This is a great fly to use when trying to entice fish to bite out of pure frustration. Especially when you have cold, gin clear water like I had today. The river was a little low, but definitely fishable. Water temp was 45 degrees. I didn't notice any real insect activity, so a heavy nymph rig dredged through the deeper runs would have worked also. But like I said, I wasn't going after numbers. I was focused on big brown trout. After all, tis the season you know. Only problem was that these guys kept getting in the way. Caught several of these today but never laid eyes on any brown trout.
Today was one of the few times I can remember that I fished on the Tellico River without seeing any other fishermen. Saw a few hunters and campers drive by, but no fishermen. And as you might guess, that was fine by me. I enjoyed having it all to myself.
The delayed harvest section fished well today. Stealth is very important. As I said earlier, the water was gin clear and a little low. As you can see by the picture of Bald River Falls below, the water levels are still good, but we could use some rain.
Nymphs and streamers would be my choice on the Tellico. I didn't see any rising fish today. The only fly I used was the leech pattern, but the typical nymphs and woolly buggers would have worked fine. I just never had a reason to change. You can go with 5x tippet despite the clear water. You'll probably need it. These fish are strong. The ones I caught today were fat and averaged about 14 inches in length. I wouldn't go with anything less than 5x, especially with streamers.
The weather has been perfect. The rivers are not crowded. The fish are biting. Get out and enjoy!
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