Christmas music is playing but it feels like spring is in the air. This morning it was 60 degrees on the front porch of R&R Fly Fishing world headquarters in Townsend. Even though I said spring is in the air I know we’ve had many cooler mornings in April than this! Forecast highs today through the weekend are in the 70’s with a return to more seasonable weather next week.
I got out for a few hours a couple days ago when it was just “above normal” temps for December, all the way up to the mid 50’s, but there was frost in the morning. Water temperature on Little River was in the mid 40’s and the fish were moving pretty well. I fished a Rubber Legs Nymph, one of my favorites in the winter months or during high water and maintained pretty good action.
Just a quick plug, but the Rubber Legs is our December Fly of the Month, a popular fly subscription we’re bringing back for 2016.
The fish were relatively deep and I even made use of a split shot in some deeper runs where I knew fish would be but wasn’t getting any acknowledgement. The extra weight did make a difference. However, with these warmer temperatures I wouldn’t be surprised to see streams exceed 50 degrees and dry fly fishing could be a very real opportunity. You might go with a dropper rig to hedge your bets, but you can be sure I’ll be casting dries in at least a few spots.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there will be any relief on the tailwaters for the foreseeable future as TVA has the rivers running high. There’s some pretty good rain in the forecast early next week so that pattern may continue for a bit longer.