We managed to sneak away on a busy afternoon yesterday. With several deadlines looming large there wasn’t much time for goofing off, but I couldn’t help wondering if the hatch had started. You know the feeling. It will happen as soon as you can’t be there. That’s why I’ve long held the prediction that fish will rise with reckless abandon this weekend while Charity and I are in Louisville at the Kentuckiana Fly Fishing Show.
We still have yet to see any mayflies in the Smokies, but we’re almost there. Popular fly fishing science holds that once water temperatures reach 50 degrees for 3 conscecutive days the Quill Gordon and Blue Quill hatches will start.
Daffodils on the verge of blooming at Elkmont
I’m not so sure about that since I’ve seen that benchmark reached during mild weeks in early February and even January one year without hatches starting. There’s obviously more to it that one ingredient. Last year water temperatures stayed in the low 40’s or high 30’s well into March and the bugs started hatching around the 10th.
One thing I have noticed is that the bugs seem to hatch about the same time the daffodils start to bloom around Elkmont. They’ve been in bloom around many East Tennessee locations including Townsend, but with more direct sunlight the soil warms earlier.
