The Trout Zone

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Wyoming Return: Warmup Hike

After months of planning, a long drive across the country, and a major shift in plans before we ever set up our tents or started fishing, it was nice to wake up in my tent the first morning in Wyoming's Wind River Range. Anxious to get started, I was out of my tent shortly after first light and in plenty of time to enjoy a great sunrise. This would be a theme for the early part of our trip.

Dramatic sunrise in the Wind River mountains

Our plans that day were to revisit a lake that John and I had enjoyed on our first trip in 2023. The total distance was very manageable and would be a great warmup hike without our heavier overnight backpacks. The intent was to get around 8 miles or so in to help us acclimate before putting on the heavy packs. Best of all, the target lake would enable us to get a species or two that might be difficult to find elsewhere on our planned itinerary.

We hit the trail after a slow ride over lots of washboard with a healthy dose of potholes. The trailhead was exactly the same as I remembered it, and soon we left the dusty road behind as we walked through the pine forest. Hiking fast, we were soon entering the Popo Agie Wilderness and climbing steadily to our target lake. This lake is a bit below treeline, but close enough that the views open up in a dramatic way.

Walking along, I noticed that some of the wildflowers that had been growing in profusion in 2023 were much less prevalent. It appeared that even though our timing was similar, lots of plants were further along than they had been on our last trip. Still, there were enough interesting blooms to keep me looking.

Asters in the Wind River mountains were blooming in profusion

As the trail approached the lake, it skirted a lovely meadow where the stream carried enough water to suggest trout might be hiding in the undercuts. Sure enough, I pitched my Parachute Adams in and quickly found the first trout of the trip, a brook trout. These generally small fish overpopulate in the Rockies unfortunately where they are looked down upon as interlopers. My Smoky Mountain natives are invasives out west and generally treated as such by fisheries biologists. I'm still glad to catch them and they have saved a day of fishing for me on more than one occasion.

Leaving the small meadow behind, we were soon soaking in views of the lake. The odd rise was visible as well, so we knew there were fish active. On my last trip I had only fished the lake with a tenkara rod when we were passing by with full backpacks on our way to our campsite. This time, we had carried full fly rods and even had some sinking lines packed away just in case. Thankfully, we wouldn't need those.

the views did not disappoint in the Wind River range

It took slightly longer to start finding fish than the previous trip, but we were still into fish within minutes. There was some chop on the surface that made spotting fish a little more challenging, but if you could get a good angle to see into the water, you would also see fish.

This particular lake is fun because of the variety it offers. We caught plenty of brook trout but also found cutthroat and tiger trout. Some of them ate nymphs and some ate dry flies.

I didn't really intend to walk around the whole lake, but before I knew it, I was at the inlet with a decision to make: push on across the inlet stream and finish circuiting the lake or retrace my steps and call it a day. Being my first day at altitude, the second option was probably the smarter of the two, but not knowing if or when I would be back pushed me onward.

My buddy John was game to keep going, so we were soon climbing over boulders on the north bank. I stopped for a feast on wild blueberries, the first of many on this trip.

It was over on that far bank that John got an epic dry fly eat from a nice cutthroat. We had been leapfrogging each other and he was slightly ahead of me. I saw the whole thing out of the corner of my eye. Being a dry fly fanatic, John was in his element when the nice cutthroat rolled and sipped in the most cutthroat of ways possible. I could tell it was a nicer fish and quickly reeled my rod up and raced over to be ready to help as needed. Turns out John had things under control, so I just took a few pictures to document a neat moment.

By this point, I was wondering where Elam was. He had been catching fish so steadily that he hadn't moved very far from where we started. Since he hadn't been to this lake before, he wasn't in as big a hurry to see the next cove as I was. This was more a chance to see the whole lake for me. The distance added bumped our daily total up near the 10 mile range. What was intended as a short warmup hike was quickly turning into a real hike. Still, we were all feeling good.

The day was getting late, however, and we wanted to be out before dark. The next day would truly be a big day. We intended to hike at least 12 or 13 miles with some significant elevation gain, loss, and more gain. Oh, and all this while hauling 40 pound backpacks laden with our gear and food for the next few days. Yes, we needed a good night's rest.

We somewhat begrudgingly turned our steps back towards the truck. It had been a good day and I don't think it would have hurt our feelings to spend the night at this lovely lake. Little did we know that the daily adventure had some big surprises ahead back in camp that almost upended our entire trip...

