Any "River Smallie" fanatics here ?

[Slackdaddy]

I'm in MD, my brother moved to TN from NM,, he is near lake Boone.
I do a ton of multi day smallmouth kayak fishing in WV and VA,,,

Any other Smallie fishing fans on here?
I plan to be down fishing as soon as the weather gets above "freeze my doodads off"

 

[WTM]

my doodads freeze even in the summer in those east tn rivers

 

[killingtime 41]

That should be about the end of April river is far to cold till at the very least then. The lake is in the 40's for water temp. River of any kind is way colder than that.

 

[Chiflyguy]

I wade the Clinch.
In June.

 

[redblood]

Love river smallies. March till halloween is perfect

 

[J.A.F.O.]

I'm in MD, my brother moved to TN from NM,, he is near lake Boone.
I do a ton of multi day smallmouth kayak fishing in WV and VA,,,

Any other Smallie fishing fans on here?
I plan to be down fishing as soon as the weather gets above "freeze my doodads off"

If you like to river kayak fish for bronzies then try out the Nolichucky River from Big Rock down to Davy Crockett lake and then the Holston River from Church Hill down to Bybee. Most,if not all the lakes have good populations of bronzers but Boone has been stocked with a new F1 hybrid bass by TWRA and they are starting to get to a good catchable size now.

 

[Creek]

That should be about the end of April river is far to cold till at the very least then. The lake is in the 40's for water temp. River of any kind is way colder than that.

Love river smallies. March till Halloween is perfect

X2 - What these gentlemen said.
When the crawdads emerge so do the smallies.

 

[JN]

What I always tell people when I take them wet wading in the tail waters and rivers is the cold will hurt at first but isn't to bad after your legs go numb.

 

[bigquacks]

Boone Lake has some nice smallmouth but South Holston just a few miles up river has some giants. Local tournament this past weekend took over 21 lbs to win and they were all smallies. We caught around 50 last week in a couple hours.

 

[Slackdaddy]

If you like to river kayak fish for bronzies then try out the Nolichucky River from Big Rock down to Davy Crockett lake and then the Holston River from Church Hill down to Bybee. Most,if not all the lakes have good populations of bronzers but Boone has been stocked with a new F1 hybrid bass by TWRA and they are starting to get to a good catchable size now.

Thanks for the info,, Any national forest or state land on those stretches?? We typ do about 5-8 miles a day (sun up to sundown,, pull off and set up hammocks and camp for the night on public land.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who cringes when they read some of these posts, and I don't even live in East TN anymore. Some of this stuff would be better off in a DM and not posted for public viewing.

 

[CATCHDAWG]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who cringes when they read some of these posts, and I don't even live in East TN anymore. Some of this stuff would be better off in a DM and not posted for public viewing.

Preach brother!

 

[Slackdaddy]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who cringes when they read some of these posts, and I don't even live in East TN anymore. Some of this stuff would be better off in a DM and not posted for public viewing.

Agreed,, I'll take it to PM for any details,,, not wanting to spot burn.

 

[Setterman]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who cringes when they read some of these posts, and I don't even live in East TN anymore. Some of this stuff would be better off in a DM and not posted for public viewing.

I am literally cringing right now hahaha. To answer the question I've spent almost 30 years chasing rivers smallmouth in east tn. I enjoy the solitude and incredible fishing that's in this area. River bass cannot handle a ton of pressure and therefore I don't have much to offer in the way of advice other than do what we did and get to researching and learning this area. You're surrounded by epic fishing go explore

 

[J.A.F.O.]

Yeah there really is no need to DM a 25 mile section of river that's on every single map in the known universe and rides beside a highway….sometimes an interstate.

 

[Kevin Snook]

I'm in MD, my brother moved to TN from NM,, he is near lake Boone.
I do a ton of multi day smallmouth kayak fishing in WV and VA,,,

Any other Smallie fishing fans on here?
I plan to be down fishing as soon as the weather gets above "freeze my doodads off"

The Holston river in Kingsport is good both north and south fork and where they meet

Lot more pressure than there used to be tho

Google 3B outdoors- Nathan has a lot of videos fishing it

 

[Biggun4214]

If you like to river kayak fish for bronzies then try out the Nolichucky River from Big Rock down to Davy Crockett lake and then the Holston River from Church Hill down to Bybee. Most,if not all the lakes have good populations of bronzers but Boone has been stocked with a new F1 hybrid bass by TWRA and they are starting to get to a good catchable size now.

Good luck floating from Church Hill to Bybee on the Holston.

 

[J.A.F.O.]

Good luck floating from Church Hill to Bybee on the Holston.

Finally! Someone got my typo…I was gonna edit it but then I said to myself no let's see who's really paying attention. That's about a 45 mile portage…with Chimneytop in the way.

 

[sll]

Also a different river….

 

[Biggun4214]

You would come closer to Bybee floating the Pigeon

 

[J.A.F.O.]

You would come closer to Bybee floating the Pigeon

Still a good size portage.

 

[J.A.F.O.]

Speaking of Bybee….got these from close to there but it wasn't the dirty bird.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

If you like to river kayak fish for bronzies

guys working as guides using jet boats on Holston below FT Patrick Henry dam. trout aplenty above the John B. Dennis bridge (AND down into Eastman) but some BIG smallies and occasional walleye are taken between the bridge & I-26 bridge. all kind of youtube videos...

 

[J.A.F.O.]

guys working as guides using jet boats on Holston below FT Patrick Henry dam. trout aplenty above the John B. Dennis bridge (AND down into Eastman) but some BIG smallies and occasional walleye are taken between the bridge & I-26 bridge. all kind of youtube videos...

Whoa! Had no idea. I'll stay up the watershed a little bit then.

Y'all just make sure you get out before BAE. You may not receive a warm welcome.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

Whoa! Had no idea. I'll stay up the watershed a little bit then.

Y'all just make sure you get out before BAE. You may not receive a warm welcome.

they used to do the "wink and nod" there. guards would see us (teens) fishing on the mountain side of the river. they'd stop & watch us and yell over "are you catching any?" i worked there for several years. the guards they have now call Kingsport PD/SWAT because most of them are too old to chase folks around on the mountain.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

. You may not receive a warm welcome.

the Holston there may well be the only river navigable by boat that you cannot legally drift through & fish. i'm not sure how they legally justify that. they used to allow (YEARS ago) fishermen to pass through "IF" they called ahead of time & gave registration number of boat & identities of the fishermen.

 

[Soft Talker]

I catch quite a few nice ones out of the upper Hiwassee June and July. Most on trout magnets, while fishing for trout. Many of those are under a pound. Now Rockfishing mid and late summer with those trout and horny heads for bait, I have caught some really good ones, up to 6lbs.They will eat the piss out of a 6in+ live bait.