Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report May 10th

The fly fishing inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is reaching its peak. Mid May is always when experienced Smokies anglers feel the park streams are fishing at their best! Perfect weather and abundant insect hatches keep the trout happy and looking up. Some of the best dry fly action of the Spring is happening right this very minute!

Black Berry Winter

Blackberry Winter blew through the region this past weekend, bringing with it severe high winds which toppled tress and closed the park down for a few days. Park officials told us there was over 150 downed tress in the roadways inside the park. Thats impressive considering we have had the remnants of hurricanes and everything in between and that has never happened before to that magnitude. Just goes to show how raw and wild the Smoky Mountains can be at times. The winds subsided and snow blew across the high country dumping upwards of 6 inches of snow in places like Mt Leconte and Clingmans Dome. Crazy right? However, history shows, it has snowed each month of the year inside the park over the years. Roadways are now clear and everything is operating inside the park as usual.

This week has been excellent weather as day time temperatures have reached the high 70’s inside the park. In downtown Gatlinburg it feels almost Summer like with mid 80’s. Its certainly nice to be outside in the Smokies now. Bryson City also topped out at 80 today as well.

Smoky Mountains Fishing

Our favorite dry fly hatches of year have begun inside the park. Yellow Sallie stoneflies and light Cahills are flying through the air and crawling acros the rocks. These hatches drive the Smokies Trout absolutely crazy. Trout leap into the air wildly to take a struggling insect off the waters surface. Every guide on our staff looses their minds this time of year as we enjoy the bounties of warmer weather. Right now there is an abundance of great hatches all across he region. There is no less than 26 different hatches you should be aware of. However if you plan to fish this weekend, bring a handful of Yellow Sallie dries in #14-18, light Cahills in #14-16, and plenty of olive and tan Caddis dries in sizes #14-18.

The Weekend

This weekend looks to have some rain moving into the area and thunderstorms are possible. It is the Smokies however and you never know what your going to get weather wise. We have an old saying, well actually we have lots of sayings, that’s what mountain folk do, but anyhow. If you don’t like the weather, just wait fifteen minutes, It’s going to change! Highs on Friday will reach 77, rain on Saturday with a high of 66, and sunny on Sunday and back up to 76. Grab a rain jacket and get to the water, the trout are waiting!

Faith, Family, and Fishing!

Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report May 10th

Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report 9/27/16

Some much needed rain fell across the Smoky Mountains late yesterday and over night. The unfamiliar, as of late, sound of thunder boomed yesterday evening and almost in an instant rain starting beating down, making this old tin roof sing its magical song. I had way too much work to finish up, or a nap would have definitely been in order. The rains are tapering off now across the region and chances will increase by late evening once again. We did receive significant rainfall totals in the area. Most of the Smokies saw .5 to 2 inches depending on where you look geographically. Some parts of the region saw as much as 5 inches in places. While we didn’t get anything that looked like that inside the Smokies what we did receive will certainly help the streams and the fishing.

Stream flows today have increased across the Smokies. The Little River is 78cfs this morning up from 27cfs the day before. The Oconaluftee River is looking good at 143cfs up from 86cfs the day before.

Cooler air tempratures this week will certainly do wonders for lowering stream tempratures and bringing them back in align with normal Fall conditions. The water will still be low and I don’t see that changing for the next bit. The big news will be lower stream tempratures which will certainly help with dissolved oxygen levels in the water columns. Anglers will see increased feeding activity from the trout and should have some fantastic fishing this week.

The drop in air tempratures will certainly bring about changes in the colors of Fall foliage. Leaves will start turning more this week especially at higher elevations where it is expected to drop into the upper 40’s over night on Tursday and Friday. Fall colors should start to really show over the next several weeks. We are predicted to have a longer then normal color season for this year!

Anglers planning to visit the Smokies should plan to travel very early in the day and prepare for traffic delays in the afternoon and early evenings around crowded ares near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Bryson City and Twonsend are both touted as the quieter sides of the Smokies and see much less traffic and congestion.

Hope you all have a great week and get to wet a line.

Faith, Family, and Fishing,

Fly Fishing the Smokies

Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report 9/26/16

The sun is shining in Bryson City this morning and tempratures are in the low 60’s all across the Smoky Mountains. We’re forecasted for 80% chance of rain today starting around 3pm. It’s already starting to to get cloudy across many parts of the Smokies. Rainfall totals are expected to be decent which should make a positive impact on the low water levels inside the park. We have a cold front that is settling in this week which thankfully will bring air temperatures to something near more Fall like.

This week is going to be some great fishing inside the park. The drop in air and stream temps will trigger the trout into feeding more aggressively. Dry fly action has been incredible the past several weeks. Trout are crushing Caddis and terrestrials on the surface near the heaviest oxygenated sections of water. We expect this week to see increased trout feeding activity. There will also be an excellent subsurface bite as the rains will stir things up slightly on the bottom and knock lots of ants, beetles, and inch worms off vegetation and into the water. Should be an epic bite!

Anglers should continue to wade as stealthy as possible and wear drab colored clothing to avoid spooking fish. Long leaders with light tippet is best this time of year too. Dead drifts are paramount, so be sure to watch for micro drag on your flies. It makes all the difference in the world. Most of the time it’s not the fly pattern, it’s the way you are presenting your flies that catches more fish.

Gatlinburg traffic will increase this weekend. We are already seeing a push of Fall visitors to the park. Leaves are starting to change colors in high elevations slightly. We are expected to have a long Fall foliage season this year. Local experts at Western Carolina University have predicted that color will be good, and the season could be up to six weeks long!

Have fun this week, and stay dry!

Faith, Family, and Fishing

Fly Fishing the Smokies