It was a strange autumn and it’s been a strange winter as well. Water levels were at historic lows in the Smokies and through the month of November we experienced a string of wildfires. The one most people know about turned out to be one of the largest in the history of Tennessee and devastated […]
Winter Fly Fishing Forecast for the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee
Every year it seems like we’re just coming out of spring fishing, going into summer fishing, then we look around and find that the fall season has come and gone and winter is at our doorstep. Guiding keeps us busy wading and floating rivers all over East Tennessee, but with our children getting a little […]
Brook Trout Restoration in Tennessee
Here’s a great short video from the folks at Tennessee Uncharted exploring how TWRA is working to restore the Southern Appalachian brook trout in its home range in our mountain streams. This effort is completely separate from efforts inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. https://youtu.be/LwiqOWoY_GY
Summer Fly Fishing in Full Swing
We’re wet wading now so you could say that summer fishing has arrived. Water levels are in pretty good shape in the Smokies after significant rainfall last week. It was a relatively dry spring here in East Tennessee and our local reservoirs are far from full. While this may not be ideal for water skiing […]
Five Minute Getaway to the Smokies
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/145795909[/vimeo]
Getting Kids on the Stream in the Smokies
Charity and I have always felt strongly about getting kids out on the water. Even the most fervent conservationists won’t live forever and a big part of the job is to make sure future generations care for our natural resources. The best way to make that happen is to get them out on the stream. […]
Creeks and Big Rivers, Drift Boats, Brook Trout, and Bears
It’s that time of the season when it can be hard for me to remember where I was only three days ago because we’re covering so much water. On any given day Charity and I might be almost anywhere within an hour or so of Townsend, including a vast expanse of Great Smoky Mountains National […]
Dogwood Winter Provides Varied Fishing
Early April in East Tennessee brings the blooming of dogwood trees, an iconic Southern Appalachian spring scene. It also tends to bring a cold snap regionally known as Dogwood Winter and this year has been about as wild as we can remember after the dogwoods bloomed, although we can remember one Easter weekend a few […]
Backcountry Brook Trout Paradise
We recently found this nifty video of backcountry fly fishing for Southern Appalachian brook trout via the good folks at the Orvis blog. It’s on the Raven Fork, about a 3 mile hike over Hyatt Ridge into remote country. This isn’t an easy place to reach or fish, but here’s an opportunity to see this […]
Great Fishing All Around
After last week’s well above average temperatures you could say things have normalized via the law of averages. Yesterday was the first day of spring and late in the afternoon many roads inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park were closed due to snow and ice. We saw some sleet and snow flakes mixed with rain […]