March has given us a real taste of winter after an exceptionally mild January and February. We started seeing some mayfly hatches last month and really expected an acceleration into March. However, we saw a resurgence of winter weather and our view has featured white capped mountains almost daily. The fishing has been pretty good, […]
Wrapping Up a Busy Fall Season of Fly Fishing in the Smokies
2021 has flown by and another busy guide season is drawing to a close. We’ve finally arrived at the time of year when we cease guiding full day trips. We guide afternoon half day trips as long as conditions are favorable, but don’t get out in the morning while trout are sluggish. Most of the […]
Work In the Smokies to Be Aware of Before Heading to the Stream
There are a few infrastructure projects going on in the Smokies right now that could affect your fishing plans. Hopefully you can make plans accordingly. The most important will effect anyone heading to Abrams Creek in Cades Cove. The Abrams Falls Trail is undergoing restoration to repair severe erosion and will be close each week […]
It’s Still Winter But We’re on the Countdown to Spring Hatches
There have been some relatively warm days over the past couple of weeks and we’re supposed to be coming into at least a couple more, but don’t let it fool you. It’s still winter in the Smokies and I honestly can’t remember the last time I didn’t see some snow on the high ridges. There’s […]
Warmer Weather On the Horizon
I’m sitting at my desk in Townsend waiting for more freezing weather and snow to arrive. Yesterday was relatively mild but the streams in the Smokies were essentially frozen over. Even now I can still see snow on Thunderhead Mountain and other high peaks. Still, yesterday was sunny and about 50 degrees and we weren’t […]
Fly Fishing in the Bitter Cold
Here in East Tennessee we’re in the middle of what is the coldest weather we’ve seen since 1996. We’ve had plenty of cold weather since then, just haven’t hit the lowest point on the thermometer since then. The winter of early 2010 was pretty cold and we can remember snow staying on the mountains for […]
Fish While You Can
We’ve entered that shoulder fishing season now that really isn’t one of those main events of the year, but perhaps the most important. No, it’s not the ever popular spring dry fly fishing or colorful falling fishing but the “get it while you can” fishing. We’re quickly moving into late November and the weather is […]
Drying Out
After a week of heavy rain in East Tennessee we’ve finally had a few days of dry, sunny weather and have more on the way. Our mountain rivers and streams have fallen to merely “high” but the tailwaters are running exceptionally high right now. Local reservoirs came up as much as 30′ in just a […]
The End of the Season
Here we are on the Monday after Thanksgiving and things are just the same as always on this date. We’ve been guiding quite a bit up to this point, but it’s pretty well come to a screeching halt. Don’t get us wrong. We’ve truly enjoyed taking every last one of you fishing, but we’ll enjoy […]
Get Bent (Rods)!
It’s that time of year for us. Imagine December at Macy’s and that’s the time of year it is for us in the fly fishing guide business. Fishing is great everywhere right now and anglers are coming out of the woodwork. With all the water we have here in East Tennessee it’s not surprising that […]