September Fishing Report Great Smoky Mountains
September in the Great Smoky Mountains region has always been one of the most overlooked months for fishing. Not really sure why other than kids have started back to school and folks aren’t taking much time off for vacation. Fact is September offers some fabulous fishing in both the Smokies and on our larger rivers such as the Tuckasegee and Little Tennessee. Trout and Smallmouth Bass both are starting to feed more aggressively as stream and river temperatures start cooling off and Fall approaches. Most often you have streams and rivers all to yourself. Solitude, scenery, and great fishing makes September a good bet.
The visiting angler in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park can expect to see larger Browns and Rainbows becoming increasingly active especially around mid morning into late evening. Big meaty flies fished deep will entice the biggest fish to eat. The sides and smaller eddies wil have plentiful rainbows ambushing your offerings. Brook Trout in the higher elevations are eating anything that hits the water, particularly so on cooler sunny days. Spawning Season for Brook trout and Brown trout is fast approaching. Typically when stream temps fall to 50 degrees these trout will lay their eggs. This usually happens around late October. This time of year its all about packing on the calories.
Some of the best hatches to be looking for might not be a typical hatch at all. September we see loads of beetles ants hoppers and crickets along the creeks and rivers. These food items are often referred to as terrestrials. You should have plenty of these patterns on hand as they can offer some fantastic dry fly fishing inside the park. By mid September we start seeing one of our favorite hatches of the year which is the Ocotber Caddis. Because of it’s name, most folks think this species of Caddis only hatches during its namesake month. Fortunately this is to so. The October Caddis is a huge meaty Caddis fly that is sort of a bright burnt orange and is large enough to be seen from outer space. Even the most visually challenged anglers can spot an October Caddis dry fly on the surface.
The Smallmouth Bass on the Tuckasegee and Little Tennessee rivers will start getting more aggressive this month as well. Baitfish from Fontana Lake start pushing up the river mouths and this really turns the bass bite on. We are already seeing this happening in certain locations now. The bass compete for food and real estate with the biggest fish winning the contest. We like to call it clash of the titans!
September is a great month to go fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains region. Most days you have the water to yourself and some very good action too. What’s not to love about that!?
We’ll see you on the water!