When the weather is this nice, the stream flows this good, and the fish are rising I can’t help but ask myself, “Can it get any better than this?” Of course, it probably can. The fish could be bigger, but how realistic is that anyway? And it that a piggish attitude when so much is […]
Brown Trout Are Moving
It’s October and brown trout are starting to move. Water levels are improving in the Smokies and water temperatures have been perfect for a while, so the browns are feeding in preparation for the spawn.
Our Feet Are Wet In Yellowstone Country
After a somewhat traumatic airline experience, we’ve made it to the Henry’s Fork and Yellowstone Country. We typically make the drive from East Tennessee but this year we flew. Needless to say, it’s a pretty different experience. First and foremost, a drift boat doesn’t count as checked baggage so we’ll primarily be fishing from our […]
Shocking Video of Trout in the Smokies
Well, more like a video of biologists shocking trout in the Smokies… Whatever makes you click the link, right? We volunteer to help fisheries biologists in the Smokies every year with these projects. Not only is it important work, it’s absolutely fascinating. We are particularly interested in this piece of water at Tremont near Townsend. […]
Late Summer Conditions Prevail Across the Smokies and East Tennessee
There’s nothing out of the ordinary to report about fishing conditions across East Tennessee and the Smokies. Water conditions are relatively low but we’ll probably get some rain off of the periphery of tropical storm Isaac to bring them up a bit. After a pretty nice cool down we’re experiencing some hot days again, but […]
An Unusual Day of Guiding in the Smokies
Earlier this week I had a pretty unusual day on the water with a customer. Before we even got to the water things were just a little bit different than usual. Jason, my angler, was British and had come to East Tennessee for a vacation. Futhermore, he’s a British subject living in Dubai which makes […]
Golden Stoneflies in the Smokies
Winter is when most people think about fly fishing with big nymphs in the Smokies. There is no surface activity, the water is cold, and a big nymph will sink and just maybe spur a sluggish trout into action. Most fishermen forget that mid-summer can be a great time for big nymphs as well. This […]
Quick Pic: A Great Reason To Stop Smoking
Last week Charity took Paulette Carver out for some fly fishing instruction in the Smokies. They started with learning how to cast a fly rod, then progressed on to reading water and even catching a few fish. Paulette decided to take a break and sit on the bank to have a quick smoke. While she […]
Tailwater Fly Fishers, Your Long Wait May Be Over
In most years TVA will start to drain reservoirs in August and we’ll see medium to high flows into December, sometimes early January. Then flows are typically a mixed bag, sometimes good and sometimes tough until spring when TVA cuts flows to fill the reservoirs. This year has been a tough one due to weather […]
Keeping An Eye on the Water
Water levels in the Smokies have receded to quite fishable levels after they spike up pretty high late last week, but we have some more rain on the way today. So far it looks like the system is breaking up and should only bring us light and scattered rain showers. As fly fishing guides […]