We’ve seen a dramatic shift in the weather over the past three weeks. As temperatures remained in the low 80’s through nearly half of October we wandered if and when we would ever break out the waders. Within just a few days the weather cooled dramatically. Now it’s November and I’m writing this from R&R […]
All Options Are On The Table
It’s been incredibly warm here in the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee over the last week. Hiking up a trail to fly fish a backcountry stream has been a sweaty affair with temperatures 20 degrees or more above normal, but the fishing has been pretty good. Nymphs are working, but we’re not sure who’s fishing […]
Waders Should Look to Mountain Streams for the Best Fishing This Week
Mountain streams throughout the Smoky Mountain region are in great shape right now with good water levels and water temperatures. The photos in this post are from just a few days ago and the dry fly fishing has been pretty good in many locations. We started to see some unsettled weather yesterday as a front […]
The Summer Pattern
So far things are essentially what you would expect when fly fishing in June in East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. We’re seeing they typical mid to high 80’s temperatures along with enough humidity to trigger afternoon thunderstorms. Most of East Tennessee has been pretty dry but the mountains have seen the bulk of the […]
Hit Or Miss Rain
They’re called “hit or miss” thunderstorms and showers for a reason. For the past week we’ve seen storms pop up all across East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains, but we’ve largely missed most of them. That’s really nice when you’re in a drift boat and the alternative to sprinkles and thunder is crackling lightning overhead […]
Summer Tailwater Forecast for East Tennessee
We’re far enough along in the season now that we’re able to start looking into the crystal ball for how fishing will progress into the summer. There’s always a degree of uncertainty more than a few weeks into the future, but our tailwater rivers are a little easier to predict in terms of how flows […]
Tailwater Anglers the Time is Nigh
Yesterday was another chilly one around East Tennessee and particularly so in the Smokies. There was a fresh shot of snow above 3500′ or so. Not enough to amount to a whole lot, but just enough to hurt our feelings. The weather is warming up again for the weekend, but for the first time in […]
Great Weather But Challenging Water Conditions This Weekend
The weather forecast is calling for sunny skies and mild weather this weekend but it looks as if water levels will be challenging across East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. We had a restless sleep last night as a strong front passed through with strong storms and heavy rain. This morning several USGS stream gauges […]
Conditions Better But Not Perfect By Any Means
We feel like we’re being pretty patient with the weather. After all it is January so it’s not like we’re supposed to have warm weather perfect for fishing. We don’t know about you, but we could sure use a good day of fishing about now! Water levels have finally dropped down into the fishable range […]
November Fly Fishing Is Here
There are still some pockets of fall color in East Tennessee but the Smokies are quickly transitioning out of that phase. The tops of the mountains are bare and look like winter. Further down the slopes the vibrant yellow, red, and orange is beginning to fade to brown with a few exceptions. We’re seeing brown […]