Tellico DH 1/2/08

[Petey]

Marmot and I hooked up and drove over to Tellico to check out the DH. After spending some 4 hours fishing it and catching one "Wild" trout apiece, he a brown and me a rainbow, I am wondering if DH doesn't stand for "Dead as Hell" instead of "Delayed Harvest".

Now granted the water was a bit high, but it was clear. You could see all the deep runs and in the pools for the most part. I could count all the fish I saw move on one hand. We hit most every quality plunge pool above Bald River all the way up to North River and fished every good deep cut along a rock face on the way.

So I guess that leads me to this. What is up with that DH? When we talk DH I think of the Nantahala where you can see the fish stacked up in the runs, or the Tuck which has big fish and good amounts of fish stocked. Then I go fish the Tellico DH, and I am wondering what is up?

Are they not putting in that many fish? Are they being poached out of their stocking points before they have time to move? Are they moving? This isn't the first time I have fished the Tellico "DH" and have come away less than impressed.

All of the Doom and Gloom aside, it was still to great to get out and fish some beautiful runs. It had been awhile since I had been up there and it was fun to get out and wet a line in some familiar water.

On a side note, we also drove up and fished the mighty North for about an hour. Where I matched my catch rate, moved more fish and saw more fish then the four hours spent on Tellico. It is apparent the beavers are doing a good job of reshaping the river. They have flat laid down some trees on some stretches of water. It is also apparent that there is a move afoot to do away with all odd numbered campsites. Campsites 1, 3 & 5 are gone and it doesn't appear the NFS are going to create new ones anytime soon. At least there are still sites 2 , 4 & 6. It troubles me that 3 is gone. It had been one of my favorite places to camp for nearly the last 10 years. I truly hate that it is gone.

Petey

Editor's note: After conformation from Marmot, it is apparent he caught "2" wild trout in the DH section. One Brown and One Rainbow.

[Rockyraccoon]

Campsite three has been closed for a few years now.

I can still taste those dry roasted peanuts when I think about it.

TN's specialty is tailwaters and it's apparent that our TWRA friends are not studying anything that NC is doing, It's a shame.

On the other hand, I have heard fine stories of the other TN DH, as well as the Gatlinburg DH.

[Tentwing]

]DH ? = Done Harvested ;D

[ty]

Don’t know Petey. The Tellico DH had some pretty good fishing there for a couple of years. I’ve heard rumors that TWRA has cut way back on the number of fish stocked for the DH up there for whatever reason. And the few fish they did put in have likely been “done harvested” like Tentwing says.

Even when the Tellico DH fished well, it wouldn’t last. By January the fish would be pretty much non-existent. And there was plenty of evidence that they were being poached out – worm containers, powerbait jars, etc.

It’s a shame.

On the bright side, the wild tribs like the North should offer some great fishing this spring since we’ve had all of this rain.

[Petey]

I have always been of the mindset if you are going to do it, do it right. So if you are truly going to run a delayed harvest program, then why not do it the right way. Load up the river with fish, patrol the thing and make people pay the price that poach. If you are not going to do those things, then why try to run a DH? I would prefer them to use their efforts and money other places then to throw it away like the have on the Tellico DH.

Personally I think Tellico could have one heck of a DH if they were to put effort into it. But it requires following through on your laws and enforcing them. We were talking in the truck about how many times we had been checked on the river. I couldn't ever recall being checked on Tellico or any of its tribs. I have been checked on all the tailwaters at some point except the South Holston and that is because I don't fish there near enough. I have been checked in the Park. Maybe they patrol more during the summer months when it is required to have a 2 dollar permit or what ever it is these days. But it seems to me that if that is the case, then you would want to patrol now if not more to protect the trout that are suppose to be protected till March.

I have been told in the past that man power was an issue. To much territory to cover and not enough people to cover it. OK, I can buy that. But a few seasons ago we had the cost of our licenses increased incredibly. Does anybody know or have figures on income from the increased license sells now vs. what it was prior to the increase? It makes sense to me that with the increased price there should be enough to hire an extra officer or two. At least that would be my hope.

Oh well enough of the ranting.

Good to hear from you Ty. I hope all is well with you and your family.

Hey Rocky, I remember when they closed campsite 3. It bothered me then, and it just stirred some memories of days gone past when we passed Friday. Thanks for the roasted peanuts reminder, classic.... LOL...

[kyle]

Jan 3, 2009 11:12:39 GMT -5 Rockyraccoon said:

On the other hand, I have heard fine stories of the other TN DH, as well as the Gatlinburg DH.

the "other" DH ;D ;D

come on over, I have only fished it once this year and it is all of 5 mins from my house.

[ty]

Couldn’t agree more Petey. I think the Tellico DH could be dynamite if it was managed properly.

I’ve spent a lot of time up there these past few years and have only had my license checked once. Those poor guys are up against it and need some help enforcing the laws. Not only do they have a huge territory to cover, but the Tellico area seems to have more than its share of idiots that don’t give a rip about laws or conserving the resource. They can trash the area and poach every single fish out of the rivers with impunity. Pretty sad given the natural beauty of the Tellico basin.

Hope all is well with you and yours too. Hopefully see you on a stream one of these days.

[neal39]

I hate to hear all this cause the Tellico was one of the rivers I was really looking forward to fishing. I've heard so much about it, and to think they charge $3.50 a day for a special permit you'd think they'd put More effort into Management and law enforcement. There's no extra fees for the DH on the Hooch in Ga and I've caught really nice fish there and if the fishing was really slow there was ussually an obvious reason like the river blown out from storms or such, of course there are just some days the fish seem like they're either pouting or just not hungry or just being stubborn I gues but it was not because of a lack of them. Just my 2 coppers.