It’s been a long winter and we’re all itching to get back on the water. Here are a couple of video moments to help you remember what it’s like to be on the river when the sun is shining and the trout are rising. The first clip was filmed by our good friend Carl Babcock […]
Good Fly Fishing on the Way in the Smokies
Its been a tough few weeks for anyone who enjoys fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains. The recent cold snap has kept the water well below an optimum temperature for aggressively feeding trout. You can see from this snapshot of the guage on Little River that the water has just barely nipped at 40 […]
Beating Cabin Fever
Winter fly fishing in Tennessee isn’t that hard to endure compared to Michigan, Montana, and Maine among other places. That still doesn’t mean that it’s not cold though. We’ve had a string of days when the thermometer barely cracked 30, so needless to say, if you’re going fishing you’re gonna get cold. Earlier in the […]
Drought Diminishing in Tennessee and the Smokies
We’ve had a fair amount of wet weather in the past month and most of the streams are beginning to not only look good, but actually have the flow that they should for this time of year. We’ve got a wet week on tap with quite a bit of snow on the mountain tops so […]
Tying Flies for Spring
It’s been a pretty cold week and things probably won’t get much better for close to another week. Water temperatures have been mostly in the 30’s with a few ventures into the low 40’s. It’s actually worth fishing if the water is over 40, but not real productive until you get over 45. Even when […]
Winter Days in the Smokies
We’re just getting over a bout with the cold here in the Rutter household. Our daughter Willow picked it up at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago, Charity succumbed a few days later, and I held on until the bitter end when I got it. We all seem to have turned the corner […]
Smoky Mountain and Tennessee Fishing Reports Resume
Where Have Ian & Charity Been? We’re still around and I suppose we’ve got some explaining to do. It’s been quite a while since we’ve posted anything and we’d like to assure everyone that we’re OK. Thanks to all who checked in to make sure we were still around. Some folks have made the reasonable […]
Clinch River Fishing Tough
Generation schedules on the Clinch have been optimum for getting out on the water and doing some fishing while wading, but the fish have been a little less than cooperative. I guided a float trip on the Clinch on Friday and it was among the tougher fishing days in recent memory. There were some missed […]
R&R Fly Fishing Back From the West
Charity and I returned from our Western trip a couple of days ago and are gearing up for the busy fall fly fishing season in Tennessee and North Carolina. We intended to post a few reports from the road but a lack of internet access and an abundance of fishing opportunities kept us from getting […]
Last day of “summer” fly fishing in the Smokies?
Today Tim Doyle and I took a group of guys from middle Tennessee for a day of fishing up in the park. We were glad to see the Laquieres were in good shape and took them into a section of stream that’s a little tougher to access. The fish weren’t exactly jumping on the hook, […]
