Winter Thaw

While it hasn’t been as cold a winter as we’ve had in recent years, we have had plenty of cold weather and a bit of snow in the Smokies. The coldest weather was late in January and early this month but that was immediately followed by exceptionally unseasonable warmth. We crushed a daily temperature record at Knoxville with a high of 77 on day when the previous record was 71. We were more than ready to get out after long periods of either high water or cold weather.

Great water levels and mild water levels in the Smokies last week

We’ve had some inquiries about hatches and it’s still a little early for anything serious to be going on, but there are some bugs. There are more little black caddis than anything else along with a smattering of Blue Wing Olives, Early Brown Stoneflies, and one or two Quill Gordons. The water did warm up quite a bit, but to be honest it took longer than most folks would expect. Melting snow on the mountaintops kept the water very chilly for a few days.

One of several nice wild rainbows picked up over the last week on a Zelon Nymph or Pat’s Nymph

Nymphing has been the way to get into fish. Dry flies might have worked, but to be completely honest we never even tried since the nymph fishing was OK, but not fast and furious. We saw a pronounced uptick in activity later in the day from around 2:00 – 4:00. There was also a big difference between fishing with or without split shot. The heavier rig did far better hooking fish.

This week we’re looking at more wet weather. So far streams are still in great shape but the temperature has gotten more winter like with highs down in the 40’s. Heavier rain is forecast in the next few days so there’s a good chance water will be high by the weekend.

That brings us to the tailwater situation which hasn’t changed yet. The Clinch is still very high as well as every other tailwater in this part of the country. It will probably be mid to late March at this point before we see water levels subside somewhat. We’ll keep you posted.