The warm, sunny days of autumn are behind us and we’re looking at the gray, cold days of winter here in the Smoky Mountains. That doesn’t mean our fly fishing opportunities are gone, but they certainly are limited. It’s no longer October when every stream on the map was fishing well. Anglers will need to […]
Fall Fly Fishing in the Smokies Continues as the Season Winds Down
The bulk of fall color in the Smokies has passed, but there are still some good days on the water left in the year. We had a stunning autumn season with colors popping up high in early October and quickly filtering into the lower elevations as the weeks and days passed. We’ve had great water […]
Cool Fall Weather with Peak Colors in the Smokies
There’s no doubt about it anymore, fall is in full swing. Foliage is at peak color in many locations and the highest ridge lines have already shed most of their leaves in the Smokies. We will likely see our first frost here around Townsend this week as well. Fall is one of our favorite seasons […]
Ideal Summer Fly Fishing Conditions in the Great Smoky Mountains
We had a wet spring in the Smokies and that pattern has continued into June. This has set us up for a great summer of fly fishing. So far June has been warm but mild with an abundance of scattered rain showers and thunderstorms. The Smoky Mountains are a rain forest, so it’s been nice […]
The Ups and Downs of Spring Fly Fishing in the Smokies
Fly fishing conditions have been up and down this spring in the Smoky Mountains. We came out of the winter season exceptionally dry with extreme wildfire risk across Southern Appalachia. Believe it or not, we had humidity readings that would be taken for the Arizona desert, not the Smoky Mountain rain forest. Fortunately, things have […]
Fall Fishing Plus News About Effects from Flooding
It’s been an exceptionally busy fall season for us guiding fly fishers here in the Smokies. It’s hard for us to believe just how quickly things have moved. It seems like only a few weeks ago we were hosting our group of anglers in Yellowstone, but that was in early September and we’ve barely rested […]
A Wet May Sets Up the Smokies for Good Water Conditions in June
It’s been a pretty wet May here in the Smoky Mountains. We’ve been dodging the weather and choosing streams based on water levels. Fortunately we haven’t had any long term flooding, only typical high water that corrects to normal in a day or two. We shuffled a few guide days around but managed to get […]
The Fall Fishing Season Comes to a Close
It was a busy November here in the Smokies with a roller coaster ride of temperatures. We had several mornings of hard frost with lows waaay down in the 20’s, but the weather was quite pleasant overall. There were even a couple of days with record high temperatures near 80 in the afternoon. The big […]
Excellent Water Conditions Are Continuing Into the Heart of Summer
We’re well into the month of July and water levels and temperatures have remained excellent in the Smokies. We haven’t seen the usual pattern of afternoon thunderstorms that pop up randomly over the mountains between 3:00 and 7:00. That has happened on some days but we’ve seen more organized rain systems drop precipitation over the […]
Fall Fishing Season Draws to a Close
Somehow we’ve looked up and it’s almost Thanksgiving. It’s been another year with long weeks but a short season. We still have some trips on the calendar but our busy season is behind us. This fall was exceptionally colorful with some great weather. The biggest drawback came in the form of low water conditions and […]









