Shane Griffith Fly Fishing

The South Holston — 'the SoHo' to the folks who fish it — is the tailwater that built East Tennessee's trout reputation. Cold, clear water spills from South Holston Dam near Bristol and winds some 15 miles down to Boone Lake, and nearly every yard of it holds trout.

The fishery is famous for one reason: wild brown trout. Surveys put the river at roughly 7,000–10,000 trout per mile, and about 80% of them are browns born in this river — Tennessee hasn't stocked a brown here since 2003, and they don't need the help. Everyday fish run 8 to 16 inches, browns over 20 inches are a genuine possibility on any drift, and this river has produced fish that would be the catch of a lifetime anywhere in the East.

The Fishing

At low water, the SoHo is a wader's river — broad riffles, slicks, and ledges, and you will seldom find water over waist-deep unless you're crossing. That same low, clear water is also when we sight fish from the drift boat: for the more experienced angler, it's the best chance of the trip to spot a big brown trout holding in the shallows, pick your fish, and make one careful cast count. When TVA generates, the river comes up and the boat covers miles of banks, pockets, and ledges that wading can't reach. Both games are excellent — they're just different. Reading TVA's release schedule and being on the right water for the flow is most of the game out here, and that's your guide's job.

Hatches & Flies

This is a dry-fly river at heart. Sulphurs and Blue-Winged Olives hatch nearly year-round — several BWO species emerge in sizes #18 to #24 — mixed in with midges, black flies, crane flies, and an occasional black caddis. Match what's hatching and you'll be in business. In the warmer months, terrestrials take over, and some of the largest browns of the year are taken on beetles. From late spring into summer, the sulphur hatch is the main event: clouds of pale yellow mayflies in the afternoons, and big, educated browns sipping in water clear enough to count the rocks. When the hatches aren't on, nymphs and streamers under the right flows keep rods bent — and high-water streamer fishing is how the real giants get caught.

Rods, Leaders & Tippet

Tailwaters call for long, light rods and delicate presentations. A nine-foot five-weight is the standard all-rounder here; a ten-foot four-weight earns its keep for distance and mending on long drifts; and a shorter eight to eight-and-a-half-foot three-weight is pure fun in the tight spots. Leaders run long and fine — a nine-foot 6X leader with a fluorocarbon tippet is the starting point for subsurface flies, and a standard nylon tippet for a dry-fly rig.

Regulations Worth Knowing

The SoHo is managed to protect its wild browns. Spawning sites are protected from November 1 through February 1.

ABSOLUTELY NO FISHING OF ANY KIND IS ALLOWED IN THESE CLOSED SECTIONS.

There is a protected slot — no fish from 16 to 22 inches may be kept. The daily limit is seven fish, with only one over 22 inches. Guided trips practice catch and release: this river's giants are still swimming because somebody let them go.

The Dam Behind the Fishery

The South Holston you fish today exists because of a dam built for entirely different reasons. The Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933 to bring flood control and electricity to the region, and South Holston Dam followed: construction began in 1942, paused during World War II when materials were diverted to the war effort, resumed in 1947, and finished in 1950.

An earth-and-rockfill wall 285 feet high and 1,600 feet across the South Fork Holston River, the dam holds back a lake of more than 7,500 acres that reaches 24 miles into Virginia. It was built to hold back floods — the reservoir keeps 252,800 acre-feet of flood storage, with the lake level swinging about 25 feet between summer and winter to make room — and its single generating unit produces hydroelectric power.

The trout fishery came along as a bonus. Cold water drawn from deep in the reservoir runs down the tailwater year-round, and in 1991 TVA added the labyrinth weir below the dam, which adds oxygen to the water when the powerhouse isn't generating and helps keep the river flowing between pulses. That cold, oxygen-rich water is what sustains the insects, the vegetation, and the wild brown trout — and TVA also operates the dam to help keep water flowing during drier periods. Flood control, power, and a world-class trout river, all from the same wall of earth and rock.

Day to day, the river below the dam runs on TVA's generation schedule. When the powerhouse generators are running — driven by power demand and water levels — the river comes up and the water moves, which is when the floats happen. When the generators are off, the river drops back to low, clear water that seldom gets over waist-deep, which is when the wading is best. That on-and-off rhythm is the whole character of the South Holston: the same stretch of river fishes like two different rivers depending on what the dam is doing.

