where I would begin, and then move right to fish the second run, and then even further right to fish the third run.
I casted my fly to the top the run and as the fly came down towards me, the fly entered into the seam where the fast water and the slow water come together. If I was going to catch a fish, this would be where they would rest, and this would be my best chance. I watched the strike indicator as it moved closer and closer. The strike indicator paused, but didn’t go under the water. I lifted the rod and there was some weight at the end. I watched as fish briefly take the fly and move to a lower section of the river. As soon as the fish was on, the fish was off. But at least I had a good game plan now.
I waded over to the second run. Again the water was channeled through two huge rocks that were exposed out of the water. I casted to the seam in the water and let my fly drift through the run….nothing. I repeated the process over and over again, but with each new cast I would cast the fly about a foot past the drift before. This would allow me to systematically fish the entire run and would be my best bet for putting a fly in front of a fish. After about my fifth or sixth cast to the second run, the strike indicator pause for a split second; I lifted my rod and a fish was on and again, as soon as the fish was on the fish was off. But this time I was able to get a better look at the fish. It was a rainbow trout about 8 to 10 inches in length. I had turned the fish over while it was on the fly and exposed it silvery side and white belly. This was good news. I know what fly the fish are taking and I have plenty of them.
After casting to the second run a few more times, I waded over towards the third run to the far left. I checked my fly, the knots, and my strike indicator. I began to false cast to the third run, and I dropped my fly at the top of run. I was watching my strike indicator as it traveled down the run. All in a split second the strike indicator dropped below the surface of the water. At first, I thought fly was stuck on a rock or plant below the surface of the water. But when the strike indicator didn’t rise back to the surface as quickly as I thought it should, I lifted the rod and my line started moving to the left towards the bank. Yes…Fish On! Finally, after all this work I have a fish on. Now comes the second difficult part…landing the fish. I worked the fish over to shallow spot near some grass and grabbed the fish. I pulled out my digital camera to get a photo the fish. Just as I put the fish on the grass, the fly came out of its mouth. Now this was really going to be tricky. I had to keep the fish still long enough to get a photo without it flopping around and possibly falling back into the water. After a couple of photos, I returned the fish back to the river and off it swam.
For me, this fishing trip was a success. It is always a success when you go on a fishing trip and you catch fish. But when you are fishing in the winter and the water is below 40°F, catching a fish is big deal. Now I need to make sure others are catching fish, so they can say they had a successful fishing trip. My life is full of “Even Stevens”. If something “bad” happens, I can always count on something “good” happening. This trip wouldn’t be any different. I broke a rod on Friday and a caught fish on Saturday. All I can say is “Even Stevens”.
After releasing the fish, I decided to head up stream and find Scott to see how he was doing. I caught up with him about 75 to 100 yards up stream. He asked if I had any luck and when I told him I had caught one and missed two, he had a look as if I was crazy. I showed him the photo of the fish and told him what I had caught the fish on. I asked him if he had any golden stoneflies with him. I had previously given Scott about half a dozen stoneflies about a week or two before the trip. He told me he had some, but at the time he was fishing another nymph pattern. I said “Here, take on of these.” I handed him one of the flies I had tied just for this trip; it was one of the same flies I had just caught my fish with. I also told him I had been fishing with strike indicator because the “take” from the fish had been so light, the “take” was too difficult to detect without a strike indicator.
Scott tied on they fly and put on a strike indicator. Scott had been fishing a run at the time when I walked up to show him the photo. On Scott’s first pass with the new fly and strike indicator on his line to the run had been fishing, he had a fish chase the fly as he stripped the line back to him. It was hilarious to him say “Common on, common on, take it!” After the first cast to the run, Scott pulled in his line and casted back to the same spot at the top of the run. The strike indicator flowed down the seam of the run and magic. The strike indicator dropped below the surface and again, it was fish on, but this time it was Scott’s turn. As a fly tier, you tie flies in hopes that they will catch fish. That might sound stupid and simple, but you can tie what you think is a “buggy” looking fly and it may never catch a fish. Personally, I would like to be known as a good fly tier; who wouldn’t? I will tell you this. It is especially nice when you hand your buddy a fly in hope he catches fish too and on his second cast he lands a nice 11” to 12” rainbow trout.