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

October Newsletter From Trout Zone Anglers

These days I don't write nearly as much as I would like. Some of this because I don't have time, and some of it is because the little time I do have goes to writing this monthly newsletter. If you haven't seen the latest newsletter from Trout Zone Anglers, you can find it at: https://mailchi.mp/15871de4b24c/news-from-trout-zone-anglers-october-2026

I'll be back again soon with more on my Wyoming trip. In the meantime, enjoy the newsletter!

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Wyoming Return: The Beginning

Ever since my last trip to fly fish in Wyoming's Wind River Range, I've been intending to return. The spectacular scenery of the Winds is enough to draw me back, but the fantastic fishing is icing on the cake. Since we discovered some special additional places to fish on that last trip, the plan for the next visit was to return to several of those places and also to push into some new areas of the backcountry.

READ: The Wyoming Saga: A Bonus Fly Fishing the North Platte River

Planning the Next Wyoming Wind River Range Fly Fishing Trip

On my first trip into the Wyoming backcountry, we stuck to a fairly easy route. The distance wasn't too bad, and the fishing was incredible. My long term goals for the Wind Rivers involve some serious off trail hiking, so the goal for this particular trip was to get in some more mileage and become more comfortable with navigating in this incredible mountain range. We settled on approximately doubling our distance for the hike in from our previous trip. This would put us into an area with multiple golden trout lakes and possibly even some stream fish.

Planning the trip was a process, but having been in the area before made things easy. We wanted to return to the North Platte, do the backpacking portion in the Wind River Range, and of course enjoy the Green River above Pinedale yet again. The trip took on a new dimension when my buddy Elam, the fly fishing manager at Blackberry Farm, agreed to join. My friend John was in, of course, having been the one who got me out to the Winds in the first place. For Elam, however, this would be the first trip out west to fish. I knew that he was going to get ruined and join the ranks of us who spend lots of our spare time planning the next adventure.

Lightening My Load

During the run up to our trip, I contemplated several adjustments to lighten the load in my backpack. First and foremost was eliminating my heavy camera setup. While I enjoyed the flexibility that a big camera offers when taking pictures, I really didn't want to lug that whole thing up there. My old cellphone was really struggling, so an upgrade there allowed me the flexibility with my pictures that I wanted while lightning in the overall load.

Planning For Food

Food is always an important part of any trip. As I've gotten older, I've streamlined my diet significantly. The only time I spend serious time cooking in the outdoors nowadays are when I'm taking my family camping. I want my kids to get the total experience of camp cooking and enjoying some of the culinary delights it produces, but otherwise I don't need much. This philosophy led to eating the same meals over and over. Some of them could have been lighter, but I knew I wouldn't be short on calories.

My breakfasts would be an excellent granola. Love Crunch Peanut Butter and Chocolate is insanely good and one of the few things I eat that has sugar in it. I've mostly eliminated sweet treats entirely, but this granola is just too good to skip. I add extra peanuts for the extra protein. My family and I generally use oat or almond milk, so I found an oat milk powder that I could add to the granola ahead of time and prepackaged each serving in sandwich bags. All I needed to do was add water in the morning and enjoy.

Lunch would be my favorite camping/backpacking lunch which is bagels (I like cinnamon raisin) and peanut butter. I use individual serving packets of Justin's peanut butter. I also tossed in a few raspberry and blueberry fig bars.

Finally, supper would be a mix of two things: backpacker dinners for a couple of nights because I had some that were expiring soon and Andrew Skurka's beans and rice. This is a variation on a popular backpacker dinner that would soon become one of my all time favorites AND end up as my primary evening meal for backpacking trips moving forward. More on that over the next few installments of the Wyoming Return.

Planning For Fly Fishing in Wyoming

The fishing was obviously the main driver of our trip. As I already mentioned, I would backpack in the Wind River mountains even without the draw of fishing because of the incredible scenery, but as enthusiastic fly anglers and fly fishing guides, we planned our trip around the good fishing to be had in Wyoming.

Our last trip ended with a surprising 24 hours on the North Platte, and we decided to start this next trip there. Starting in January of this year, Wyoming Game and Fish enacted new regs on the North Platte requiring barbless hooks. This covers water from the Miracle Mile downstream, so I decided to start tying. I ordered lots of barbless hooks from Fulling Mile and Firehole Outdoors. While pinching the barb on regular hooks is certainly fine for compliance purposes, I strongly believe that specialty barbless hooks hold fish much better with their longer and curved hook points. Thus, I set out building a tailwater box from scratch.

