By James Marsh
The South Holston River is a tailwater trout fishery located in the northeastern corner of Tennessee, near Bristol. It is stocked with rainbow trout by the (TWRA) Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. This is one southern tailwater that has a substantial population of wild brown trout. In addition, the stocked rainbows holdover from year to year because the stream stays cool even during the summer months. It is probably the best tailwater in the Southeastern United States.
Fly fishing the South Holston River ranges from difficult to easy depending on the type of fish. The river can be waded when they are not generating power and fished from a drift boat when turbines are running. You can access the river in only a few places where wading is possible. The main attraction is the wild trout and extensive sulphur hatches. There are actually two different species of mayflies the locals call sulphurs. Most people call one of them, Eastern Pale Evening Duns. The hatches occur for much of the entire fishing season. There are also excellent blue-winged olive hatches.
Caution should be used anytime you are fishing a tailwater, so be sure to check on the discharge schedule and keep an eye out for changes in the depth. The TVA dam discharge schedule information is linked on the left side of this page. The schedule will tell when the best times to fish the river are, depending on whether you are wading or fishing from a drift boat. Fly fishing the South Holston River can be as good as fly fishing anywhere in the Eastern United States. The river is certainly worth any avid angler taking the opportunity to fish regardless of where you live.
Fly Fishing Guide to the South Holston River
Fly fishing the South Holston river is considered to be technical fishing by many anglers. This is one of the best tailwaters in the Eastern United States. It is one of a few tailwaters in the South that is capable of reproduction of trout. Brown trout spawn in the river with decent success. We think it offers just the right amount of challenge to any angler. It is neither difficult nor easy to fish. You have to do things right, but when you do, you are rewarded. The thing that makes it a desirable stream to fish in the eyes of many anglers are the large aquatic insect hatches. The stream is full of trout food of all types. The blue-winged olive and sulphur mayfly hatches can be incredible. It also has some great caddisfly hatches. This provides dry fly fishing opportunities far better than most tailwaters.
There are plenty of times you have to fish subsurface using nymphs, streamers, wet flies, soft hackles, scuds, black fly imitations and others, but all in all, dry fly fishing is very good for a tailwater. You have to pay very close attention to the discharge schedule. That is easy to do and the schedule provided is usually very accurate. There are times you can wade the South Holston River with ease and times you canât. There are times you have a big advantage using a drift boat. It all depends on the releases. This information is available under the TVA Release Schedule link on the introduction page.
Be prepared to use long leaders and tippets and to make good presentations. A drag free drift is a must most of the time. You cannot hit these trout over the head with your fly line. It is especially difficult when they are feeding in the slow to moderate water. Good, realistic imitations can make a big difference. The area just below the weir dam usually has plenty of trout but be aware that they are difficult to catch. They are heavily fished, but they can be caught, if you want to accept the added challenge. Although the area between the weir dam and the dam looks great, it is even more difficult to catch trout from its smooth, flowing water.
Hatches and Trout Flies for the South Holston River
There are several different hatches that take place on the South Holston River and the trout can become selective on the insects. Long, light leaders and careful presentations are often required to catch the trout. The most popular hatch that occurs on the South Holston Tailwater is referred to as the âsulphur hatch.â It is for a very good reason. Two different species of mayflies, very similar to each other and called âsulphurs,â hatch on the South Holston over a very long period of time. These mayflies can hatch most of the days from mid-April through the first of November. In many other areas of the country, one of the two mayflies, Ephemerella invaria, is usually called the âeastern pale evening dunâ. The other, Ephemerella dorothea is almost always referred to by the common name, âsulphurâ. Thereâs not a great deal of difference in the two, but thereâs enough worth being familiar with.
These two hatches can last a long time. This doesnât mean that on any given day one of them will be hatching from one end of the river to the other. The hatch will vary from place to place along the river depending on a number of factors, a main one being the amount of water being discharged. You cannot necessarily expect to go to one point along the river and expect the hatch to occur. This is another reason a drift boat is a good option for the South Holston.
The first of the two mayflies to hatch will be the eastern pale evening dun, the larger of the two and the one that is more of a tan than true sulphur. They are closer to a hook size 16. It is also an easier hatch to fish. The reason is that they hatch in faster water than the slightly smaller sulphurs. Sulphurs hatch in slow to moderate water. Because of that, the trout get a much better look at your fly and are referred to by most anglers as picky. It is possible the sulphurs are bi-brooded or hatch twice a year. This happens on the West Branch of the Delaware River in New York, also a tailwater.
There are some huge blue-winged olive hatches that occur in the winter, early spring and again in the late fall. Some of these are Baetis species, but there are other species of mayflies called blue-winged olives that hatch on the South Holston. If the dun is larger than a hook size 18, most likely it is an eastern blue-winged olive, a Drunella species, which are crawler nymphs as opposed to the Baetis that are swimmers. Black flies are very plentiful and trout feed on them throughout the year. However, they are far more important during the winter months when fewer other insects are hatching.
Caddisflies are very prolific on the South Holston River. There is a hatch of little black caddis just as soon as it is about over the cinnamon caddis will start to hatch. These caddisflies exist in several species and will hatch until the end of October. Near the end of June through July and into August, you will also find hatches of some species of the similar but smaller little sister caddisflies. There is even a hatch of spotted sedges but they are very similar to the cinnamon sedges. In late April, hatches of green sedges will start. These caddisflies hatch until the first of July but their larvae, called rock worms, are around all year and flies that imitate them are effective most of the year. In the months of July and August, you will find hatches of little brown caddisflies. These can be very abundant in places.
Terrestrial insects become important around the middle of June. Imitations of grasshoppers, ants, and beetles will catch trout until the first week or two in October, or just beyond the time the first frost appears. The cranefly is another insect that the trout will feed on. Their larvae are around throughout the year. The adults are also around much of the year but are more important during the late summer.
If you havenât already done so, we suggest you try our âPerfect Fliesâ. We have specific imitations of everything that hatches and exists in the South Holston River. Our Black Fly Larva, pupa and adult flies were developed at the South Holston, so be sure to try them. Not only are they far more imitative of the real things, they are far more effective than most other trout flies.
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 anyoneâs 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.