Almost daily thunderstorms are keeping the trout streams well watered in the Smoky Mountains. Stream flows are running a bit above typical which is great moving into the heat of summer. Water temperatures have warmed up now so there’s no question about wearing waders or not. Cool weather lingered for a while and cloudy days […]
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 […]
Warm Weather is Here to Stay in the Smoky Mountains
Spring is always a period of ups and downs in the Smoky Mountains. Warm days are followed by frosty mornings. Sunny days can give way to cloudbursts of rain. Blown out streams quickly rebound to just about perfect. Now it finally looks like things are settling down after a March and April full of roller […]
Real Winter in the Smokies
Every year is unique when it comes to weather in the Smoky Mountains. We’ve had some exceptionally mild winters, more or less normal winters, wet winters, and cold winters. This year is shaping up to be exceptionally snowy and cold. Our personal fishing time has been somewhat limited by several things including the weather. There […]
Transitioning to Winter in the Smokies
It’s safe to say we’ve crossed the line from autumn to winter here in the Smoky Mountains. We’ve had to scrape frost from the windshield before taking our son to school in the morning. Our view of Thunderhead Mountain and the Smokies’ crest has been white too. We had a little snow up high last […]
Late Summer Adventures Before Autumn Arrives
It’s been pretty hot and relatively dry here in East Tennessee, but things have been much more varied in the Smokies. While the Tennessee side of the mountains was extremely dry in July, the North Carolina side was wetter with more moisture from thunderstorms. Water conditions improved all over at the end of the month […]
Hot Summer in the Smokies
It’s been a hot summer here in the Smokies. That means that some of the most popular streams aren’t fishing at their best. There are still plenty of productive streams to catch trout, you’ll just have to do a little bit of exploring. While some of the large streams are getting pretty warm, there are […]
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 […]
Spring Arrives in the Smoky Mountains
Spring arrives today, and with it has come a hard freeze in the Smokies. That’s pretty typical this time of year. Sunny and 70 degrees one day, windy with rain the next, freezing the day after that…. All part of a Smoky Mountain spring. The first good hatches of the year have started and seemed […]
Conditions for winter fishing become negotiable
January was a cruel month for those of us who enjoy spending time outdoors and on the streams of the Great Smoky Mountains. While we didn’t see record cold or unprecedented snowfall, we did experience a lengthy cold snap coupled with roads closed for icy conditions. And that was AFTER an extremely rare high water […]