We’re accustomed to the idea of mid January being cold and dreary so we don’t expect to get much fishing time in at this time of year. In fact, there was a time when we spent much of the depths of winter out on the road speaking at fly fishing events around the country. We’re staying close to home this year and while most of the month has been cold and wet, this past week has been beautiful.
Deep nymphing Little River
To be completely honest, the fishing has been spotty. There have been some afternoons when we caught several fish, others where we struggled to miss a couple, and still others when there were a few risers taking small Blue Wing Olives and midges on the surface.
But who cares when the sun is shining and temperatures are in the 50’s? It’s just good to be outside with the sun shining on your face. Most of the time we’ve been out the fishing has been secondary to just enjoying a pretty day outside.
But it is always better when you catch something!
Nymphing has been the best method to hook fish, but we do have a few pet spots where we can usually find a riser. We haven’t been fishing dry flies everywhere, just a few favorite spots, and even then we’re only getting mixed results.
There’s some good news and bad news looking forward to next week. The bad news is that the pretty weather isn’t sticking around. We might even see some snow in the Smokies.
The good news is that TVA tailwater flows are as good as we’ve seen in a while. We floated the Holston a couple weeks back on a day that was negotiable. There were some midging fish and we even picked off a couple from the drift boat with a Tenkara rod. The Clinch has had some decent flows as well and only look to improve.
The sleeper on the tailwater scene right now will be the Hiwassee. We’re trying to find some time to kill and afternoon down there, but again, flows are looking good there too. We always enjoy the change of pace fishing there since we don’t head that way often.
A nice Hiwassee rainbow trout from last winter