I had tricos on my mind after our last trip, so in addition to nymphs, larva, pupa, and various midges, I also tied 3 dozen trico dries including both duns and spinners. I was pumped to be sight fishing tiny dries to large risers, and that excitement gave me energy through multiple late night tying sessions. I'm honestly getting too old to burn the candle on both ends of the day, but thoughts of giant trout dancing in my head kept me going. Up and out of my house between 5 and 5:30 am most days for work guiding, then tying late until 10:00 pm or later in the evenings, I was approaching the point where I needed this fishing trip just to rest up from my busy life.

For backpacking, I mostly just raided some already existing fly supplies and boxes to put together my boxes for the backcountry. These boxes are heavy on parachute Adams, a few chubby Chernobyls, scuds, and various nymphs and midges. A small fly puck of streamers rounded out my assortment. A 9' 5 weight original Orvis Helios was perfect both for the lightweight rod tube it came in and also because it was a powerful rod that would handle wind very well. If you had any doubt whether there is wind in the Winds, I can assure you that there is. I think there is wind in the entire state of Wyoming for that matter. When I can, I really prefer my 10' 3 weight rods, but didn't want to do anything foolish. The 9' 5 weight is ideal for a broad range of techniques and strategies and would handle just about anything I might want to throw. I could fish the 3 weight rods in our car camping portions of the trip.

Driving Out To Wyoming

After months and months of planning, the final days leading up to the trip felt like a blur. Working full time and trying to pack and prepare for a trip is a lot, so I had taken off the last work day before our departure date to do my final packing. This proved to be a wise choice as I spent the whole day preparing. Finally, on the morning of the trip, excitement pushed me up and out of my house by 5:30 am. I picked up my buddies Elam and then John, and we were off.

As with most road trips, the long drive definitely starts to wear on everyone, but the excitement of getting to Wyoming and starting fishing kept us mostly lighthearted on the drive out. Elam was enjoying watching the changing scenery, and I always enjoy watching the changing ecosystems as I cross the Great Plains. Eventually, we started spotting some pronghorn which is always the moment that I feel like I've really arrived out west. It seemed like the windmills had multiplied also, Every time I go out west, I think there are more than the last time I drove out there.

Stopping By The Ugly Bug

My buddy John had specifically wanted to make a stop at the Ugly Bug fly shop in Casper, Wyoming. Most good fly fishing trips start with a stop at the local fly shop, so I was glad to check it out even though I had enough equipment and flies to start our own fly shop. It ended up being a great stop! I found some Semperfli thread I had been looking for and not finding locally and even better found out that they would ship!

Unfortunately, our trip hit a bit of a snag starting at the Ugly Bug. John walked in and mentioned that he wanted flies for the North Platte. When John asked how it was, the guy gave a long pause and then said something about it being pretty warm. That was our warning. He said it was possible that things had cooled a little but to not expect too much. Upon leaving the fly shop, we filled up the gas tank again, and pointed the truck towards the North Platte. The plan was to camp near our fishing spot and hit it hard for a day or two.

When we got there, instead of going straight to the campground to snag a spot and setup camp, we headed to the water to see what the situation was. Unfortunately, the water was definitely too warm. 70 degrees is not conducive to good trout fishing. It was time to shift our plans and we hadn't even gotten started yet.

Staying Flexible

The truck turned west yet again and we decided it was time to hit the Winds. If we couldn't fish the North Platte, we would just jump straight into the main event. Who needs to acclimate? On the drive west, we encountered some epic storms. The radar was looking gnarly, and sure enough, we had some very strong winds, small hail, and insane lightning. As we got close to the mountains, the storm broke for a little while.

The trailhead for our backpacking portion of the trip had a USFS Campground and we snagged a nice campsite. There was plenty of room for all three of us to put up a tent. After some discussion, it was determined to go ahead and reserve it for two nights. We would do a warmup hike the next day without our heavy backpacking packs. That would help get us used to elevation and get our first fish caught, we hoped.

We didn't stay up late. More storms moved in and as lightning started to pepper the ridge just above camp, it seemed prudent to hunker down in our tents and hope for the best. I feel asleep that evening with the soft sound of raindrops on my rainfly. Our adventure had started...

Friday, September 11, 2026

September Newsletter From Trout Zone Anglers

I've been away for a while on an epic fishing trip out west. I'll have a lot more on that coming up soon. Fresh blog posts are few and far between these days, but this one should keep me busy for at least a month or two of writing. In the meantime, feel free to check out the most recent newsletter from my guide service, Trout Zone Anglers. Click the link below to visit the newsletter. Thanks!

