Hiwassee River Guides: Warmwater Update

Lately we have been trying to mix it up a little. Sometime you just have to go out and do something a little different. Back in the winter at the end of last year I found an old beat up john boat to work on as a project and the least I can say is that I have had a lot of fun fishing out of this little boat. Myself and a few friends have been fishing for bass on the fly. So far we make it a point to leave all the spinning gear at home when we go out to do this. That way we don’t worry about being tempted by the dark side. We have been spending a fair amount of time fishing on the Lower Hiwassee, Parksville Lake, and the Lower Tellico river. All of these waters have good populations of a variety of bass.

Parksville Lake is the home of the current state record yellow perch and also hosts a good population of spotted bass. The lake is rather small in comparison to the other reservoirs in the area. The Ocoee/Toccoa River is the main tributary to this small river impoundment. The fishing in Parksville is good, anglers just need to have patience. The banks drop of steeply into the depths here and the fish are always suspended somewhere in the water column. Finding fish that we can target with a fly rod is sometimes a chore, but we are often rewarded with some nice ones when successful. For now I am thoroughly enjoying the bass fishing here. We have started looking for carp on the flats here and i think this is going to be the fun stuff once we get a handle on their movements in the lake.

The Lower Hiwassee River is probably where I have spent most of my time since I have started to get out with the little boat. The fishing here is just flat out fun because you never know what your going to get into. I usually end up with a nice mixture fish by the end of an afternoon or morning session. Brim, shell cracker, spotted bass, largemouth, smallmouth, yellow bass, white bass, and catfish have all fallen for our flies on the lower river. It’s always fun trying to guess what kind of fish you just hooked, but after a short time on the water you can get pretty good at it. During the summer months we also see some of our big fish down here as well. On just about any day that I have hit the water down here I can usually jump up a couple of stripers in the lower river as they work their way upstream.

When you mention the Tellico River to people the first thing that goes through an anglers mind is “TROUT”. It is kind of hard not to make that association when thinking of the Tellico area, but we going after the smallies and spots now. The lower section of the Tellico is a completely different ballgame. There are some really nice bass in this section of the river especially during the fall and spring season, but there are always some nice ones hanging around throughout the year as well. You just have to be able to move around to find them. This fishery is similar to that of the lower Hiwassee in that you never know just what your going to catch. We try to focus on the bass and everything else is just a bonus.