It’s March in East Tennessee which means we’re on the weather roller coaster! Warm days, cold days, wet days, and maybe some snow in the mountains. It’s all something to expect around here, so grab a BINGO card and start marking them off as they come.
Seth Judd with a 21″ brown trout caught on a streamer last weekend
We had a pretty good dump of rain across the region last week and that threw a bit of a wrench in the works for anglers. The Smokies were just starting to get rolling when streams became way too high to fish. The lower Tennessee River in west Tennessee was starting to have flood issues so TVA started to hold back water on tailwater rivers here in order to stem the tide. While conditions were far from optimal for a typical float, Seth Judd opted to take a boat ride and pitch big streamers in hopes of connecting with a big fish, and so he did. Seth managed to land a beautiful 21′ brown trout on the Clinch along with a small brook trout with an outsized attitude. Fortunately it was a gorgeous day to float the river and see wildlife along the banks and feel the sun on our faces.
Right now I think our tailwaters will be out of commission for at least a couple of weeks as TVA looks to lose some water from the headwater reservoirs to make room for runoff from any future rain storms that are relatively common in March and April. The weather forecast doesn’t look bad, but there’s a long way until Memorial Day when the reservoirs are scheduled to be full. Right now they’re way ahead of schedule and don’t have the capacity TVA wants in March.
Streams in the Smokies are just now getting back to fishable but it won’t take much to nudge them high again as we have thoroughly saturated soils right now. But it’s spring and that’s what we expect. Daffodils have already bloomed and been zapped by frost in many locations while hepaticas and spring beauties are beginning to pop in areas with direct sunshine. The forest floor is beginning to green up as the green leaves of trillium and other spring flowers are pushing up.
Nature is ever in motion….