Al Birkmaier Watauga River fly fishing

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Altamont Anglers In The Press

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Clay Gibson with more reasons for Winter fishing (click to visit)

Joe Gibson finds a hog on the South Holston River (click to visit)

Gordon Kay on the South Holston in December (click to visit)

Jason Jones brings us a Winter's Tale (click to visit)

A tale of Brians on the Davidson River (click to visit)

Blake Puryear hits the South Holston River (click to visit)

The Goering group hits the tailwaters (click to visit)

Betsy Dawson learns the South Holston (click for more)

Vee sends an update from Ontario (click for more)

A South Holston River report from Bill Matyi (click for more)

Benny Pearson's smallmouth report (click for more)

Madison's Watauga River report (click for more)

Ken & Tom conquer the bass (click for more)

Jeremiah on the Watauga River (click for more)

Largemouth bass in our mountains? click for more...

Doubled-up on the Watauga River (click to visit)

Smallmouth on flies (click to visit)

Charlie Helm master's the bass (click to visit)

Brian Dunlap hits the Davidson River (click to visit)

Mark's Watauga River report (click to visit)

Garrett Blodgett hits the Watauga (click to visit)

Watauga River stripers! (click to visit)

Scott Luttrell returns to the Davidson River (click to visit)

Team Zalesky on the Watauga River (click to visit)

Watauga River Stream Report (click to visit)

Jocelyn learns on the Davidson River (click to visit)

Dylan hits the Pigeon River (click to visit)

Bill Matyi can't quit the South Holston River (click to visit)

French Broad Muskie on the fly! (click to visit)

Tom Taylor finds some Smallmouth (click to visit)

Aidan Gomez with a Davidson River Report (click to visit)

Paul Tootleman returns to the South Holston (click to visit)

Jay & Teo with a smallmouth bass report (click to visit)

South Holston Stream report (click to visit)

Bill Matyi returns to the South Holston River (click to visit)

Winter Fly Fishing: Why Bother? (click to find out)

Todd Koenig delays the harvest on the Laurel River (click to visit)

Hap Clayton's Delayed Harvest report (click to visit)

Debbie Griffith on the South Holston River (click to visit)

South Holston stream report (click to visit)

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Al Birkmaier, who is becoming a "regular" client (he just can't get enough of this good fishing), floated the Watauga River with us February 27th and 28th. After returning home he sent us this email: "Steve Hurlbut and I want to thank you and Teo for the great time we had on the Watauga Friday and Saturday. Teo was awesome and got us into the two biggest fish Steve and I will ever catch in our life times. Although we are still in the state of shock, we are already planning a return trip...
Please ask Teo to send the pictures ASAP so we can silence some of the skeptics."

Al Birkmaier caught this monster Watauga River brown trout on Frbruary 27th, held here by his guide, Teo Whitlock (click image to enlarge)

Ok all you skeptics, bear witness to the fish on the left held by Teo, and please remain silent.

Sometimes the worst the weather the better the fishing: Altamont Anglers guides Teo Whitlock and Erich Sonderegger had floated the Watauga River the day before, with much nicer weather and tougher fishing, but the cold and the rain on the days Al and Steve fished seemed to turn the fish on.

Teo holds a huge male brown caught by Steve Hurlbut on the Watauga River, 2/27/09 (click to enlarge)

Under normal conditions Steve would congratulate Al on his 28", 10+lb fish, move as far down or up stream from Al as the boat would allow, and begin fishing even harder to try to even the score (with no such luck, of course). However, these were not normal conditions: only two casts later Steve would, in fact, even the score with his own Watauga River brown trout, a gigantic male.

Click the thumb nail pictures below for larger views of the great fishing on the Watauga River on 2/27/09 and 2/28/09 (including the cool three-photo sequence at the end)...

(Altamont Anglers operates on Pisgah National Forest Rivers under USDA Forest Service Permit #PIS6560)

They Coulda Been Contenders!
Or wall-hangers--but we released them all!!

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