We’re looking forward to more days like this later this week
Directly on the heels of the driest September on record we’re in the midst of an unusually wet October in East Tennessee. Once again this proves my statistician friend, Doug Sanders, point that things tend to average out. We’ve already exceeded our normal rainfall total for October and we’re looking at some significant rain on the way in the forecast.
So far streams in the Smokies are running high for the time of year, but still very fishable. Furthermore, the North Carolina side of the park hasn’t seen quite so much rain as the Tennessee side. Still, we have a few more days of rain in the forecast and it’s already affected our guided schedule.
Remember, you can always find real time flows for many streams around the Smokies on our website by clicking here.
The heaviest rains have fallen near Norris Reservoir, the source of the Clinch River tailwater that we float so often. TVA was already draining the lake which made it difficult to find fishy flows, so this development won’t help us out much there. There are still weekend flows on the Clinch through the end of the month, but don’t look for much in the middle of the week. Even as we’re seeing lower flow predictions for the next few days muddy water is essentially guaranteed downstream of the I-75 bridge.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. Fall colors are peaking in the higher elevations of the Smokies and there’s great color throughout the region. Additionally, according to long range weather forecasts it looks like we’ll be entering a prolonged dry stretch after we get past the wet weather.
The fish should be rising well if you catch the weather right and nymphs will undoubtedly fool plenty of fish.