President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act in 1933, creating the TVA.
TVA was designed to modernize the region, using experts and electricity to combat human & economic problems. TVA developed fertilizers, taught farmers ways to improve crop yields & helped replant forests, control forest fires, and improve habitat for fish & wildlife. The most dramatic change in Valley life came from TVA-generated electricity. Electric lights & modern home appliances made life easier & farms more productive. Electricity also drew industries into the region, providing desperately needed jobs.
Basically, we ended up with a world class fishery on accident! The South Holston Dam discharges cold clear water from the depths over 200 feet. This water comes from the South Holston Reservoir, this 7,550-acre lake resides mostly in Tennessee although 1,660 acres of the lake reside in Virginia. A special South Holston Lake permit is required to fish the waters.
In 1991, TVA built a weir dam, an aerating labyrinth weir, approximately half a mile below the main dam, straddling the midsection of Osceola Island. The weir helps to deal with the fact that the water coming out of the bottom of the dam is cold, dense, and oxygen depleted.
The water also tends to have unpredictable recirculation currents. The weir counteracts these problems with the water out of the bottom of the dam. The weir oxygenates the water, which helps aquatic insects, vegetation, and fish—particularly trout.
South Holston aquatic insect life is off the charts! The SoHo has the BIG 4, It produces Midges like a factory. Our resident Mayflies, the Sulphur & Blue Winged Olive life provide large western river style hatches you can almost set your watch to. Early season Caddis & some Stoneflies mixed in as well. Scuds & Sowbugs are another forage in abundance that are on the menu. The South Holston Tailwater is a smorgasbord of aquatic life.
All of these efforts by TVA & the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) has shaped the South Holston Tailwater as the world class fishery as we know it today. Our cold, oxygen rich water provides the perfect eco-system for our aquatic insect life and rainbow & brown trout to flourish.
The Watauga River rises from a spring near the base of Peak Mountain at Linville Gap in Avery County, North Carolina. After crossing into Johnson County, the Watauga River is first impounded by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watauga Dam, creating the 6,430-acre Watauga Lake. Nearly 3 miles below Watauga Dam, is the TVA Wilbur Dam, which forms a much smaller but very deep reservoir known as Wilbur Lake. Wilbur Dam is the site of the first hydroelectric dam constructed in Tennessee (beginning in 1909), going online with power production and distribution in 1912.
Below Wilbur Dam begins the Watauga Tailwater, this 17.8-mile river flows generally north & then west into Carter County where it navigates through the city of Elizabethton, Tennessee before it’s connection with Boone Reservoir. The Watauga River, just like “The Soho” flows into Boone at different locations.
The “Taug” as we call it, lies 30 minutes from the South Holston River Lodge. This tailwater is an A+ fishery that offers plenty of character with dazzling runs & riffles.
Although the trout population is not as dense as the SoHo, The Watauga still holds an extremely strong population of wild brown & rainbow trout & an equally abundant aquatic insect life similar to the South Holston. If water conditions are favorable the Caddis & Sulphur hatches can be spectacular during the spring & just like the SoHo, the Watauga fishes great all year & provides hatches comparable to rivers out west.
This is a great option if you’re fishing more than one day or water conditions on the SoHo dictate a drive to Elizabethton.