September 2026 Trout Zone Anglers Newsletter

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Benefits of Friends

Nowadays, most of my fishing trips are carefully planned, sometimes months in advance. Being self employed has some definite perks, such as being able to be off whenever I want to. Of course, the downside is that I have to plan those days before I book a bunch of people to fish with me. So it was that my good friend Chase and I planned a day of smallmouth fishing here on the Cumberland Plateau weeks (or was it months?) ago. Fast forward several weeks and the big day finally arrived. In the interim, I had twisted the arm of the Trout Zone Anglers resident smallmouth guru, Chris Bean, to join us. The pieces were in place for a great time fishing with some good buddies.

We picked the stream, and when I say we, it was mostly my call. These guys were gracious enough to join me on some of my favorite Plateau water, and I was dying to hit one of my all time favorites. It has produced some of the best fish and better consistent size in all my time fishing these creeks. I was hoping that it would show out nicely for my friends.

When we arrived at the access point, there were a couple of vehicles there already. That wasn't a big surprise as there is almost always someone around swimming or otherwise recreating. What we didn't count on is that they might be fishing also. Sure enough, as we hiked down to my favorite spot, they were right in the spot that I almost always started fishing. We worked further down and eventually found a spot to get in. Before long, they came down and dropped RIGHT below us, cutting off any further progress we could make downstream when they camped on a hole. This water doesn't lend itself well to camping in one spot, but these guys were going to block our progress, so I wasn't sure what we should do.

Interestingly, when I fish this location, I always fish downstream. Not sure why, that is just how I've always done it. I definitely don't fish that way on trout water for the most part. Some of that might be because of the large amount of flat water just upstream from the access point. I don't like wading super long flat deep pools if I can avoid it. There are just enough critters in the stream side brush that I don't want to be forced out of the stream bed once I've accessed the water.

Before we had even hiked down at all, I had mentioned this to my friends and also casually mentioned that we could fish upstream if they wanted to. Once the other anglers forced our hand, we had two options. Fish new to me water upstream, or bail to an entirely different drainage. Either option was feasible, but one had definite preference points for more fishing and less time burning gas. My buddies helped make the call to fish upstream.

I'm getting to the point in my fishing where I'm not as likely to take in super rugged new water on my own. I have too many people relying on me these days to do something foolish, and that is the benefit of friends. Sometimes they give you just enough of a push to get you moving in a new direction. Of course, I felt better doing this trip with others along. If things went sideways there were at least multiple people around to help.

Based on the map with satellite view, there would be some more excellent wading water upstream a ways. While we weren't sure exactly how far that would end up being, we started working that direction. Thankfully, progress was steady and soon we were getting out of the super deep stuff. Even though the water was still somewhat flat, the bottom was not too deep and featured primarily a hard bedrock bottom.

The first place we got in produced the highlight of the day. We had all spread out, fishing our preferred way, with my buddy Chase getting the most action on a hellgrammite or crawdad or some type of weighted fly. I was stubborn and hanging in there with a popper. I had gotten a couple of smaller fish in the spot downstream, and really just wanted to fish a popper if I could. Chris was fishing a little more actively. He enjoys streamer fishing and has been whacking smallmouth all summer with clients that way. It didn't take long before he hooked up with a fish that was bending the 8 weight rod tremendously.

I was the furthest from the scene of action, but Chase got there quickly with a net. Between the two of them, they made the whole process of netting the gorgeous fish a very smooth one. It almost looked like they were professionals which of course they are. Chase was very active in the competition scene for a while and of course Chris is one of the better guides in east Tennessee.

A fine native smallmouth bass on the Cumberland Plateau

That fish was the pinnacle of our day, although we kept plying ahead upstream for a while. We all found a few more fish. Eventually, however, the day was getting hotter and hotter, and I needed to make it back home at a reasonable hour. When progress upstream became difficult due to how rugged the terrain was, it became clear that we had reached the end of our adventures more or less.

On our hike out, Chris was harvesting some of the chanterelles that we had seen everywhere. Chase and I were ambling ahead when I finally spotted it. The whole day I had kept my eyes peeled, because it wouldn't be a smallmouth trip on the Plateau without seeing at least one poisonous snake. This one was close enough to the trail that you better be paying attention. And just like that, I was again reminded why I don't do these crazy adventures solo much anymore. Days like this make me appreciate my friends even more...

Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Losing Flies

As a fly fishing guide, I lose flies all the time. Of course, I try to limit the damage as much as possible, but if nothing else, big fish break us off from time to time. Maybe, more accurately, my clients lose flies all of the time. I don't fish as much as I used to. That's not because I don't like to fish, I'm simply too busy to fish very frequently. In general, losing flies is just part of it. That said, there is one scenario that I try very hard to get my flies back.

