Welcome

Hiwassee Angler is the only full service fly shop in the area. We are located in the heart of some of the best fly fishing that East TN has to offer. We offer guided fly fishing for trout, smallmouth bass and striper. We also offer fly fishing classes. Visit our website by clicking HERE.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Good Trip

Great day on the Hi yesterday with Greg. Dry flies all day, drifted and swung. Rain off and on, but we got lucky and the hard stuff missed us.

New Shop Hours

New shop hours:
We are now open 7 days a week.
Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM
Saturday-Sunday 7AM-5PM
Looking forward to a great season!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Fishing Report

Lots of rain early yesterday. Cleared out and turned into a gorgeous day. Some guys waited around the shop for the skies to clear and others fished right through it. Josh and Abe came into the shop and told us that they had fished just upstream of the railroad trestle. Josh quit counting at 20 fish. They were in their pontoon boats and fished right through the storm.
Chase called into the shop yesterday and said that he's still killing 'em on an olive woolly bugger. He knows I love to hear about fish eating streamers. Keep feeding 'em meat buddy, just a matter of time before that big brown that you want jars your teeth with a vicious strike on that bugger. Good job!
Dry fly fishing continues to be good on the Hi. The Hendricksons are here along with some caddis and BWO's. Standard nymph patterns continue to fish all day long. The river is still full of fish that eagerly await your fly. Not very picky about which fly they eat either. This is a great time to get out and shake off that winter rust in your casting arm. Also good time to fine tune your skills or to take the wife and kids fishing. The fish are definitely eating and they can catch them throughout the whole day, minimizing the possibility of the kids getting bored during a lull in the action.
If you've ever wanted to take up fly fishing, now is the time. Outstanding weather, plenty of fish to practice on and a friendly, full service fly shop right on the river to help you get started. Everything's in place, just waiting on you!
  

Monday, March 12, 2012

Generation Schedule

Just wanted to write a post and clarify the recent published generation schedules on the Hi. Everyone has heard about the generator being down for maintenance. The question people are having is "Why are they still showing a 2 generator release on the schedule?" The answer is simple...we don't know. They only have 2, so if 1 is down, simple math tells you that they can only run 1, right? And we have been assured by TVA employees that indeed, 1 generator is down, and will be down until sometime in May.
They are showing flows in the 1700 cfs range. This is well below a normal 2 generator flow. So maybe it's 1 generator wide open, maybe including spillage, or maybe accounting for the natural flows from the tribs. Who knows? Anyway, it is not a 2 generator flow.
The reason I'm posting this is because that some people have called the shop and said that they would love to have fished the Hi on that day, but they weren't going to attempt to wade with 2 generators on. It's misleading to people who aren't familiar with the generation schedules, and understandably so. After all, it says that they are running 2 right there on their site.
The moral of the story is that you can still wade and fish on 1,700 cfs. Also, they can't be running 2 generators right now. So get out and enjoy the fishing on the Hi. It is red hot right now. See ya there!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Fishing Report

Well, it has been an interesting week in our part of the world. We've had tornadoes, hail and about 3-4 inches of rain this past week. We are now on the tail end of a cold front that should be over on Tuesday with the highs going back into the 60's. That will help bring the water temps back up, increasing the trout feeding activity.
Our delayed harvest period is over now. Hopefully it will prove to be a success with improved numbers and better dispersed fish. I know that they have at least had the opportunity to grow a little bit.
We've had reports of brown stones, little black stones, dark caddis, blue quills and BWO's. Lots of insect activity reported lately with hatches beginning a few weeks sooner than normal due to the spring like weather conditions. The standard sub-surface patterns continue to produce. I know you guys get tired of me saying that, but it's true. The standard nymph and streamer patterns will produce all over the southeast at any given time. I could dazzle you with some form of BS if you want, but it's not rocket science. You just can't go wrong with BHPT's, prince's, hares ears, copper john's, olive and black buggers and any type of brown soft hackle. These are proven patterns and will produce consistently.
We have had higher than normal water levels due to the above average rainfalls this winter. The waters are running clear again though, just high for now. Remember to add split shot and get those nymphs down in the strike zone. That alone will provide many more hook-ups than just fly selection alone. Like I said above, there are several patterns that will work. No fly can entice a strike if it can't be seen by the fish. You have to get them down.
It should be a decent week to fish the Hi. Plenty of fish, insects and tolerable weather. Definitely worth making a trip to the river. Good luck and tight lines!