Memorial Day has come and gone along with the unofficial start of summer. Unfortunately our weather has progressed into the second week of August as our temperatures are forecast to range into the mid 90’s this week. Streams in the Smokies are a little low for this time of year, but nothing dramatic. Dry fly […]
What Day Is It?
We’re pretty dizzy from day after day of guiding and the evening conversation usually comes around to “Where am I going tomorrow?” We have to check the calendar remember who to meet and where we’re scheduled to go fishing. Over the past few weeks we’ve been all over the place, from deep in the backcountry […]
Quick Pic: Hazel Creek slab
Jack Gotcher got the lifetime achievement award on our Hazel Creek campout a couple of weeks ago for this slab of a brown trout. Charity and I have both been on the water. I’ve been primarily behind the oars of the drift boat and she’s been working the Smokies plus we had TroutFest in Townsend […]
A Guides’ Day Off Float
Charity and I have been guiding quite a bit lately with a couple more days coming straight at us before TroutFest this weekend. Fortunately we had the foresight to build a day off into our calendar so we could spend a day together on the water. Unlike days guiding we got to the river a […]
Guiding Fly Fishers All Over East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains
We’ve been exceptionally busy over the last week and done just about every type of trip we offer. Charity has been guiding anglers in the Smokies while I’ve done some of that as well as floats for trout and floats for smallmouth bass. Almost all of the trips I’ve done in the Smokies have been […]
The Season is Upon Us!
We’ve already done a ton of guiding this spring, but this is the week when we shift gears into overdrive. We have guided trips in the Smokies, tailwater floats, and our annual Hazel Creek fish camp this weekend. That’s followed by more of the same next week followed by the Townsend TroutFest next weekend. If […]
Brown Trout Day on the Tuckaseegee River
Our local tailwaters, the Clinch and Holston Rivers, are running far too much water right now but the wet spring we’ve had makes for good floating on the Tuckaseegee in western North Carolina. It’s a little further than we typically drive for a spring float but the commute is spectacular! The view on our drive […]
Tuckaseegee Float and We Finally See Some Bears
I was scheduled to do a float on Tuesday and the high water situation on our local TVA tailwaters just wasn’t negotiable. Fortunately we can be on the Tuckaseegee River in western North Carolina with a slightly longer drive and the drive across the Smokies is among the most scenic in the nation. We’ve been […]
Fly Fishing with Streamers on the Clinch River
The Clinch has had a long run with one of our favorite flows, one generator, but the fishing remains a little tough. I had a guided float today and the river produced, but didn’t exactly show off. Absolutely nothing happened on nymphs today and there were few insects moving. Everything we saw was midges, no […]
Here’s to Improving Weather
It’s been a tough couple of days. The wind howled on Monday. Strong storms came in Monday night and a few local rivers were muddied as a result. I tried to float the Clinch Tuesday, but the combination of muddy water, steady rain, and gusty wind caused us to hit the eject button. The Smokies […]