In the Smokies and more rarely our tailwaters, the trees catch their fair share of flies. When possible, I always try and get my flies back and will go to great lengths to do so. Unfortunately, birds or bats will often mistake flies hanging from trees for the real thing. The result is tragic.

Not long ago, Chris Bean who is one of my other guides sent me a picture. It was the very thing I've been telling people about for years now.

Just days after he sent me that picture, I was on a guide trip when I found a tree branch full of flies. The crazy thing was how accessible they were. It didn't take me any effort to go get the flies. If you are scared to wade in the stream, then get a wading staff. It isn't that hard to retrieve most flies. If you need more assistance, here is a quick tip to get them back easily.

I always carry a variety of tippet sizes with me. A spool of 0x and a heavy 1/8 ounce jig work wonders. Simply cut off a length of 0x, tie on the heavy jig, and toss it around the branch you lost your flies on. The heavy material won't break like your 5x will when pulling the branch down, and you can get most of your flies back this way. I always joke that you can pull a whole tree down with 0x, and while that is probably a little extreme, the point is that it won't break easily. Only do it with branches that are reasonable to pull down, however, or else you'll have lost two flies instead of one.

Try to get those flies back, at least when they are on trees.

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Famous Bridges

Whether trout actually like bridges or whether they just happen to provide the perfect vantage point to spot fish is debatable, but either way, there are many famous bridges in fly fishing. One of my all time favorites and probably one of the more famous is the well known $3 Bridge on the Madison River in Montana. Another highly recognizable bridge I've been fortunate enough to catch fish below is on the White River in Cotter, Arkansas. Many fly anglers can glance at these scenes and know exactly where they are.

$3 Bridge on the Madison River in Montana

Cotter Arkansas Bridge over the White River

When I started fly fishing, most of my fly fishing information came in the form of books, magazines, and VHS videos. Fly Fisherman magazine was one of my favorite moments each month. When it came in the mail, I would find a comfy chair and settle in for a long reading session. In my later years, I've made it a point to visit some of the more recognizable or famous places I still remember from reading those magazines. Back then, you had to go a little out of your way to learn about these places, at least to the extend that you had to spend some money to buy a magazine or book, then had to take the time to read the thing in its entirety. Now, things are just a little more accessible.

Just for kicks and giggles, I asked Google's Gemini AI what some famous or well known bridges in fly fishing were. Interestingly enough, it came up with some very solid answers and did so in mere seconds. I won't repeat them here, but do the experiment yourself if you have time. Now all of that information is at our fingertips. I was talking to my good friend and fellow guide Rob Fightmaster the other day, and we were commiserating about how the Internet has ruined fly fishing. There was a time when you had to drive to a stream or trailhead, and then fish (or hike and then fish) a stream to know if it was worth the time of day or not. Now, some of our favorite small streams are absolutely covered in anglers. There are lots of people who want to enjoy the fruits of fly fishing, but don't want to put in the effort and miles on their boots. With modern technology (like a certain well known app), all of that is easily accessed.

As a fly fishing guide, I'm not too worried about job security. Getting to a high quality trout stream is easier than ever with all of the information out there, but catching fish still takes some old fashioned know how. Just lately, we've had a ton of last minute calls from people vacationing in the Smokies and fly fishing for several days with minimal to no success. For the lucky few we were able to squeeze into our guide calendar, they quickly learned how to catch fish up here. For the rest, we had to respond with a "sorry but we're booked, holler back next time."

That said, it is a fair question to ask myself: how much information is appropriate to share online? For the last few years of guiding, I've found myself being more and more careful about how I frame pictures with clients, especially if I (or they) will be using the picture on social media. Once, when I had a client catch a giant brown trout, we told the creel clerk about it when he asked about our day. For the next week or so, the area of river we had caught that fish had numerous spin anglers trying and trying to catch that big fish. It doesn't take long for news to get out in the fishing world, and not everyone has my same set of ethics. And that takes us back to the bridges.

If I had a dollar for every picture I've taken of clients with very recognizable bridges in the background, I would be rich. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea. Here in my neck of the woods, some bridges are more well known than others. For example, the highway 61 bridge in Clinton, TN over the Clinch River is super recognizable if you've ever been there. Same thing with the I-75 bridge over the Clinch and the five I-40 bridges over the Caney Fork. In the Smokies, there are several recognizable bridges over various streams including Little River. Some are road bridges and some are trail bridges. Some of the trail bridges in the Smokies are even more recognizable than the road bridges are.

