Yesterday Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened again after more than two weeks of being closed. All national parks are open today but Tennessee’s governor Bill Haslam brokered a deal that allowed the states of Tennessee and North Carolina along with Blount and Sevier Counties in Tennessee to pay for the park to open. Needless […]
Fall Fishing Under Difficult Circumstances
Fall fishing is certainly here. From our window we can see shades of red, orange, and gold along the crest of the Smokies. Mornings require a fleece jacket to be comfortable while afternoons are sunny and comfortable with your sleeves rolled up. Trout are rising well to dry flies in the Smokies, but right now […]
Fishing Report from East Tennessee (Just not the Smokies)
You could say we’ve been out to lunch when it comes to keeping up the fishing reports on our blog, but there hasn’t been a ton to report. The government shutdown, which has closed all national parks, has put a serious dent in our business. If that wasn’t bad enough it’s denied us access to […]
Fall Fly Fishing Forecast for the Smokies and East Tennessee
September is well on its way and there has been a chill in the air in the mornings. Wake up temperatures have been just a touch more than 50 degrees here in Townsend and you know it much cooler in the higher elevations of the Smokies. It’s even been way down in the 30’s on […]
Warm Weather and Hot Fishing
We’re well into September and it looks like we’re wrapping up what’s been the hottest week of the year. It came a little late but we’re not complaining. In just a few days we’re looking at temperatures in the 70’s and low 80’s and it’s only a few weeks until October with its cool mornings […]
End of the Summer
Labor Day weekend is upon us and with it comes the symbolic end of summer even though fall is about a month away. We’ve had some decent tailwater flows lately but his typically changes after Labor Day when TVA moves to drain reservoirs for the winter season. This generally means higher flows although we know […]
Waders in August
It’s not something you’d expect in the Southeast in August, but we’re digging out our waders for the cool, wet weather that’s headed our way. The forecast for Saturday in Townsend is a rainy high of 72 degrees. We can tell you from experience that if you head on up to Elkmont it will be […]
The Best All Round Week of Fishing We’ve Seen This Year
It’s been a tough season. Anyone who follows fly fishing around the Southeast knows that, but we’re glad to say that we just had what may have been the best few days we’ve seen all year long. Tailwater flows are great, smallmouth bass are looking to the surface for poppers, and trout in the Smokies […]
Thunderstorm Season in the Smokies
It’s been a wet season across the Southeast and even wet by the rainforest standard of the Great Smoky Mountains. Fortunately we’ve seen an end to the stationery fronts pulling tropical moisture to us the way metal shavings are drawn to a magnet. Even though things have dried out substantially we’re in the middle of […]
Guiding a Guide
It’s often the case that Charity and I are on the water for days at a time from the spring thru the autumn, but we’ll look up and notice we haven’t fished together in months. So much of our free time is spent doing things with our kids. Even as we take the kids fishing […]