Beginning a Drought?

Temperatures are up and stream flows are down around middle and eastern Tennessee. Across the Smokies, we are experiencing flows normally reserved for August and September. Same thing goes for the Cumberland Plateau smallmouth bass streams which, by the way, are fishing well even with the low water.

Are we on the verge of a drought? Only time will tell. The one bright spot under these conditions are the great tailwater fisheries across the state. The Caney Fork has been fishing well most of the time. During the slower periods, a few quick fly changes have kept us catching fish. Sometimes different fish are eating from different menus.

Last Thursday I fished the Caney to explore a couple of spots. Lots of fish were obviously in the river, but they were tougher to catch than the previous week. After a few fly changes, the hot fly was located, and then my rod was bent for a couple of hours. During the excitement, I did pause long enough to take a couple of stomach samples. You have to be extremely careful if you are going to do this and avoid sampling any fish less than 12 inches. However, the results were intriguing.

Just to confirm, I tied on one of the usual patterns we fish out of the boat and then dropped a much more exact imitation of the obvious menu item that showed up in both samples. The pattern that killed them the previous week was getting one hit for every 10 fish I caught on the hatch matching fly. Big surprise there I'm sure, but the point is that if you aren't catching fish, keep on changing patterns or put your face down to the surface and look for bugs.

Later in the day, further down the river, I found out again that the fish didn't want the "usual" pattern so I started changing. Surprisingly they didn't want the second one either. Seeing some Sulfurs hatching got me excited and I tried dry and nymph versions of those. Nada. Finally, after seeing a few caddis flutter by, I tied on a favorite caddis pupa pattern and was immediately back into fish including this beautiful brown trout. Notice the fleece jacket sleeve on my arm. The high temperature here at home never got out of the low 50s last Thursday! I briefly thought I had died and gone to Heaven the Rocky Mountain high country.

With the low clear water, long casts and leaders were mandatory if I wanted to actually catch fish. If you are planning on floating with me, I would suggest considering brushing up on your casting before you come out for the day. It will help you enjoy your trip a lot more if you haven't been consistently casting 40-50 feet. When I fish in the mountains, I rarely cast more than 20 feet so I can often go long stretches without a longer cast. Heading out to my favorite casting pond gets me back in the zone for a great day of fishing no matter where I plan to fish.

Over in the Smokies, we are seeing more and more of an emphasis on small and medium sized streams. Just a little bit of rain will change that, however. This week we have a good chance of rain just about every day so hopefully the streams will rise a bit and fishing will return to normal. If not, keep chasing those Smoky Mountain jewels on the steeper mid and high elevation streams.

Despite the low water, conditions remain good for both fish and fishermen as long as you come prepared with low water stealth mode enabled. Last Wednesday, Logan and Rick were up to enjoy some time in the mountains and wanted to enjoy a new to them stream in Cades Cove. After telling them that the conditions were a bit less than optimal, they still wanted to try Abrams Creek so we decided on a late day trip (1/2 day trip) and hope for an evening hatch.

The fishing ended up being very good despite very low water conditions. Logan worked hard to learn some high stick nymphing techniques without a strike indicator and was soon catching hungry rainbow trout. Rick caught on quickly to our Smoky Mountain fishing techniques despite being more of a tailwater guy. By the end of the evening, both guys had caught numerous rainbows up to 9 or 10 inches on both dry flies and nymphs. We witnessed a good variety of bugs but the hatch was never as concentrated as I was hoping for. That didn't prevent the fish from feeding though! Here is Logan with a nice rainbow trout.

The Mountain Laurel is in bloom in the Smokies right now. That made for some incredible photo opportunities along the stream.

The highlight of the evening was when a deer waded out across the slick ledges and posed midstream for us.

With the rain in the forecast, I expect good things for the fishing in the mountains. Hopefully we won't receive too much that we get the tailwaters messed up. The Caney is in great shape for drifting right now so don't delay if you want to get a trip in. I'm avoiding the river on the weekends and hitting it when the crowds moderate slightly during the week. The next two weeks are booked solid but I do have some opening starting after that.

If I can help you with a guided fly fishing trip in the Smokies or on the Caney Fork River, please contact me via email at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com or call/text (931) 261-1884.

Crossing the Ridge

Fishing trips are often planned, and of course those are generally the most successful. Poring over maps, imagining every possible eventuality and planning for it, tying lots of flies to match whatever you expect to hatch, all of these add up to create the perfect trip. Then there are those other trips, the spur of the moment "decide as you go" type trips. Flexibility may not always generate the best fishing, but sometimes it can. Of course, since you cannot pursue both options simultaneously and independently, it is impossible to know which course of action would have give you a better trip, but if you ask me, spontaneity is good for the soul at least occasionally.

