Terry Howell and I ventured to Johnson City, Tennessee on a club trip looking for smallmouth bass on the Nolichucky River. We all heard the story, “It’s all about the water” and eastern Tennessee is currently in a significant drought. River flows were low and very clear, making fishing more challenging than usual. In spite of this the fine guides from Elk Creek Outfitters were able to put us in a position to make this a successful trip.
Each day we floated about 6 to 7 miles of the river in different sections, casting to pockets and shoreline runs where the bass was holding. Popular flies in the morning were crayfish, sculpin and hellgrammite patterns fished as streamers. In the afternoon, we threw bass poppers in addition to the streamers.
Typical daily catches were 5 to 12 smallmouth each mostly in the 10″-14″ range. Terry’s 16″ specimen was the fish of the trip. Smallmouth bass are a fine fighting gamefish, a 12″ smallmouth easily outfights a 15″ trout.
Both Sam and J.D. from Elk Creek Outfitters were fine guides. Their ability to handle the drift boat and find fish was definitely first class. As an added bonus, they both served up either a grilled crabcake or tuna steak for lunch.
The trip cost was $500/day per boat (split two ways) plus tip. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Johnson City ($200/night). There were several restaurants in the area with a variety of fare, I tried Amigos (standard Mexican fare) and Label (diverse menu including sushi).
During the float, Sam showed me a picture of a huge musky his client had caught the previous week. It was definitely on my mind when I cast a large Drunk and Disorderly fly into some likely spots.
This was definitely an enjoyable trip, I think fishing would be even better with more favorable water levels.
Bonus: I fished the South Holston and Watauga Rivers the following week. The same low water conditions made for challenging fishing on these rivers as well. The guides orchestrated their floats based on water release schedules from the TVA dams. Low water conditions made for poor fishing, the catch consisted mainly of very small trout. When the water levels elevated, we were able to catch several decent size fish.
Tight lines,
Al