We hear it all the time. “How does (insert weather condition) affect the fishing?” At the moment we’re pushing a 14″ surplus for rainfall and the year isn’t even half way through yet. So, as you might imagine, we’re getting tons of questions about how all this water influences fishing and fish populations. In the […]
A New Week, Same Weather Forecast
It’s a new week here in East Tennessee but the weather forecast looks pretty familiar. We’ve got more rain forecast for the coming week, but hopefully the rain won’t be so heavy and the streams can absorb it without another blowout. June and July are thunderstorm season in the Smokies, but it’s virtually unheard of […]
Another Round of High Water in the Smokies
This has been one helluva season… More high water than we can ever remember even though we get plenty of fishing in between rounds. You might say that we’ve been furloughed once again. Notice how under the best of days we running no less than twice the typical volume of water. And by the way, […]
Watching River Flows and the Weather Forecast
I won’t lie. It’s been a pretty frustrating couple of weeks for us and likely other fly fishing guides across East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountain region. Depending on the day, sometimes even the hour, we have flows that are blown out or fishable. That’s forced us and our anglers to be as flexible as […]
Rain Keeping the Rivers Full and Us On Our Toes
I’ve been on the water doing some smallmouth trips lately, but the current rain situation is keeping those rivers muddy. We’re waiting on them to clear and hope next week turns out better than this one. With the record drought years of 2007 – 08 still fresh in our mind it seems strange to complain […]
Clinch River Flows Remain Good
Anyone who has spent much time fly fishing for trout around East Tennessee has probably heard about the Clinch River’s reputation. Just exactly what that reputation is depends on who you talk to. Depending on the day it can be the best river you’ve ever fished or the toughest damn river you’ve ever cast a […]
Seasons Change to Summer on the River in East Tennessee
We’ve had a cool, wet spring season in East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains, but now it seems summer is upon us as we’ve had a pretty sunny week with warm temperatures in the 80’s. The Smokies are still fishing great and we’ve had at least one tailwater to chase trout. Sulphurs are showing up […]
It’s Sulphur Time on the Tailwaters
We’re seeing diminished flows on the Clinch and more anglers are finally getting on this river. In fact, some might say too many, at least over the holiday weekend. We avoided it on Saturday as it’s always a mob scene on the most popular rivers and our sources say this year was no exception. One […]
Tailwater Flows Much Improved As Mountain Streams Rise & Fall With Thunderstorms
We’ve been holding our breath a bit as we’ve watched the weather radar over the past few days. Streams in the Smokies can’t be uniformly rated as “high” or “ideal” as a number of thunderstorms have hit the region in a hit or miss fashion. It’s safe to say that streams in North Georgia are […]
Dryer Weather & Better Water Conditions Across East Tennessee
Things have finally started to dry out here in East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. The following graph might only look like a bad flashback from 12th grade math, but for those of us who closely watch river and stream levels it’s pretty significant. What you’re looking at is the lowest water levels we’ve seen […]