It’s with deep sadness that we relate the news that Hazel Creek legend Steve Claxton passed away last weekend. Steve was a lifelong resident of Bryson City, North Carolina and often referred to as the mayor of Hazel Creek. He was the linch pin to the success of our camps there. We got to be […]
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 […]
A Beautiful Weekend on Hazel Creek
After last spring’s “Wet & Wild” Hazel Creek camp that featured torrential downpours for the second half of the weekend, it was a breath of fresh air to have nothing but blue skies and sunshine for all four days of our stay this past weekend. In spite of nearly perfect conditions, the fishing was a […]
Hazel Creek Camp Report
We spent the last four days on Hazel Creek on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At this point we can’t even remember how many of these camps we’ve hosted, but we typically do at least two every year. By now we’ve probably done close to two months worth of these […]
Another Awesome Weekend at Hazel Creek
While it’s cold and snowy right now in the Smokies, it was much warmer during our fall Hazel Creek fish camp. We experienced rain on Sunday morning before our departure, but other than that the weather was absolutely perfect; warm during the day and cool at night. While some fish were caught on nymphs, I […]
Hazel Creek Spring 2012 Wrap Up
Last weekend was our annual Hazel Creek spring fish camp and it was another great one! We had folks from as far away as Chicago, IL and Louisville, KY while others were from right here in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. We didn’t see any monster brown trout as we have on a few […]
Fall Fly Fishing Is At Its Peak
Guiding on Hazel Creek in the Smokies It’s fall and fishing is pretty good. Trout are rising in the Smokies, we’re seeing big brown trout moving around, and the colors… Well, you’ve got to see it to believe it. We just returned from our annual fall camping trip on Hazel Creek and have a full […]
Quick Pic: Hazel Creek slab
Jack Gotcher got the lifetime achievement award on our Hazel Creek campout a couple of weeks ago for this slab of a brown trout. Charity and I have both been on the water. I’ve been primarily behind the oars of the drift boat and she’s been working the Smokies plus we had TroutFest in Townsend […]
Quick Pics: Hazel Creek
We’ve got more pictures on the way, but here’s a quick sampling from our fish camp on Hazel Creek last weekend Hazel Creek rainbow trout We caught a glimpse of this black bear before it disappeared into the forest A nice brown trout with a Beadhead Tellico Nymph Our home during our time on Hazel […]
Our Fall Fishing “To Do” List
Our guide calendar has quite a bit of daylight now that we’ve moved out of fall color season here in East Tennessee. We don’t necessarily view that as a bad thing, though. That means we can get out on the water and do some fishing for ourselves. So much water, so little time. Water conditions […]