It was a cold weekend; one better suited to ice fishing than fly fishing here in the Smoky Mountains. Overnight temperatures were below zero high in the mountains and daytime highs were only in the 20’s. Needless to say, fishing wasn’t worth it, but we went out to see the rivers and streams. Water just […]
A Look Back at 2008 – The Year in Pictures
Another year has come and gone. We’re gearing up for a busy 2009. We’ve got a hefty schedule of appearing at fly fishing expos in the next couple of months, we’ve got two new books that will be coming out within a month, and we’ve already booked a number of guided trips. But before we […]
Fly Fishing for Brook Trout in Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Advice From the Guides
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a haven for wild trout. The Smokies are one of the last big expanses of wild country in the eastern United States. Native brook trout still flourish here and fly fishers can cast into pristine streams that are still the way things were hundreds of years ago. The best […]
First Snow in the Smokies, Great Dry Fly Fishing, & Good Fishing Continues on the Clinch
We’ve been on the water almost every day which is why we haven’t posted a report in a while. East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains have reached peak fall color and the fly fishing has been great for the most part. There was a lull in the fishing earlier this week after the first snowfall […]
Clinch River Fishing Well; Trout Rising to Olives in the Smokies
We’ve floated the Clinch a few times this week and it has been fishing very well. Both generators are down at Norris Dam and TVA is sluicing a steady flow of 420 cfs. That is, they have a gate cracked to keep a steady flow. The result has been great for fishing. While water is […]
Water’s a Bit Low in the Smoky Mountains; Temperatures Cool
We’ve gone a little while without rain and the stream levels are starting to show it. Fortunately cool over night temperatures are keeping the fish and bugs happy. We’ve seen some really nice Trico hatches early in the day and they have kept fish watching the surface. These are extremely small mayflies so you’ll need […]
Fly Fishing in Cataloochee Valley and Upper Little River; Last Chance to Fish on Lynn Camp Prong
We’ve had a few personal days to do some fly fishing here in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. First, I took a hike well upstream of Elkmont to fish upper Little River well above Fish Camp Prong. This is the area where Meigs Post Prong enters the stream and brook trout start […]
Fly Fishing for Brookies in the Smoky Mountain Wildnerness
Now that school has started back up there’s a bit of a lull in the guiding. That’s usually the way it goes, busy through spring and summer, a lull in mid-August, the rush of Labor Day weekend, then another lull as college football gets going strong in September. The cool weather and autumn color of […]
Backcountry Brook Trout, a Tailwater Float, and SNAKE!!!
It’s been an extremely busy week here in the fly fishing mines of the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee. We’ve spent several days guiding anglers in some out of the way streams in the Smokies, helped park biologists monitor a brook trout stream one day, and did a float on the Holston on another. I […]
Fly Fishing for Smoky Mountain Brook Trout
I was able to squeeze in a day of hiking a fishing between several days of guiding this week. I’ve been trying to fish as many of the formerly closed brook trout streams as I can. This has been something of a quest over the past few years since these streams opened. The vast majority […]