The dog days of summer have arrived and it is hot here in East Tennessee! Fortunately it’s not so hot in the Smokies as it is in the surrounding valleys, but that’s little consolation with the thermometer readings over 90. This doesn’t mean you need to stop fly fishing, but it does mean you need to think about where you should go.
A wild Smoky Mountain rainbow trout thriving in the cool waters of a high elevation stream
As of just a couple of days ago afternoon water temperatures were 66 just downstream of Elkmont and 63 on the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River near the Chimneys Picnic area. If you want to have success on the trout stream you should look for water under 68 degrees at a bare minimum and less than 65 for the best conditions. What that means is you need to get higher in elevation for the best water temperature. Little River along the road might be OK in the morning, but you can expect it to warm up in the afternoon and the fishing to fall off.
Hiking in to streams isn’t necessarily a requirement right now, but the vast majority of good water out there will require a walk to consider that. Start in the morning so it’s a pleasant walk and you will likely find the air temperature will be in the 60’s; super pleasant! Even better, you’ll probably have the stream all to yourself.
Many fly fishers forget about species other than trout, but this is the best time of year to pursue smallmouth bass and red eyes on low elevation mountain rivers and stream. Generic bluegill poppers work great and these fish are usually most active when water temperatures are around 70 degrees. This can be super fun and doesn’t usually require the hike that summer trout fishing does.
Fish this size are relatively common in streams with larger ones on the prowl