It’s pretty ironic that we live within mere minutes of some of our favorite trout streams, but because of the national park closure we have to drive about 90 minutes to go fishing. Things are pretty quiet and we’re firm believers that’s a good thing! It doesn’t look like the pandemic got much of a foothold in East Tennessee and there is talk of the park opening soon, albeit with a phased in approach.
Charity fishes a backcountry stream in the Cherokee National Forest
We’ve been getting down to the national forest about once a week or so. The tailwater rivers have been running very high so wading is completely ruled out and floats would probably be little more than a boat ride. As a result, much of the roadside fishing we’ve seen along Tellico River and Citico Creek has been pretty crowded. That hasn’t been a problem for us since we’ve wanted to stretch our legs and do some hiking anyway. We’ve run into a few anglers but had more than enough space to fish in isolation.
Getting into some decent fish on a dry fly too!
After plenty of time home schooling Boone got some lessons in dry fly fishing
We’ve heard from national park authorities that the park is currently trying to land on a date to reopen and what that will look like. Tennessee has a statewide open date of May 1 and North Carolina is May 15. The park is working with officials in both states to figure out how to cooperate with each as well as possible. Visitor centers and campgrounds will almost certainly remain closed when the park does open. These will phase in over time.
We’ll keep you posted as to when the park will open and when we can guide anglers there.
In the meantime, we’re getting plenty of fish on dry flies and seeing good numbers of hatching insects. We’re seeing large March Brown mayflies, Yellow Sally stoneflies, Blue Wing Olives, and various caddis. As always, the good old Pheasant Tail or Zelon Nymphs are winners but don’t hesitate to tie on a Prince or Tellico Nymph. That stuff is as reliable as it gets.
The dry fly selection isn’t anything out of the ordinary either. Parachute Adams #14 is as solid as it gets along with #16 Stimulators and Elk Caddis. We’re looking forward to the next time we get to the stream and even more to getting back to guiding.