This week has seen a dramatic warm up from the deep freeze we experienced for all of January. Last month was well below average and amounted to one of the longer stretches we’ve ever had without being on the stream with a fly rod. We did plenty of hiking regardless of the weather, but iced over streams made it obvious there was little reason to cast a fly.
Smoky Mountain trout streams were quite literally covered in ice for a couple of weeks in January.
Fortunately we’ve seen a dramatic thaw with weather more typical of April. We managed to get out and enjoy a beautiful day on the stream. Conditions were as nice as we’ve seen since December and it felt great to feel the sun on our faces. In fact, we didn’t even wear jackets it was so warm!
Notice Charity’s sleeves are even rolled up. Not your typical early February day in the Smokies.
We saw a smattering of insects out moving along the stream; typical winter bugs like winter stoneflies and tiny Blue Wing Olives. The most interesting bugs were the Early Brown Stoneflies which we don’t usually see until about the first of March.
An Early Brown Stonefly showing up earlier than usual in the Smokies
In case you’re interested, we didn’t try to push things along any further than they already were. We never tied on a dry fly and stuck with a double nymph rig. In all honesty fishing was much slower than we anticipated, especially since water temperatures were easily in the high 40’s. Even so, just getting to hike in to one of our favorite streams and fish with the sun shining on our faces was pretty damned good all by itself!
Ian casts a pair of nymphs into a deep slot
The extended forecast looks to remain mild, although not an extended stretch of the record breaking warmth we just saw. The extended forecast is showing that we’ll be moving into a wet phase. This will absolutely bring some high water, but this is really what we need moving from late winter into spring. We’ve been in a relatively long dry phase, ironically interrupted by a flood. However, streams have been reliably low since about July so we’re looking forward to getting back to where we belong.
Just your everyday, run of the mill, brilliantly colored Smoky Mountain rainbow trout
There’s an excellent chance that our spring hatches may kick off early this year. We usually say that mid-March is a safe bet, but sometimes it’s earlier than that. We’ve seen good mayfly hatches happen by mid-February in the past. It’s difficult to say if that will happen this year, but they probably will be earlier than mid-March.
Even so, that doesn’t mean there won’t be hatches later in spring. The entire cycle will start earlier and likely stay that way unless there’s a cold snap in March. And that happens! Many of our biggest snow storms have come in March so nothing is certain.
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