A visit with an old friend comes to an end.

 

With the late evening Wednesday we were slow getting out of the gate this morning. Decided to take a look at the EB and the BK both of which are now wade able but solidly in the doldrums. Saw no bugs or risers on the EB but there were enough caddis hatching on the BK to justify stops at three pools. There were a few fish up looking for the caddis and we hooked four fish with Mark's 18 inch brown besting three rainbows.

With the bright sun and high water on the WB we didn't fish there until about six o'clock. Picked a tailout where most of the boat traffic had gone by, but found we were unable to safely cross the river to get to where we wanted to fish. Remembered getting to the pool about ten years ago from the opposite side via a walk on the railroad tracks and a long abandoned path. On my last trip down the path I walked into a newly born fawn laying "hidden" not ten feet from a very fresh pile of bear poop. Trail was hard to find but relatively easy to navigate and brought us out at the tailout where we wanted to fish.    

The fishing - In a way it seems we are being short changed, what with the high water levels limiting wading opportunities for the last ten days and the warm water spills and bright sunshine pushing back the Hendrickson hatches until the last hour of the day, but when the bugs hatch and the spinners fall it makes for an exciting hour or two of fishing. We had fish up everywhere gulping flies with seemingly reckless abandon. We hooked a bunch, left flies in two, lost several and landed enough that neither of us minded the walk back to the car. 

Mark has done well catching multiple fish each day. Almost every fish he caught was bigger than his biggest fish on the South Holston this year. Wrapped up the visit with a late dinner of venison and fiddlehead ferns that we picked after fishing in the morning.

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