2009 Summer E-News & Fish Report Jeffrey Wilkins Fly Fishing

JWFF Regular customer Mike Workman with a rainbow of 8-9lbs......Jeff Wilkins photo July 17, 2009

Fishing Report

Be sure and check out our website fishing report for our most recent trips. Its been wet but we have still managed to find some good fishing. You can check it all out here .

What the Fishing is Like.....

Wild Waters: most of our wild waters remain in good shape, water temps will range from mid 50's to mid 60's and that might drop some since we are getting some high 40's to low 50's for nighttime temps. That is great for our wild waters. Get out and enjoy some of the pleasant temps- - -the morning might even be chilly- - - -incredible for July! Best flies: Dry Attractor patterns, Sulphurs, Anything Yellow, Beetles, Ants, Inchworms, etc., one of the best rigs is a Dry fly with a copper john bead head dropper in size 18 or 20. It is a killer rig. And another adage, is 'just pick a yellar fly." Sounds pretty simple and it is but it works.....happens to match a good many of the summertime bugs on our waters.

VA/TN Tailwaters: the fishing in TN has continued to be GOOD, and the TVA has even backed off to more normal flows, making it possible to get in a full day's fishing whether wading or floating if you are willing to hop around a bit. The generation has been a 1 hour pulse in the morning and 1 to midnight. Sulphurs have been out still, and some good dry fly fishing- - and a good many size 18's too. Otherwise its been small Bwo's, Blackflies, midges, the usual small stuff when the sulphurs aren't coming off. On the Watauga for Saturday they were off all day, that is good for wade fishermen. For that fishing craneflies, small Bwo's, and terrestrials and the usual assortment of midges, small PT's, etc.

In VA, the Smith has been decent as well and while the sulphurs are gone except for a little early to mid am activity here and there and on cloudy days, the fish will still respond to a sulphur dry or emerger. Dry /dropper rigs here and also terrestrials on all waters........

Release Info South Holston Watauga Smith River

Jackson River- - -- maybe some fishing early and late, and definitely have some terrestrials, but for the most part I'd wait til September when it cools off.

Smallmouth Bass:

the fishing so far this season continues to be spotty, and we've had some decent trips thus far, but so far we've worked for the fish we've caught. I was out one day this week with Mike Workman and we didn't fare well, catching two on poppers and one that came up on the bug that appeared to be a really large fish. Other than that it was dead. Thunderstorms/rain continue to plague the entire area on the New from Independence to Claytor Lake. Below Claytor you can find some clear water, and I was near Pearisburg on Friday and it was clear despite heavy rains....You can check out more info at the NC Wildlife Commission website. Right now the ticket is fishing streamers and big uglies, the uglies in dark colors and if they have rubber legs and lead eyes that's all the better. I wouldn't rule out a few on poppers but I'd definitely not plan on banking the whole trip on catching them on top

New River NC Flows

Local Bass /Panfish: with cooler temps and the cold fronts coming through its kept things unsettled (again 'cold' is a misnomer, but its the pressure change that is an issue). But fish are still biting here and there. Right now you should continue to find some topwater action early and late as well as a few late. Now is popper or popper/dropper time and you can have a ball fishing surface bugs. One trick that often works on warmwater fish is to slow down your presentation, downsize your offering, and fish slowly and methodically close to cover. During and after a cold front bass tend to relate closely to cover and will often respond to a smaller fly and a more deliberate presentation and are often unwilling to "chase" or "attack" anything.

Articles You May Find Interesting:

Water Temperatures and Trout click here

A Guide's Perspective click here

Tips on Fishing Low Water Conditions click here

Favorite Leader Recipes click here

Private Water

On Monday of last week Mac Cheek and I fished near Rocky Gap, VA and caught 15-20 fish, it was hot and we caught one large fish, a 20 inch rainbow. On Wednesday Mike Workman and I fished one of our other private accesses and the water was finally down and cleared up, we caught about 40 fish in total from 18-26/28", 3 fish of near 8-9 lbs and had one come off at the end that was near 12-14lbs by my estimation and would have been the largest rainbow I have ever had a customer land. A couple of the fish we did land though were huge too, click here for a short clip of one of those battles. On Friday we finished the week with a trip to Peterstown, WV to fish a little spring creek I have access to. Daryl Knight was my client for the day. Daryl has been a customer of 20yrs and we had a phenomenal day catching fish from 8-20", and a lot of them on large dry flies, Daryl caught just under 100 fish. And all in total solitude and having the whole creek to ourselves. To read it all visit our fishing reports page here .

Coming up in the next few weeks will be a prime time to sample some of this great water and fishing. One of the streams I will continue to guide on will fish red hot no matter how hot and dry the weather gets. So if you get tired of fishing low, clear water with skittish fish then join me for a day on the wonderful spring creek water.....you will be amazed how such a small stream can have numbers and sizes of fish you will catch. To book a trip while there are still days open click here.

Tips: Killer Fly Combos for Summer Fishing...

Smallmouth - a Size 6 or 8 popper with a black rubberleg bug as a dropper ; tie a 18-20" piece of 2x or 3x for the dropper. Another good dropper fly is a size 8 rubberleg hares ear, as well as a large prince nymph w/long rubberlegs. This is a good rig for using some of those big Montana/Western stonefly patterns that maybe you bought way back when and have never used.

VA Tailwaters - Elk Wing Caddis size 18 and a #20 Red or Green Copper John dropper tied 18-20" off the hook bend. CDC Sulphur size 18 with a size 20 brassie or red wire brassie or zebra midge as the dropper.

TN Tailwaters - size 16 or 18 CDC Sulphur Dun or emerger with a PMD Split case size 18 tied 18-20" off the bend of the hook. Also, the same sulphur on top but with size 20 Baetis nymph as a dropper.

Small Streams - Elk Wing Caddis size 14 or 16 with a #18-20 Red or Copper Copper John as a dropper. Black Gnat Parachute size 14 with a wet Black ant dropper size 16 or 18.

Pond Fishing - for bream try a popper with a size 12 or 14 fur or epoxy ant dropper 18" off the bend of the popper. For bass just use a larger popper and either a black ant (yes, trophy and even 10lb bass will eat an ant....who knows why but go figure) or a rubberlegs bug or something with rubberlegs on it.

Any Water: Tie a large nymph or small streamer then another streamer about a foot to 15 inches behind it. The larger end fly appears to be chasing the lead fly and often a large fish isn't going to stand for a little fish getting a meal before him....try it it works..

Great Tips on Fishing droppers click here .