On Feb 28, 3:16*pm, George Cleveland
wrote:
It still looks as if the early April trip to visit the MIL in
Tennessee is a go. I still plan on fishing one or more of the wadable
tailwater rivers in the general area. But never having fished a trout
tailwater before I'm uncertain as to how to proceed in regards to best
time to be on the water. Is the fishing generally better when the dam
discharge is causing the water to rise or is it better when its
falling? Or, instead, should I look for fishing to be better when the
levels have been stable the longest?

Any help would be appreciated.

My primary experience is on the White below Bull Shoals and there it
is generally considered best when water is stable. However we fished
it last Summer at very high levels and did quite well. The river was
exceedingly difficult to fly fish last year. I won't go into detail
how we did fish it on this forum...at least no live bait was used.

Probably unnecessary to add this, but I am completely unfamiliar with
the area you will fish and I'll add to be careful about fast rising
water. I once was fishing the Green in Utah and not paying much
attention to my surroundings and fortunately all I lost due to the
rising water was some gear I'd left 20-30ft from where the bank was
when I started.

I should have known better as I lived in the vicinity at the time and
had given the same advice I just gave you to other fishermen. In more
civilized places than the Green and like places, if you are close
enough, there is usually a siren when they begin to release water.

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