Last week, a planned two-day fishing trip to sample the spring fishing for myself was cut short. That was all fine and good since the reason was morning guide trip the first day. Seeing an opportunity to pay a few bills and pay for the trip as well, I reasoned that giving up a morning of my own fishing trip was not a bad price. As a guide, I have to take trips when I can get them.

The original plan was to camp at Elkmont, and with the guide trip in the morning that seemed like an even better idea. I didn't account for the spring break crowd though. Driving through the campground in mid afternoon, I discovered that all sites were full except for one or two handicap accessible sites. Technically those are first come first served for anyone once the rest of the campground fills up, but I don't like crowds and decided to go with the flow.

My backup plan became Smokemont on the other side of the Park. Crossing the ridge into North Carolina, I enjoyed the excellent views from the top before rolling down the hill to the campground. The campground was probably only half full which, while still not perfect, is a lot better than what I saw on the Tennessee side.

The tent was put up in short order, and I got organized with my gear. Guide rods were disassembled and or the rigging modified to suit my fishing needs for the next 24 hours. When the pack of 1x leaders turned up missing because they were sitting safely back home, I simply cut back a leader and then extended it with 1x tippet to make a suitable streamer leader. The nine foot four weight rod was outfitted with a dry/dropper consisting of a #12 Parachute Adams and a bead head caddis pupa of my own design in size 14.

Carrying both rods, I strolled down through the campground with the plan of fishing back up to camp. The light was only going to last so long and I wasn't wasting any of it by hiking or driving to fish.

In an hour or so of fishing, I had two good tugs on the Olive Sculpin that was on the streamer rod and caught a couple of little fish on the four weight. The water was a tad lower than ideal for streamer fishing so I focused more on the lighter rod after the first good pool. Back near camp, a kind gentleman offered a bit of advice and told me that a dropper would probably help my fishing. I smiled and thanked him for his generosity and advice.

A sudden craving reminded me why camping at Smokemont is so nice: Cherokee, North Carolina has a Taco Bell a short distance away! Normally, once I immerse myself in the calm of nature, I won't return to "civilization" until absolutely necessary, but on this occasion, it seemed like the thing to do. Flexibility tasted delicious.

Awakening early the next day, I was on the water well before the sun came up over the ridge. One good fish that I've been chasing for a while gave a half hearted tap on the streamer and was gone. A switch to white in the form of a PB&J produced better results. Shortly after switching, I nailed one of the fish I missed the previous evening. Further down I was chased by a goose and missed another trout. Talk about high adventure! Since the goose didn't quite catch up with me, I soon realized that I was still alive and vowed to keep a close on the large birds in the future.

Getting hungry, I found my way back to camp and discovered that the camp stove that I had "packed" wasn't actually there. Never assume that your camp stove is in a bag just because you glance in and see canisters of fuel. Another quick trip into town for breakfast soon had me fueled up, and shortly thereafter I found myself at the chosen North Carolina trailhead ready to hike in for the day's fishing in the Smokies.

Determined to fish new-to-me water, I set a good pace until the wildflowers distracted me. Stopping for a while with my camera, I enjoyed the show. Flexibility was gorgeous I must say.

About the time I was finishing with the pictures, a couple of guys came down the trail. Having talked to them in camp the evening before, I knew they had fished up above that morning. They reported slow fishing with the high water levels of spring making the catching tough. Wondering if I had made the right decision, sticking with the plan seemed like the thing to do although I had misgivings. Not too far upstream, a perfect pocket called for my dry fly so I decided to try and pick off a fish.

After a few drifts, I hooked what turned out to be a very solid rainbow and the theme of the day would begin to establish itself: decent numbers of fish with the nicer fish generally (though not always) taking the dry fly and coming from the obvious prime lies. After a quick picture, the rainbow swam away to be caught on my next trip hopefully.

Moving up the stream was a challenge. The water was a bit higher than I often like to wade. Wet wading kept me from doing anything stupid since the water was cold enough that I wouldn't get in too deep. Still, if I could find a good pocket or slick, I was generally rewarded with a fat trout.

An interesting pattern began to develop when I hooked my 10th trout of the day, a nice brown, on a dry fly. Significant numerical milestones for fish caught were also turning out to be nicer than average trout. Fish number 20, 25, and 30 continued that pattern before finally being broken at trout number 35.

While I was catching a lot of fish, the actual catch rate was not what I would call excellent. Good perhaps but not excellent. Having experienced days in the Smokies where 20-25 fish an hour are legitimately possible, averaging 7-10 fish an hour is probably a bit more realistic for normal conditions on a backcountry stream. Putting in a long day on the water was the recipe for a lot of fish on this trip. The fish I was catching were beautiful. Here are a couple of the prettier fish I caught during the day. Look at the blue dot on the cheek of that brown and the bright colors on the rainbow.

