It’s the middle of March, bugs are hatching in the Smokies and water temperatures are around that magical 50 degree mark. Should be a riot to run up to the river and catch a gang of fish.
Or that’s would you might think.
So far we continue to see pretty high water. It’s not prohibitively high, but in spite of good numbers of bugs hatching we’ve seen very few fish coming up to get them. That will surely change in the days to come, but so far the fish have been content to stay deep and that’s been a tough order when you can only wade just so much of the stream without getting washed away.
There’s a soft rain falling in Townsend right now with more expected today, tonight, and some more tomorrow. That means while we shouldn’t be seeing flood conditions, it will take a little bit for streams to fall significantly.
By all means, you can fish a lot of mountain trout water just don’t expect it to be quite so good as you might have hoped for a few more days. You can always check the latest flows here.
The tailwater rivers are really pushing some water and there doesn’t seem to be much daylight for anyone with a boat. For those who do have boats the Watauga is likely the best best, but you’ll need to stay up stream of tributaries that dump mud in the river.