Fishing Tennessee Tailwaters and the Smokies with a Variety of Weather Conditions

It wouldn’t be spring in East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains without a variety of weather and fly fishing conditions. Last week I guided two tailwaters in several locations plus we guided several streams in the Smokies.

The recent scene here in Townsend on a cold spring day

Dogwood Winter came in with a vengeance this year with snow in the Smokies along with flurries and sleet in the lower elevations. This is a relatively common spring event, but it always seems like a kick in the crotch after warm days and things start to green up a bit. Plus it’s enough to give you weather whiplash. Last Monday I was bundled up in the drift boat with snow or sleet falling all day. Two days later on Wednesday the tops of my sandal clad feet were sunburned because I forgot to apply sunscreen to them.

A Sulphur hatches on the Clinch River

Perhaps the most convincing item to remind us warmer days are here for good has been the Sulphurs hatching on the Clinch. The hatch has been somewhat inconsistent as there were bugs hatching everyday around 3:00 while the river was running one generator, but they seemed to fizzle out as flows diminished. Perhaps they are still hatching on the lower end of the river near Clinton, but the last several floats I’ve done have been further up close to Miller’s Island and very few have been seen.

Flows on the tailwaters have been less than predictable thanks to higher than usual reservoir levels thanks to a wet winter season. I haven’t missed too many float so far this spring, but there has been a high degree of uncertainty as to where the floats will be. Typically the Holston is the consistent river for good flows but it’s been pretty erratic so far. The Clinch has been more negotiable than usual this spring and numbers of trout we’ve caught have been excellent.

Joel Morsch shows off a solid rainbow trout caught on a Zelon Nymph on a recent float

Streams in the Smokies have been more consistent and have fished pretty well. Some days have been better than others while other days have done better with nymphs than dry flies, but overall we’ve had good success in the park.

An angler fishing a nice run in the Smoky Mountain backcountry

Dropper rigs have been the most consistent for us as we’ve been able hit fish on both top and underneath. Nymphs seem to be better in the morning and the fish are more willing to take the dry fly in the afternoons. Those are just averages though as we’re picking up a few fish on dries early and still hooking them on nymphs later in the day. We always prefer the dry fly, but if you’re only going to fish one way the nymph is probably the better way hook fish.

A wild Smoky Mountain rainbow trout in its natural setting

It looks like we’re off to a wet start this week with some pretty good rain coming in. I think the Smokies streams should be able to absorb the additional water plus the abundant forest will start to absorb more water from the soil as the trees are coming to life and sprouting leaves. This development will help keep the streams from getting to high. We’ll have to see what happens with the tailwaters. It seems like reservoir levels have either been higher than TVA’s plan or just barely within limits. That means our float outlook is still a bit murky.

Doug Gibson fishing a beautiful pool in the Smokies