Keeping ourselves busy during the Covid-19 crisis

This is usually our busiest time of the year for guiding, but we’re completely shut down. The national park is closed and Tennessee has mandated the closure of all non-essential businesses. We’re keeping busy with other projects. The kids have online school and are handling that exceptionally well. We’ve been staining our decks, a project that has been waiting many months for a confluence of good weather and an abundance of time. Personally, I’ve been spending about as much time drawing and painting as I ever have.

Spruce Fly watercolor

Morels

Anole in a tree

Trout holding in the current

Most days I tie a small pile of flies. I’ve freed up a good chunk of freezer space too by tanning some deer skins I’ve had put away. Again, needed that confluence of good weather and time.

Watercolor flies with Purchase of a Gift Certificate

We wanted to make a special public Thank You to everyone who has purchased a trip gift certificate. We’ve contacted everyone directly to express our thanks and I’ve even sat down to paint some watercolor trout flies for them. I’ll go ahead and make this a public offer. I’ll paint a watercolor trout fly of your choice for every gift certificate purchased. This is something I can do well and in a reasonable amount of time so I won’t get backlogged. The paper is trimmed to 4″ x 4″ and the painted surface is 3″x3″. That’ for standard dry flies and nymphs. Streamers would be a little bit bigger.

Parachute Adams

Royal Wulff

Thunderhead

The Fishing Report

I know you’ve probably tuned in for the fishing report, so I’ll give you that as best as possible. Water levels in the mountain streams are pretty good right now, but some rainy weather on the way could change that up a bit. The tailwaters remain very high, so to be completely honest, no one is missing anything there this spring!

Damn we could use more of this about now!

We’re able to get outside and do a tremendous amount of activity without interacting with anyone else. Ironically trout fishing is among the most difficult. We live within just minutes of the national park, but it’s shut down without any entry. A few days back we made a trip down to the national forest and enjoyed a glorious afternoon on the water. There were quite a few people out and about, but very few fishing. Furthermore, there was no one where we went.

Our daughter Willow wasn’t excited enough about fishing to put on waders, but was excited enough to wet wade in 53 degree water

The fish primarily ate dry flies. We also fished droppers and found that almost as many trout took the nymph. If you’re interested in our fly selection we fished Parachute Adams, Haystacks, Zelon Nymphs, and Pat’s Nymphs. There were a few rods between all of us so the combinations were mixed, but those were the only flies in circulation. We were down in the Tellico River watershed but expect conditions will be similar across East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and North Georgia.

And another quick Covid-19 / fishing update: Graham County North Carolina is closed to all non-residents. Police have blocked roads into the county and you must show proof of residence to get in. That’s a big chunk of the Nantahala National Forest, so be sure to check about where you’re going before you head out.

We’ll keep it together on our end. You do the same and we’ll see you on the water soon!