It’s March 1 and time for new fishing licenses here in Tennesee. Have you gotten yours yet? Be sure to get them because the fly fishing is about to heat up here in East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. Of course it has to stop snowing first!
March comes in like a lion with snow in the Smoky Mountains
Evening light on Rich Mountain as the storm clears
There wasn’t much snow here in Townsend. We got a mix of rain and snow, but Rich Mountain seems to have some snow sticking on the trees. Most of the snow is around 2500′ and higher. Charity and I headed up to Elkmont this afternoon to see the river and keep up “Quill Gordon Watch 2009”. So far there are no Quill Gordons, but we’re seeing some other bugs.
Cased caddis larva at the water line
Yesterday there was a decent hatch of Blue Wing Olives on Little River, but only in some pools. One spot had about a half dozen fish rising actively. Other good spots had nothing, but we got a few fish on dries. Water levels are right where they belong. It’s been a wet weekend, but most of the rain came in the form of light, but steady showers. Little River has risen slowly for the past few days. This is good because it means that much of the water is soaking into the water table.
We’re ahead on rainfall for the year and we’re glad to see it after two years of record drought. The rivers have been looking good since December, but you might say we’ve been a bit paranoid about water levels. Looks like this will be the best water year we’ve had in about three years.