I guess I should go ahead and tell you something else since I mentioned “Even Stevens”. While I was wading up to meet up with Scott, my foot slid on a slippery rock and I went down and I went down good. I fell into the water forwards and took in what seemed to be a gallon of water. Scott heard the commotion and asked if I was OK. I was, but now I had what seemed to be a gallon on 38°F mountain stream water in my waders. My pants and long johns were soaked. I will admit the water had not made it to my socks…thank goodness. My toes were still nice and toasty in my SmartWool socks. I also have to admit I was a trooper. After taking a good “drink” of the river in my waders, I didn’t immediately want to go back the cabin. I keep on fishing for a good hour or more after the spill on the rocks. However, when we were walking back the truck to go to another spot on a different river, I did mention to Scott I would not mind going back to the cabin. But there was more than just one reason. Well…obviously the first reason is that I am soaked to the bone and the sun was starting to go down below the mountains, which was making me a bit colder. The second reason for heading back to the cabin was Scott was making chili that night for dinner and he needed to get started soon, so that we would eat at a decent hour. Yeah, that sounds like a good second reason.
When we got back to the truck, we learned Roy had to be home that night and he had driven separately and by now, he was on his way back home. Roy, it was real nice meeting you and I hope to see you at the next meeting or outing. Also, Roy don’t be discouraged by the trip. Fishing the mountains is a difficult. There is a lot of technical casting and the fishing is a little bit tricky. Not everyone catches fish when we go up to the mountains, but we do try to have a good time. When Scott and I got back to the truck, Bill and Rich were loaded up in Bill’s vehicle and they were heading up to the North River to try their luck on some smaller water. Scott and I took off our gear, loaded up and decided to head up to the North River too. After as short ride, we caught up with Bill and Rich on a section of the North River. Scott and I got out and we just walked around looking for trout hanging out in the small stream. After spooking a few trout down river, we headed up to where Rich was wading. When we got up there, Rich had just caught and released a brown trout.
An important part of the club is education. We try to hold about four to five classes a year through the club, such as “Beginning Fly Tying” and “Beginning Fly Fishing.” But education just doesn’t stop at a classroom or meeting; we try to educate people whenever possible. That is why I suggested the fly tying class at the cabin during the outing. Scott was giving advice to Rich on how to fish the river, which runs to fish first, where to cast, and etc. I headed up to Bill to see how he was doing and Scott stayed with Rich. I don’t think Rich caught any more fish that day, but I am more than positive that he had a good time. When I walked up to Bill, he mentioned to me that he saw Rich catch a fish. I then watched Bill cast to a few runs for awhile and told him about me falling into the water earlier that day. Of course he laughed, who wouldn’t? After about an hour at the North River, Scott and I headed back to the cabin.
When I got back to the cabin, I could not wait to get inside, change clothes, and hang out by a fire for awhile. I think Bill and Rich were the next to get back to cabin, then Jack and Knud followed up. David and Donna were the last to show up at the cabin that day. By that time, Scott had already started browning some venison for some chili. That is when the food started coming out. David started cutting up some beef summer sausage, venison summer sausage, and some cheese. Then Donna cut up some oranges. I think we snacked for about an hour and half before we sat down at the dinner table for some chili and some cornbread that Jack made before the trip. It was a good night. We hung out by the fire that night and drank a few brews and snacked for the rest of the night. I think it was about 11:30 PM when I decided to “crash” for the night.
The next morning, everyone was up and at them at an early hour. We had a cabin to clean, vehicles to pack, and about a three and half hour drive back to Nashville. I decided the night before I was not going to fish on Sunday. Andrea, my fiancée, was missing me and of course I missed her. I can’t blame her. I left on Thursday afternoon, so I had not seen her or spent any time with her for at least three days. Everyone helped gather trash, sweep the floors, tear down beds, gather towels, and all the other stuff that you have to do to clean a cabin after nine people have been hanging out for three nights. I ended up leaving about 11:30 AM and getting home about 2:45 PM.
It was a great trip. There was some good food, a lot of fishing and good time had by all. I can’t wait to get back to the cabin and Tellico River.
Tellico River Outing Photos from the Middle Tennessee Fly Fishers website.
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Other Trip Reports from Buster
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