The South Holston River is tail water flowing from the South Holston Reservoir and the results are cold water, great hatches and healthy, abundant fish. The predominant bugs are sulphurs and there are plenty of them.

Our fishing group consisted of Ted Banakis (coworker), and a great bunch of guys from our distributor partner, Motion Industries – Randy Breaux. Harold Dunaway, Laylon Cox and Jay Carawan.  An even # of 6 meant we could go with 2 fisherman per guide and float the river in a McKenzie boat.

Each team had great success with an average of 30-40 fish per day.  Laylon Cox and Randy Breaux each landed 20″ rainbows on the first day. The typical fishing method recommended by the guides was to fish nymphs in the morning, break for lunch,  and then find rising fish in the afternoon and cast dry flies (sulphur duns) to them. The fish are all wild browns and rainbows…..beautiful, strong fish.

We stayed at the South Holston River Lodge (www.southholstonriverlodge.com) hosted by Jon Hooper (877-767-7875). Our package included lodging, a breakfast buffet each morning, shore lunch, guides,  followed by a dinner prepared at the lodge each evening. The accommodations are nothing less than spectacular. This is a definite “bucket list” experience for any fishing junky.

Fellow angler, Tim Brookens and I decided to try our luck on the Gunpowder last weekend. Because the Gunpowder is tail water flowing out of Pretty Boy Dam, the water stays cold and I mean COLD! The water temperature was 42 degrees and a haze of steam remained on the river all day with this cold water temperature contrasting 90 degree heat.

Before fishing, we stopped at the Backwater Angler fly shop (www.backwaterangler.com) located 5 minutes from the river for a Maryland license and information. They suggested fishing upstream from the Masemore road access and to use X Caddis. We took their advise.

Tim and I had a great time catching a dozen or so wild browns on Caddis as suggested. We saw some rises but quite a few were caught by blind casting in the shallow riffles. The fish we caught were in the 8-11″ range and with beautiful color as it is with wild brownies (picture above does not do it justice). A worthwhile trip!

Codurus Creek is a Class A wild brown trout stream. The water temperature remains cold all summer long because the water is released from the bottom of Lake Marburg.

My youngest son, Craig, and I fished Codurus on July 4 and caught 7 decent browns on attractor flies. The last fish of the day was a beauty – a 13-14″ wild brown caught on a Crackleback.

The “Trophy Trout” special regulation section is 3 miles long. I have found the best access points by driving through Porters Sidling on Porters Road off Rt. 116 between Hanover and York. We parked below a small Park and fished upstream from there. Craig’s beauty was caught behind the fire station near Porters Sidling in a stretch we never fished before but we wanted to try before heading home. We only fished this section a short distance….but we’ll be back!