It’s been an extremely mild winter, even for the Southeast. Here in the Smokies we tend to get a more distinct winter season than neighboring areas in the Tennessee Valley. For instance, the last two winters were pretty severe and we had plenty of snow. In fact, almost six feet of snow accumulated on Mount […]
East Tennessee River Levels Improving
It’s been an exceptionally mild winter here around East Tennessee. There’s been a few cold snaps along with some snow high in the Smokies, but the weather has been more like late fall or early spring than winter. This would normally mean excellent fishing, but it hasn’t been as simple as that. We’ve had a […]
Latest Information from Trout Waters Around Tennessee
I went to the latest Tennessee Coldwater meeting in Knoxville. This is essentially a summit where biologists from TVA, TWRA, the US Forest Service, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park come together to share information with each other and member of the Tennessee Council of Trout Unlimited. This isn’t a public meeting where regulation changes […]
Starting out with Tenkara in the Smokies
Yesterday Charity and I took two new Tenkara rods out for the afternoon in the Smokies. We’ve been pretty curious for a while but finally pulled the trigger. Everything we’ve ever read about Tenkara touts its simplicity, and that is almost an understatement. There is very little to do in the way of set up […]
Red Sky in Morning Fly Fishers Take Warning
Yet another wet weather system has moved across East Tennessee and brought above average river levels even higher. That came after an exceptionally windy day. Here is a time lapse video from yesterday of the sunrise that foretold there was some weather on the way. You can tell something is up by looking at the […]
Quick Pic: Dry Fly Rainbow Trout in January
It’s been an unusually warm January. In fact, it’s felt much more like March. We’ve already seen some daffodils blooming and the extra warm weather has some rainbows looking up.
Quick Pic: Nymphing on a Mild Winter Day
Dragging weighted nymphs through a deep pool on a mild winter day in the Smokies
Mild Weather & High Water
It looks like another week of mild weather is on the way here in the Smokies, but it also comes with more high water. Our tailwaters have been blown out for a long time with very short breaks in the high flows. It’s absolutely pouring as I write this so we can be sure TVA […]
Quick Pic: Snow on Rocky Top
It’s probably mild where you are, but there’s snow on the crest of the Smokies. The highest point is Rocky Top, the summit of Thunderhead Mountain.
Damn that was good!
While we don’t expect to get much sympathy from anybody, we don’t get to fish as much or as often as many of you think. We had a pretty ambitious holiday travel schedule to be with family and even left the country for a little more than a week. Since we’ve been back we’ve hit […]