For some reason, I am drawn to scenes with bridges in them. The contrast of the rugged wilderness with the engineered imprint of man is striking, and I often find myself snapping pictures of bridges regardless of whether I have an angler in the picture of not. Sharing them is more of a challenge, as I'm always torn between sharing the incredible scenery and the risk of hot spotting. Not that there are really any secrets anymore, but I don't want to be the guy that adds even a little extra pressure on my favorite streams. That holds true regardless of whether they are in my backyard or are on the other side of the country.

So, for the time being, I'll mostly avoid sharing recognizable views of the waters I fish. To know the spots I'm fishing, you would generally need to already be very familiar with the water to figure it out from my pictures. That's the way it should be. We need to get back to anglers putting in the time and earning their knowledge. If you've already earned it, my sharing a picture isn't going to change you fishing there or not.

Recently, the Bassmaster Classic was held in Knoxville, TN. Video clips made their way around social media throughout the event and shortly after, featuring anglers vying for the big money. One of the things I noticed about the winner was that he was staring at a screen. I've done just enough research to know that live scope is a major hot topic in the tournament bass world (and fishing world more broadly). That said, for me personally, if I want to play video games, I'll stay home. I get out to enjoy nature and am always interested in ways to make the game harder, not easier. Sure, if I was pursuing the big purse in a major tournament, I might look at things differently, but there is a reason I'm not a tournament bass fisherman.

Instead, I'll keep pouring over maps for hours in far flung destinations, searching for what may just be the best fishing hole I've ever fished. I won't know unless I go try it out for myself, regardless of how much research I do ahead of time. After all, for me, the searching is as much the draw as what I find there. While I'm off looking at maps, here are a few local bridges that just might be recognizable to an angler. How many of them do you recognize?

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Short Rods

Enough has been written and argued about the best fly rods for the Smokies that I won't rehash everything here. My opinions on the subject are well documented, so check out that link for an old blog post if you're interested. For this post, I'm going to head in a different direction. While not exactly advocating for short rods, I am going to talk about how much fun they can be.

I've had a 6' 3 weight Redington Butterstick for a while now. It has produced some very memorable fishing experiences over the last few years. With time, it is becoming a rod I reach for more often than not. While not the effective tool for high sticking that a long rod is, it is a rod that pushes my skillset in positive ways and helps me to become a better fly angler. Having a ton of fun along the way is just a bonus, but it never hurts to fish a rod that doubles up on a nice mountain trout. The only downside to this slower rod is that some hook sets are missed due to not getting tight on the fish fast enough. A quicker rod fixes that problem, but isn't as much fun after you've hooked the fish and quite frankly isn't as fun to cast either. That probably is one of the main drivers of my long time affection for old Orvis Superfine rods (not the new ones with the ugly "label" above the handle).

Recently, we took a short family camping trip to the Smokies. These trips are all about getting the kids outside and enjoying camping, with any fishing fairly limited. I still try to sneak in 30 minutes or an hour here and there if I'm able to. We spent most of our time enjoying Cades Cove, looking at bears, roasting marshmallows for S'mores and all the other things that make camping fun. I did manage a quick session just after lunch one day and just before lunch another day.

Wild blackberry blossoms on a Smoky Mountain stream

One of the best parts of these excursions was taking my little ones and showing them some wild trout. They are still young enough that they won't stick to fishing for very long. Instead, splashing in the creek and getting completely soaked and dirty was more fun, but that's okay. They'll get around to fishing more seriously eventually if they decide it is something they want to do in life. The Butterstick turned out to be the perfect rod for my Little One to enjoy as well. Being small and relatively light was helpful. The price point was also good enough that I didn't mind if it got scratched or otherwise beat up a little. The slower action made it easy for a kid to feel the casting rhythm as well.

I kept things simple with a single dry fly for most of my (and the kids) fishing. The short rod is phenomenal for casting under and around structure and obstacles on smaller water. The trick is casting across many conflicting currents and getting the correct drift via timely mends and other line management tricks and tactics. Fish were willing, and one of the obvious advantages of the shorter rod was simple: it made me stay back further from my target and attempt things I wouldn't try if I was simply high sticking. Fish weren't getting spooked from me approaching too closely. Eats were frequent, but the downside was also obvious. The fiberglass rod flexed so far down the blank that I missed quite a few fish in addition to the ones I landed.

Wild Smoky Mountain rainbow and Redington Butterstick

After seeing so many bears in Cades Cove, I was a little on edge. As I was fishing up a section with more rhododendron than most, I was stopped in my tracks by heavy rustling in the bushes. I finally spotted a deer in heavy shadows that soon spooked and disappeared, but my heart didn't stop racing until I got back to casting. The relaxing pace of the fiberglass rod was the perfect way to destress from almost being eaten by a bear, or deer in this case.

