By James Marsh
The Holston River is a tailwater trout fishery located just north of Knoxville, Tennessee below Cherokee Dam near the town of Jefferson City, Tennessee. It is stocked with both rainbow and brown trout by the (TWRA) Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Both rainbow and brown trout holdover from year to year because the stream stays cold for a short ways below the dam, even during the summer months. This tailwater is sometimes confused with its neighbor, the South Holston Tailwater to the Northeast. The Holston River is one of Tennessee’s premier fly fishing for trout and smallmouth bass destinations. Rainbow and brown trout are usually fairly easy to catch and anglers enjoy a busy day. Fly fishing the Holston River tailwater caddisfly hatches can be a lot of fun. The river can be waded when they are not generating water through the dam. However, there are only a few places you can access the river where wading is possible. It can be fished from a drift boat when they are operating the turbines but if it is running high, it usually isn’t worth the effort. Caution should be used anytime you are fishing the Holston Tailwater. The water can rise fast.
According to the Holston River Fly Fishing Guide, Public access is very limited on the Holston River. This limits the number of wading anglers. The best access point for waders is at the Nance’s Ferry boat ramp. Starting there, you can wade a good distance upstream. The river mostly consists of shallow riffles in that area. During the warmer months of the year, this area isn’t that desirable because the water can become too warm. Another public access for wading anglers is just below the Cherokee Dam. This section of the Holston fishes well most of the year. The cold bottom discharge from Cherokee Dam keeps the water fairly cool in this area even in hot weather. The best area from the dam access is downstream. There you will find shoals and if the flows are right, some easy to wade water. Another access is the Indian Cave public access. It’s about midway between Nance’s Ferry and the dam. There’s only a small amount of wadable water but it is an additional option.
Floating the river is the best option but again, access is still very limited. The public boat ramps are located at Cherokee Dam, Indian Cave, and Nance’s Ferry. Floating the Holston tailwater can be tricky. There are a lot of problems that can arise from floating the river. There are several, very long sections of water that flow slowly and you often need a trolling motor or a lot of paddling to get downstream. The stretch from the dam to Indian Cave Ramp is a long one and that can present problems. The stretch from Indian Cave to Nance’s Ferry is usually the best bet for most anglers. It too, can require some rowing or a small electric motor. You should always be aware of the generation schedule of any tailwater. Cherokee Dam can let go of a huge amount of water. Your safety and pleasure depends on knowing when these releases are scheduled. The river flows at about 300 cfs or cubic feet per second when no water is being generated. Minimum flows are usually during the winter and early spring.
Strategies, Techniques and Tips:
There are stocked trout in the river and they will take the generic trout flies readily but those that have been there a few months, holdovers, and wild trout are familiar with the natural food in the stream. That is why we recommend our Perfect Flies over the generic fly patterns. We sell the generic fly patterns but our Perfect Flies, or specific imitations, provide higher odds of catching both types of trout. The Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin are great streamers to use for the next several weeks. The Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin are good flies to use at this time. Hatches of various species of Blue-winged Olives are possible in the afternoons and more likely and in greater numbers if the skies are cloudy or overcast. Blue Quills are hatching. Green Sedge caddis are hatching. Slate Drakes are hatching. American March Browns are hatching. Little Yellow stoneflies are hatching. Eastern Pale Evening Duns, called Sulphurs by many, are hatching.
Holston River Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Holston River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726. There are two basic ways to fish the Holston that are almost opposite of each other. One is using small imitations of midges and the other is caddisfly imitations. Midge larva, pupa and adult imitations will catch trout year-round. Many anglers use a tandem rig with both a larger mayfly nymph and a small midge larva or pupa fly. Most of the midges are either cream or red (blood) midges. Most of the time, midge imitations are the best choice of flies. They will work day in and day out. Caddisfly imitations work when a hatch is occurring or egg-laying is taking place.
There are several species of caddisflies that live in the Holston River. Caddisflies are the most important hatches on the Holston. Most all of them are commonly called Cinnamon Caddis. Most all of them are net-spinning caddis. Few free-living and only a few cased caddis exist. There are several minor species or caddisflies that hatch in sparse quantities. The hatches start in March and peak in May. Some species hatch during the summer but in smaller quantities. A few hatch in the fall months. The opportunity to catch larger trout on a streamer always exist. The best streamers are imitations of baitfish and sculpin. Crawfish imitations also work for the larger size browns as well as the smallmouth. The river has some fine smallmouth bass fishing in its lower sections. Streamers and at times, large top water flies work great for them. Terrestrials work fine in the late summer and early fall. Beetles, ants and grasshopper imitations catch their share of Holston River trout. Craneflies are plentiful in the Holston. At times, imitations of the Cane Fly larvae adults work fairly well. Black flies are very plentiful and more important in the colder months of the year. You should have imitations of the Black Fly larvae, pupae and the adults. Sulphurs are the most common mayfly. There are plenty of bugs to keep trout rising on the Holston. Sulphurs hatch in May and June.
James Marsh has made his living fishing since 1980 through hosting and producing the first ever national syndicated weekly TV series on saltwater fishing for five years; hosting and producing forty-six instructional saltwater fishing videos, more of which have been sold on saltwater fishing than anyone’s in the world; and for the past twenty-two years hosting and producing nineteen instructional videos on fly fishing and founding the Perfect Fly Company.