Here we are on the Monday after Thanksgiving and things are just the same as always on this date. We’ve been guiding quite a bit up to this point, but it’s pretty well come to a screeching halt. Don’t get us wrong. We’ve truly enjoyed taking every last one of you fishing, but we’ll enjoy […]
Dropper Rigs Keep the Action Fast and Furious in the Smokies
Charity and Shrish Rane teamed up to get this photo a few days back on Little River. Charity held the leader and acted as art director, instructing Shrish on the best way to get this underwater photo. Shrish was excited for the opportunity to do some dry fly fishing since he doesn’t get to do […]
Get Bent (Rods)!
It’s that time of year for us. Imagine December at Macy’s and that’s the time of year it is for us in the fly fishing guide business. Fishing is great everywhere right now and anglers are coming out of the woodwork. With all the water we have here in East Tennessee it’s not surprising that […]
The Arrival of Spring
Last time we checked it was still February, but it looks as if the spring weather is here to stay. Yesterday I was fishing Little River and the daffodils were in full bloom in front of the old Townsend cabin near the Little River trailhead. It’s not just flowers either. We’ve had several thunderstorms this […]
Hatches Continue in the Smokies; Meanwhile Winter Returns
Quill Gordon: The surest sign of spring on the streams in the Smokies Spring really has arrived early, at least from a fly fisher’s view. Here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee we’ve already experienced about a week of afternoon hatches with rising fish. This doesn’t usually happen until early March or the last […]
Spring in February
It’s been an extremely mild winter, even for the Southeast. Here in the Smokies we tend to get a more distinct winter season than neighboring areas in the Tennessee Valley. For instance, the last two winters were pretty severe and we had plenty of snow. In fact, almost six feet of snow accumulated on Mount […]
Quick Pic: Rainbow Trout on a Tellico Nymph
Water was up and rolling so we started out with streamers to stir up some big brown trout. It didn’t take long to figure out the browns had no interest in streamers but we could still pick up some fish on nymphs.
Superb Water Levels in Smoky Mountain Trout Streams
We’ve seen a good deal of rain lately in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. This has led to unusually good conditions for fly fishing during a heat wave in late July heading into August. Water temperatures in many streams have been in the low 60’s on down into the high […]
Mixed Fishing Conditions Across the Smokies and East Tennessee
Fly fishers around East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountain region are experiencing different conditions depending on where they happen to be. Sporadic thunderstorms have caused a variety of water levels across the Smokies and generation schedules on TVA tailwaters differ from one river to another. Right now we’re seeing water levels in the Little River […]
Fishing update for late June
Water conditions in the Smokies continue to be pretty good as we see a number of sporadic rain showers and thunderstorms pass through. Water temperatures are excellent, particularly in the higher elevations around 3000′ and higher where waters have staying in the high 50’s to low 60’s. The steep nature of our streams ensures this […]