Just below the dam, the weir dam does the quiet work. TVA built the labyrinth weir in 1991 because the cold water coming off the bottom of the reservoir is low in oxygen, and a river that stops and starts with the generators is hard on everything living in it. When the powerhouse isn't generating, water spilling over the weir's concrete steps picks up oxygen from the air and keeps the river flowing, so the insects, the vegetation, and the trout have steady, healthy water between pulses. That weir is a big reason the South Holston stays a wild brown trout river instead of just cold water below a dam.

The Watauga is the SoHo's quieter sister — a tailwater flowing out of Wilbur Dam near Elizabethton that runs cold and gin-clear through some of the prettiest country in upper East Tennessee. If the South Holston is the famous one, the Watauga is the local favorite.

The river holds thousands of trout per mile — wild browns and rainbows that fight well above their size in water that stays in the 50s year-round. Part of the river is managed as the Trophy Section, with special regulations that keep fish in the river longer and let them grow. The result is a river where a 15-inch wild brown isn't a surprise — it's the expectation.

The Fishing

The Watauga fishes like a spring creek with a dam's mood swings. On low water it's riffles, slicks, and long glassy pools where a sloppy cast ends the conversation; on a TVA release, the drift boat covers water that wading can't touch. Like the SoHo, it fishes off TVA's generation schedule — and the two rivers often run opposite. When one is up on high generation, the other is frequently perfect. That's exactly why we keep both in the rotation.

Hatches & Flies

The Watauga's signature event is the Mother's Day caddis hatch. Every spring, right around Mother's Day, caddis blanket the river — bugs on the water, bugs in the air, bugs in your hat — and the trout feed like they haven't eaten in a month. Around it, the year is classic tailwater fishing: midges and Blue-Winged Olives through the cool months, sulphurs as things warm up, and terrestrials in the summer heat. It's the closest thing to a guaranteed party this river throws.

Rods, Leaders & Tippet

Same tailwater rules as the SoHo: long, light rods — a nine-foot five-weight covers most days — long leaders, and fine tippets for the clear, flat water. A nine-foot 6X leader with fluorocarbon for subsurface flies and standard nylon for dries is the starting point.

Regulations Worth Knowing

The Trophy Section stretch is managed under special regulations — a 14-inch minimum size, a two-fish limit, and artificial lures and flies only — which is a big part of why its wild fish run big. It's not what it once was, but it still holds some great fish at certain times of the year. The rest of the river fishes under Tennessee's standard trout regulations. Guided trips practice catch and release.

Below the forks at Kingsport, the Holston Proper is a whole different animal — a broad, freestone river built for smallmouth bass, and widely regarded as one of the finest smallmouth fisheries in the country.

Long rock ledges, boulder gardens, and sweeping shoals stretch for miles through Kingsport, and the river is loaded with crayfish — which is exactly why its bronzebacks grow thick and mean. Quality fish in the 15-to-18-inch class are the everyday catch out here, not the exception, and smallmouth over 20 inches are a real possibility for the angler willing to put in the casts.

The Fishing

This is active fishing: casting to current seams, ledges, and structure, and working your bait or fly past the rocks where a bronzeback waits to ambush it. Spin fishing is the recommended way to cover this water and work it thoroughly, though fly anglers are welcome too — a big smallmouth on a fly rod is a fight you won't forget. When a Holston smallmouth eats, it doesn't sip. It hammers.

Tackle & Tactics

On spinning gear, medium-power rods with tubes, Ned rigs, finesse swimbaits, and jerkbaits do the everyday work, and topwater baits own the first and last light of summer days. On the fly, a seven- or eight-weight with crayfish patterns and baitfish streamers is the ticket, with poppers when the summer water warms. Match the river's crayfish and you will get eaten.

When to Come

Smallmouth feed hard from spring through fall. Spring and fall bring the year's heaviest fish; summer trades size for numbers, with explosive topwater action early and late in the day. Bass trips are full-day trips, just minutes from downtown Kingsport — the perfect change of pace from the tailwaters.

Bass trips run on the Holston Proper in Kingsport — separate from our South Holston and Watauga trout floats.