In addition to plenty of willing wild rainbow trout, I found another native gem as well. While I'm not out there trying to catch them, the warpaint shiners always make their presence known in the summer. If they grew as large as trout, I'm convinced they would be a prime game fish due to their willingness to rise to a dry fly. As it is, they are just an annoyance when the water warms up too much.

Warpaint shiner aka Smoky Mountain cutthroat

If you haven't fished short rods much, do yourself a favor and find one to try out. They aren't always the most effective fishing tool, but they might just be the most fun.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

May 2026 Newsletter from Trout Zone Anglers

Check out the latest newsletter from Trout Zone Anglers at: https://mailchi.mp/e51ac9952e98/news-from-trout-zone-anglers-may-2026

Our open dates are filling quickly, so just reach out for updated availability if you are interested in a guided trip. We specialize in fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on area tailwaters such as the Caney Fork, Clinch, Holston, and Obey, and on area carp, musky, and smallmouth bass waters. As a long time educator, I enjoy teaching the sport. From working with beginners to experts, I feel confident that I can help improve your fly fishing game.

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Fishing Ultralight

Chasing big trout often involves throwing meat. Big flies, sinking lines, you know the drill. Here in Tennessee, our winter shad kill season provides some of the most exciting fly fishing of the entire year. Big trout gorging on large chunks of protein drifting down the river are even more fun than you can imagine as long as you overlook the often freezing temperatures that produce the best shad kills.

As a fly fishing guide, I look forward to the winter shad kill season for both personal fishing and for guiding. While we catch big fish year round, the winter shad kill season provides some of the ~~best~~ easiest opportunities of the year to catch a great big trout. For those of my clients already in the know, booking their winter fishing is an important part of their yearly fishing. On one of the best trips this past winter, for example, one angler landed 7 brown trout ranging from 18 to 21.5". That is the type of day most of us dream about, but the shad kill makes it attainable for most anglers. Having a good Caney Fork guide helps a lot also of course, but I may be biased.

Anyway, one of my friends/clients had booked a series of guided trips starting in early spring and going through prime fishing season. The idea was to sample a little of everything as many of our clients do. When the day of the first trip approached, I had just experienced the previously mentioned day of catching LOTS of quality browns, so it was an easy decision. We would go to the Caney Fork.

One of the big advantages of being on the water every day is that you see things. If you are paying attention, you'll catch a LOT more fish than if you aren't on the water very often. Thus, the next day, I had a plan of spots I wanted to hit extra hard. As we drifted down the river, I slid the boat into position near a downed tree. For the last couple of weeks prior to this trip, I had seen a huge fish busting shad from time to time. I was hoping John would get a chance. Sure enough, as he drifted through the spot after a perfect cast, the indicator shot down and he came tight to something BIG.

Of course, the first thing the fish did was to run hard upstream towards the tree. I quickly got John to put side pressure downstream on the fish to get it turned, and by some miracle it came out of the wood. Unfortunately, we weren't out danger yet. The fish then dove straight down and nothing John did could slow it down. Suddenly, the line stopped, heavy but unmoving. My concerns were being realized. The fish had taken the bottom fly and the top fly was impaled on a piece of wood somewhere below in the swirling currents. Rowing circles around submerged wood that is between 8-10 feet below on two generators of flow was fun, but I kept at it hoping that the fish would come out and we would still be tight. Alas, it was not meant to be. After trying several angles to get the flies unstuck, I finally instructed John to break it off on purpose. We were both seriously bummed.

The rest of that week I was worried sick. I just knew that a giant brown trout was somehow tethered to the bottom, drowning and unable to throw the fly. As the week came to a close, I had one trip that let me drift past that spot on one generator. Unfortunately, that was still far too much water, and I never saw the wood much less our flies.

The following week, I had two unusual occurrences. First, I was running a very rare Sunday trip. For lots of reasons, my guide service doesn't do weekend trips, but about once or twice a year I make an exception and take someone fishing on a Sunday. Phill had been booked with us last September before health issue crept up that forced him to postpone a long anticipated adventure that included the White River in Arkansas and the Caney Fork River in Tennessee. The second unusual occurrence was that I was guiding a spin angler. As a fly fishing guide first and foremost, it is relatively uncommon for me to run spinning trips. Last year, I ended up running several spin trips, probably more in one year than I had ever run in my entire guide career up until that point. I enjoy spin fishing as it is something different, and I'm very pick with how it is done. It is a nice change of pace although you might not guess I think that when I try to convince you to fly fish instead of using a spinning rod.

