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 […]
Winter Weather & Fishing Across East Tennessee
It’s not really news that the streams are cold up in the Smokies. It is January after all even if we’ve seen some mild weather in the Southeast over the past week or so. Plenty of folks will forget that the higher elevations and steep terrain that keeps the stream valleys shaded make the Smokies […]
Get Out When You Can
We’re accustomed to the idea of mid January being cold and dreary so we don’t expect to get much fishing time in at this time of year. In fact, there was a time when we spent much of the depths of winter out on the road speaking at fly fishing events around the country. We’re staying […]
2015 Begins with True Winter Fishing in East Tennessee
The new year is here and so is the cold weather. The temperature on our porch in Townsend this morning was 24 and that may be our high tomorrow. Water levels in the mountain rivers and streams are a little high but water temperature has started to plummet as you would expect. Fortunately this should […]
Frigid Water in the Smokies
It’s been a seemingly mild period of early winter weather here in the Smokies. It’s easy to see hoarfrost on the ridgetops many mornings as mists have frozen to tree limbs, but most of the days have been pretty pleasant. By the time the clock ticks past 11:00 the temperature has usually been above 40 […]
Fishing Conditions Improve on Several Fronts
After heavy snow in the Smokies and temperatures that stayed down below freezing for an extended period we had all but written off any good opportunities for fishing the rest of the year. We usually expect things to stay pretty good up until around Thanksgiving but we were all but shut down well in advance […]
Changes in the Weather
We had a spectacular weekend of weather here in the Smoky Mountains and things will remain very nice here for a few more days but change is on the way. We’ve been seeing frosty nights in the mountains with warm, sunny afternoons but a big cool down is on the way. It looks like afternoon […]
It’s That Time of Year in the Smokies
It’s that time of year in the Smokies and we’re finally starting to see some spawning brown trout in our local streams. It’s likely that the sudden cold snap and melting snow that dropped water temperatures better than 15 degrees in about 24 hours caused a delay. It’s hard to tell from this since there […]
A Snowy Weekend in the Smokies
We often joke that we watch the weather more than farmers since we make our living and spend most of our time outside. So it caught our attention a few days back when the forecast called for a dusting of snow in the Smokies. The weather man was very careful to advise people there was […]
The Peak of Fall Fly Fishing in the Smokies
The weather is beautiful, fall colors are peaking, and the trout are rising. What else could anybody want from a day in the Smokies? We just returned from four days on Hazel Creek and conditions were absolutely perfect. There may have been a few fish caught on nymphs but we spent the bulk of our […]
