It’s been a pretty typical summer here in the Smoky Mountains. The lower elevation trout streams haven’t fished great and not only because of the heat. Tubers, swimmers, and others who come to the river for activities beyond fishing make it tough to find an ideal spot. Water levels have been up and down, although […]
Quick Pics: Recent Floats
It’s been a looooonnnnnnngggg string of float trips for Ian lately as he’s been on the oars every day for several weeks with the exception of Mother’s Day and TroutFest. Hatches have been a little off this spring, but nymphing remains good. These are some very nice specimens, but all the best fish pics were […]
Excellent Fishing on the Tailwaters and in the Smokies
We’ve spent the past week floating the big rivers and wading in several locations across the Smokies. For the most part we’ve had excellent success. Even on the days when things were a little tougher we’d manage to get on a hot streak late in the day. This angler couldn’t resist watching risers as we […]
Peak of the Season on the Tailwaters & In the Smokies
It’s early May and we’re on the water almost every day guiding fly fishers on the big tailwater rivers and on the creeks up in the Smokies. It’s prime time as far as we’re concerned and we’re happy to say the fish are cooperating on most days. There have been a couple relatively tough days […]
How Are the Tailwaters Fishing? Pretty Good…
It’s been a well known fact that fishing in the Smokies has been pretty good. Heck, it’s April, so it’s more or less a given that the streams in the Smokies should be fishing well. But the tailwaters? How are they fishing? Two fish in the net at once? That might be enough for most […]
Tailwater Conditions Continue to Improve in East Tennessee
Eric Wetherington shows off a 16″ rainbow trout he caught on a float trip with a #16 Zelon Nymph. Things actually started off pretty slow and while we had a few rising fish, it wasn’t as many as I’d seen only a couple of days earlier. The afternoon session got pretty hot and heavy with […]
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 […]
Sure Signs of Spring
We have some undeniable signs of spring here in East Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains. From a fly fishing point of view the fish are rising in the Smokies and TVA has cut flows from the dams. We can finally fish the Clinch & Holston any day of the week. But there are […]
Fly Fishing is Strong Everywhere in East Tennessee
If you haven’t gotten out on the water, what are you waiting for? Water conditions in the Smokies have been a tad on the high side, but fishing has been very good. TVA has cut generation significantly so river flows are superb on the tailwaters. We have some more time allotted to get on the […]
Tailwater Fly Fishers, Your Long Wait May Be Over
In most years TVA will start to drain reservoirs in August and we’ll see medium to high flows into December, sometimes early January. Then flows are typically a mixed bag, sometimes good and sometimes tough until spring when TVA cuts flows to fill the reservoirs. This year has been a tough one due to weather […]