It’s not really news that the streams are cold up in the Smokies. It is January after all even if we’ve seen some mild weather in the Southeast over the past week or so. Plenty of folks will forget that the higher elevations and steep terrain that keeps the stream valleys shaded make the Smokies […]
Get Out When You Can
We’re accustomed to the idea of mid January being cold and dreary so we don’t expect to get much fishing time in at this time of year. In fact, there was a time when we spent much of the depths of winter out on the road speaking at fly fishing events around the country. We’re staying […]
2015 Begins with True Winter Fishing in East Tennessee
The new year is here and so is the cold weather. The temperature on our porch in Townsend this morning was 24 and that may be our high tomorrow. Water levels in the mountain rivers and streams are a little high but water temperature has started to plummet as you would expect. Fortunately this should […]
Frigid Water in the Smokies
It’s been a seemingly mild period of early winter weather here in the Smokies. It’s easy to see hoarfrost on the ridgetops many mornings as mists have frozen to tree limbs, but most of the days have been pretty pleasant. By the time the clock ticks past 11:00 the temperature has usually been above 40 […]
Fishing Conditions Improve on Several Fronts
After heavy snow in the Smokies and temperatures that stayed down below freezing for an extended period we had all but written off any good opportunities for fishing the rest of the year. We usually expect things to stay pretty good up until around Thanksgiving but we were all but shut down well in advance […]
Why Tenkara? We’ll Tell You Why
It’s no secret we’ve been fishing with Tenkara rods for a couple of years now. We haven’t used them exclusively but we do use them a pretty good bit, especially when we’re out fishing for ourselves. We’ve introduced many fly fishers to Tenkara and everyone has been very impressed. We even did a short video […]
Happy Thanksgiving
We wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and give thanks for everyone out there who has supported us over the years! Don’t eat too much!!
Native Brook Trout Restoration in the Smokies Going Well
We just spotted an article in the Maryville Daily Times today that says the brook trout restoration on Lynn Camp Prong is going well. That’s not necessarily news to us as we’ve spent plenty of time volunteering several times over the past few years, but it still feels good to see it in print. You […]
Now Is the Time for “Fishing”
We usually see spectacular dry fly conditions from October well into November but things were pretty well cut short this year. About two weeks ago we received an unusually early heavy snow in the Smokies and plenty of cold air to follow. The resulting cold water has kept the fish relatively sluggish and I started […]
Changes in the Weather
We had a spectacular weekend of weather here in the Smoky Mountains and things will remain very nice here for a few more days but change is on the way. We’ve been seeing frosty nights in the mountains with warm, sunny afternoons but a big cool down is on the way. It looks like afternoon […]