It’s been a great week of fly fishing here in the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee. Charity, Tim, and I have been on the water in several locations and the fishing has been pretty good everywhere we’ve been. Our guide season has started and at least one of us will be on the water almost every day through the summer and fall.
The Quill Gordon hatch is under way on most streams in the Smoky Mountains and that has the fish looking up. We haven’t been on the North Carolina side of the park yet, but have heard from a few folks that bugs are hatching over there as well.
Charity snapped this photo of a brown trout caught by Yvonne Sanders this week during a hatch of Quill Gordon mayflies.
Little River has had the best hatches. Fish are rising at Greenbrier, but we’re not seeing near as many insects on the water. Beadhead nymphs are the most consistent fish catchers, but dry flies have brought fish to the surface every afternoon.
We’ve done a few floats this week too. Midges have been the main attraction on our local tailwaters. A #18 Skull & Bones has done quite well for us. We drift it over sipping trout. We’ve also hooked a fair number of fish on streamers this week. The streamer fishing has been great fun, but we’re not hooking near as many fish as we’re attracting to the fly. Most run at the fly and roll at it, but that’s pretty fun too.