It’s popular to follow the groundhog in February to get a sense of how long winter will be, but we’ve found our trout stream insects to be more reliable. This past week has seen a dramatic warm up accompanied by the first emergences of insects. We’ve already seen brown stoneflies, Blue Quills, Quill Gordons, and a few caddis.
Early Brown Stoneflies are starting to hatch in the Smokies
It’s important for us to stress that there have not been any heavy hatches and the weather has been up and down. Don’t have a freak out that you’re missing the best fishing of the season. That’s not the case, but fishing is certainly better than we usually expect in late February. Fishing has been relatively slow in the mornings and the main event has been in the afternoon. Furthermore, even when the fishing has been really good there’s been a window of about two hours when it was best. The hour before and after were pretty good, but definitely on the upswing or coming down.
One of the first Quill Gordon mayflies we’ve seen this year
Nymph fishing is the best way to get into fish over the course of the day, but dry fly fishing is a definite option in the afternoons. Even when we’ve fished droppers we’ve actually had more fish take the dry fly than the nymph. Up to this point we can’t report that the fish have shown much preference for one fly over another. But to be honest, we only fish a few patterns that are always successful for us in the spring.
Keep it simple with Parachute Adams or standard Adams or any gray bodied mayfly pattern. These will be #12 – #14 but you might keep a few small flies handy. You may find a good hatch of Blue Wing Olives or Blue Quills which are about #18 or smaller. You don’t need to fish a super small fly, but going down to #16 from #12 can make a big difference if the fish are looking for the small bugs.
There probably aren’t many nymph patterns that won’t work right now. The streams are full of every variety since very few bugs have hatched yet. We’re seeing a big variety of mayflies, caddis larva and stoneflies on the rocks when we pull them up to take a look.
Charity with a solid wild rainbow trout that ate a dry fly
Enjoy the nice weather and try to get out on the water, but keep an eye on the weather. It’s doubtful we’re completely done with the cold weather and big swings can put the fishing off. Be especially cautious with wind warnings. We’ve seen numerous high wind events in the Smokies in recent years. Not only is it difficult to fish, but it’s dangerous with falling limbs or even falling trees.
Be careful and enjoy your time on the stream!
