HIGH water.....I'd say to some its a boon, others a bane, for us a BOUNTY! I must admit, seeing a bank full river gets me excited. I know a lot of folks don't share that sentiment, and I certainly don't mean flood stage, but I mean high, fishable water.
When you guide for a living, you often aren't at the luxury of having time off to fish when the conditions are at their best. Often, its right the opposite......even downright nasty conditions that would make even a duck or a polar bear question the decision to be out and about. But its amazing what having less than what most people consider ideal conditions will do for your ability to adapt and change your tactics and techniques and still catch fish.
Over the years I have learned to not only adapt but to really enjoy the challenge of catching fish when the cards are stacked against me. I mean, I love it when everything goes right, perfect weather, no wind, plenty of bugs, lots of feeding fish- - - don't get me wrong I'll take that any day. But then again when things are like that I think maybe we should catch fish. But what about the days when others would take one look at the river and automatically assume that they aren't going to catch fish with the river so high and off colored. I mean the kind of conditions where one might take a quick look and say, "That's it for me, I am headed home." All too often I've heard that, even had guide trips where I knew we could really do well but the folks I am taking didn't share the same positive outlook. And I'd be thinking inside my head......"....if only you knew what the conditions would do for us today, not only will we catch fish, we could have a day you'd remember the rest of your angling days.
Like Escatawba. This is one place where spate conditions mean a real bounty if you know how to rig properly, read the water, and present the fly properly. I mean you can really catch numbers of fish you'd never catch when the stream is normal or low and clear. And then there's the Smith River.....legendary brown trout that are as selective as any on planet earth, except for when Town Creek at the upper end of the special reg area gets stirred up. In that stretch of river which regularly stumps even the most skilled of anglers we fish wooly buggers and literally tear them up. I once guided a good customer Ray Matherly of Dunbar, West Virginia, where we fished during a tropical storm. Heavy rain, wind, and all. Ray still wanted to do the trip, and I was charged by his "trooper" spirit. And the whole time I was thinking this could be a day that we really work those fish over. And so it was........final count Storm 0, Ray 30 ......30 browns and an unexpected largemouth bass of about 12" at the mouth of Town Creek. Yes, there are times that you can occasionally have your way with those fish. And lastly, there's the South Holston. Let a heavy rain come and make the river cloudy and the same fish that were darn near impossible become suckers for the right nymph (a flashback pt nymph).
So the next time you hear of some heavy rain coming, pack the rainjacket, make sure you have some streamers and flashback bead head nymphs, a box of split shot, and a "trooper " spirit. And, one last thing............Let it pour!
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