Charity working the pockets on Little River
It’s been a busy not to mention bitterly cold winter here in the Smokies. While what qualifies as extra cold in East Tennessee would surely get a snicker in Michigan, Maine, or the Northern Rockies we’re not exactly used to long periods of time when the warmest days are in the 30’s. That didn’t leave many days for good fishing but that has changed in a hurry. We traded in bitter cold for heavy rain that kept the streams running high for the better part of the last week.
We’ve already seen some exceptionally warm weather for February (two 80 degree days) and it’s felt good to get back out on the stream. With three days on the water this week we can report that there are some bugs hatching, a few more everyday, but in our estimation things have yet to really get rolling. It would seem that hatches should get going very soon though as all the key elements are in place.
We’ve managed to get a few fish on dry flies, but the bulk of fish that have been caught so far have been on nymphs. And trust us, we’ve really given the fish every chance to eat a dry fly but they aren’t looking up much. Anyone who knows us won’t be surprised to learn that we’ve been hooking trout primarily on a Pat’s Nymph fished together with either a Zelon Nymph or Pheasant Tail Nymph.
A wild rainbow caught on a nymph this week
The tailwater situation has been a complete loss lately. Heavy rains a few weeks ago brought water levels in our reservoirs up far beyond where they belong. This all worked out perfectly as TVA has planned so communities in the Tennessee River valley escape flooding. Unfortunately this has made our tailwater fisheries far too high to fish as TVA is now draining those lakes to make room for possible flooding rains later this spring. This will likely continue for at least a couple more weeks, but in mid March TVA allows the lakes to fill for summer recreation and this also means that flows are very stable and predictable. Another round of heavy rains, not normal, but heavy rains could kill spring fishing on the Clinch and Holston.
Understandably we’re hoping for the best as last spring was nearly a complete blow out and things didn’t shape up until almost June.
Things are starting to move fast so we’ll try to keep you posted.