Upon booking Phill for a guided trip, as a first time client, we had a long conversation about my requirements to spin fish. Absolutely no live bait and single hook artificial lures only are mandatory if you are fishing with me. Being able to fish effectively with those requirements takes more knowledge, experience, and skill than most think. In fact, I would argue that it takes at least as much skill to effectively fish ultralight gear than it does to fly fish in most generic settings such as drowning nymphs under a strike indicator.

As it turns out, Phill was a very accomplished angler when it came to fishing ultralight gear. He had even fished with a fly rod for a good while at one point in life, but just decided he liked ultralight tackle best. Thus it was that we decided to fish some White River jigs on high flows on Sunday. Our trip went well with several quality fish coming to hand. They topped out a touch over 19 inches which incidentally was about the same size as the largest trout he had caught on the White River in Arkansas. There is a reason the Caney Fork has a reputation for big brown trout.

Large Caney Fork River brown trout spin fishing

Unfortunately, when I checked the generation schedule, the next morning featured low water. Knowing how much Phill had been enjoying fishing jigs, I was hesitant to even mention what we would be facing. However, upon telling him what it would mean, he actually got excited. "My arm is getting tired fishing these jigs. Let's just fish Trout Magnets," he said. That worked out great for me. I fish Trout Magnets with most of my spin clients and they always catch fish

The next morning, we got just enough water to make a good long drift about two miles down the river fishing jigs, but then it was time to motor back up and change gears. After we got back up and started fishing the falling water, it took a few minutes to get things going. We kept working on the depth and eventually the bites started coming. Then fish started hitting the net one after another. Rainbows, browns, more rainbows, more browns. The Trout Magnet never disappoints.

Phill fishes Trout Magnets back home and wanted to use a specific color that worked well for brown trout in his experience. We were drifting well down the river at this point when I discovered that we were approaching the downed tree and wood pile where John had lost the big brown the week prior. I quickly explained the situation to Phill who graciously said he didn't mind if I took a little of his time to check the brush pile. Sure enough, upon rowing over there, I could see one of my flies stuck tightly to the wood. I tried poking it free with the oar, but it was simply too deep to do much. This was a project that would have to wait for another day. Just as I was about to move the boat back out, I heard Phill say, "I got one!"

Hooked up to a trophy brown trout on ultralight spinning gear

Looking up, I saw his ultralight spinning rod doubled up. Obviously a big fish, I quickly started instructing him to apply side pressure in a speech that gave me a strange sense of deja vu because of the spot we were fishing. Moving the boat quickly out into the main river, we got lucky when the large trout turned towards the middle of the river and away from the obstructions. Meanwhile, Phill was telling me about the 2 lb test line he was fishing and at some point mentioned that his hook was also barbless. At that, I about freaked out but somehow managed to keep that concern under wraps enough to not affect his focus.

Suddenly, as the big fish turned near the surface and we got our first good look, a saw a flash on its side. Surely not, I thought. As the huge brown got closer and closer, my amazement grew. When the brown trout hit the net, I started whooping and hollering. This was the big brown that John had lost the last week. The fly we had hooked it on was stuck firmly in the trophy brown trout's flank. That explained why we couldn't turn it. Somehow, the fish had hit our fly but the hook didn't stick it in the mouth. Deep nymphing will result in some funny things. The fish had somehow broke off from the other fly (which I had just found wedged in the wood) and had been going about its business as usual for the last week with my fly along for the ride.

Trophy Tennessee brown trout on the Caney Fork River

Pulling the fly out, I quickly put it on a drying patch. That fly might have to be framed. The story on the fly and the fish was just too good. Once pictures were taken, we sat there in disbelief. Me because this fish I had encountered twice in a one week period was okay and swam away strong. I could now rest easy. Phill because the big brown trout he had just gone to the White River to catch actually came out of the Caney Fork River in Tennessee instead.

I knew that John was fishing with guide Pat Tully that day, so we called and told them the story so both could enjoy it. This was by far one of the better fish stories I've been a part of. The fun thing about guiding is that you get to make stories and memories for and with people every day, but this one sure took the cake. On that day, I discovered that there is a whole new level of fishing ultralight than I was used to. Phill was truly great with that gear, and I learned a lot just watching him do his thing. Now, Phill is in the lead for my annual "Guide Trip Fish of the Year" contest. You can learn more about that contest if you are a subscriber to the Trout Zone Anglers email newsletter.

If you want to catch big brown trout on the Caney Fork, feel free to reach out to me for either fly fishing trips or spin fishing trips. I enjoy doing both. I'll always try to tal`k you into fly gear, but if you ask enough times, I'll eventually relent and let you spin fish as well if you follow my guidelines. Trips are always catch and release, no exception.