03-22-2010, 09:00 AM
Dusty and I decided to get up to the Tellico for the first stocking of the year. With all the rain we've had, the river was rolling. Wading on the lower portion was pretty hairy, but fortunately, I didn't fall in until it got nice and warm outside. I started the day with a 12" TARP brook trout, which was my first ever. We ended up catching about 25-30 fish total, 6 were brook, 1 brown and the rest rainbows. Most were released, except for a few that we saved for the frying pan. Does anyone know if they are stocking brook trout now? I've fished the Tellico a lot over the years, but haven't ever caught any and suddenly we get 6 in a day! We thought that the TARP size was 12 for brook trout, but we found out after getting home that it is 10. If we had remembered correctly and measured a few more, we probably would have had 1 or 2 more TARPs. Overall, it was a great trip and the weather was perfect. It was a little crowded, which was to be expected, but as long as you're patient and willing to get your feet wet, there's plenty of water to fish. Dusty has some pics, so one of us will post them later.