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 […]
Return of the Fishing Report
It’s been a crazy month of guiding fly fishermen here in East Tennessee on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. If you’re someone who follows our blog it’s needless to say that we’ve been pretty slack about posting fishing reports. Everyday (and I mean EVERYDAY) we’re up early prepping the kids for their day while […]
The Season is Upon Us!
We’ve already done a ton of guiding this spring, but this is the week when we shift gears into overdrive. We have guided trips in the Smokies, tailwater floats, and our annual Hazel Creek fish camp this weekend. That’s followed by more of the same next week followed by the Townsend TroutFest next weekend. If […]
Smokies Still the Only Game Around for Wading Anglers
Up to this point there hasn’t been any tailwater fishing for wading fly fishers here in East Tennessee. Those with boats have experienced some good to excellent fishing on the Hiwassee, South Holston, and Watauga Rivers but the majority of anglers have been left to fish the mountains streams. Fortunately they’ve fished well and the […]
Hiking & Fly Fishing for Brook Trout: A Change of Pace
After a solid week of float trips on the Holston and a weekend at TroutFest I scored a couple of days off. Besides sleeping a little later than I would if I was hitching up the drift boat, I spent some time with Charity and the kids. Yesterday Charity and I packed up the kids […]
Fly Fishing is Excellent Everywhere Across East Tennessee
We can sum up the fishing pretty quickly – It’s excellent where ever you go right now. We’re glad to report that because our guide season really cranked up. We’ll have multiple guides on the water several days this week. Our wading boots and drift boat oars will both get a work out. The recent […]
Excellent Weather, Spring Hatches, and Spawning Rainbow Trout
Spring weather is certainly here, but there is still a good deal of snow on the ground in shaded areas of the Smokies. Regardless, the sun was shining, the weather was warm, and the tailwaters even had favorable generation schedules. We’re still waiting for the hatches to get started in the Smokies, but the rainbow […]
Spring Hatches: Watch for These Important Trout Stream Insects in Tennessee and North Carolina
Spring is arguably the best time of year for fly fishing. The reason is that there are more insects hatching on the rivers and streams than any other time. The smart fly fisher knows this and comes to the water prepared. Here are the insects we watch for on the tailwaters and streams in the […]
Fishing Still Good in the Smokies But the Weather is Cooling Down
After a weekend of guiding in the Smokies we’re still happy to report the fish are still active. In fact, we pulled a good number of fish up to the surface on dry flies. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like the tailwater situation will get any better in the near future hear in […]