In between catching fish, I also paused and took time to enjoy the scenery. Admittedly, I generally remembered to relax after catching a nice trout, but at least I was relaxing!

By the time I was getting close to 40 trout, the clouds were looking darker and an occasional rumble of thunder sent me back down the trail. After a quick dose of rain, I stopped and caught a few more trout to bring me up to 40 fish exactly for the day. Rarely do I ever keep track of numbers, but occasionally I like to see how many I'm actually catching. On this trip where flexibility ruled, I was somehow able to keep track of the numbers. Normally I forget after fish number five or six and just give up. Possibly that is a sign of getting older. My brain is apparently not high powered enough anymore to keep track of the details of a well-planned trip and the number of fish I'm catching. 

Back at the car, a quick check of the time told me there was still hours of daylight left to fish. The morning and early afternoon had featured rainbow and brown trout so a quick stop for brook trout seemed like the logical next step in my fishing adventure. Crossing back over the ridge, I settled for some roadside water that gets a fair amount of pressure and lucked into a stretch that had obviously not been fished that day or for a while. Both rainbows and brook trout rose willingly to the dry fly although the dropper was getting more action at this higher altitude.

Frustration flared briefly when I snagged a couple of hungry tree branches, but thankfully I was able to retrieve my flies. Finally, realizing that I had been fishing for 12+ hours, it dawned on my why I was getting tired. Whenever I start to lose my edge on the stream, I know that I'm getting tired. In this instance, I didn't have to fall on my butt to realize I was getting tired so I guess tangling some flies in the tree is not so bad after all. Quitting is always the smart thing at this point, either temporarily to refuel and rehydrate or for the day. With another 30 trout caught on this stream, I was ready to call it a day. The walk back to my car was a splendid last dose of fresh mountain air before the drive home. 

Relaxed from my trip, I realized I was not in the same rush as the day before. Instead of passing the slow cars, I found myself pulling off to let the faster people pass me on the curvy roads. Eventually, as the sky was getting dark, I was driving out of the foothills. When I got home, I was soon in bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

My next trip to the mountains will probably be planned with the meticulous detail that accompanies the majority of my excursions. Then again, I had so much fun on my spontaneous trip that I just might have to do it again.

If you are interested in a guided fly fishing trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee or North Carolina, please call or text me (David Knapp) at (931) 261-1884 or email me at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com. I can also be reached through the Contact Me page at Trout Zone Anglers. I offer both front country and backcountry fishing trips. Backcountry trips are generally only full day trips but offer anglers the chance to fish less pressured water like I did on this trip. The results are often more and sometimes even larger trout.

Dry Flies and Brook Trout

Have you ever developed a sudden craving? Hopefully it is for some delicious food and not that bad habit you kicked years ago. The other day I developed a craving for some brook trout in the Great Smoky Mountains. The fish were all glad that it just involved catching them and not eating them.

Late Tuesday afternoon, I drove over to my local farm pond to see what was going on. When I got there, the weather was so perfect that I started thinking about fishing again on Wednesday. Suddenly, I knew I had to go brook trout fishing in the Smokies. Just like that.

Somehow, spending April Fools out fishing just makes a lot of sense. Away from civilization, the only tricks that can be played are either on yourself or on the fish, hopefully the latter. While I love guiding, I don't always get to fish as much for my own enjoyment and with a couple of open days on an otherwise busy calendar, I knew it was best to get out while I could. After a stop by Little River Outfitters to pick up a couple of awesome fly cups with built in dividers (I use these cheap plastic fly cups ALL the time), I headed on up to the trailhead.

Now, I know you are thinking that you have figured out where I was going if you know much about the Smokies. Turns out you probably don't know after all, because it wasn't where you are thinking and where everyone else is going. That was intentional. I didn't want to fight crowds all day.

When I hit the trail, I was confident that I would be the only person on the water, and I was right. On the hike in, the trail is fairly clear for a while but slowly dissolves. This stream involves getting a little off the more travelled trails which is at least one reason not many people know about it or fish there. Here the path is still fairly obvious while it runs along a carpet of wildflowers.

Even though I was focused on fishing, I did stop long enough to enjoy the tiny flowers and dug out the camera to take a couple of pictures. Here is one of the better ones.

Not long after, the sound of roaring water got louder and the creek came into view. Even though I know that the fishing is better farther up, I wanted to see what the lower section was like and started fishing right away.

This trip was the first time using my new toy. People who book a trip with me will enjoy using this rod I think. I've seen reviews on this rod both praising it as well as people who do not like it. I will say this about the rod: it was extremely accurate with dry flies at the close ranges (8-25 feet) I fish on the brook trout streams and was fairly sensitive while having enough backbone to be a fantastic nymph rod when necessary as well.

The action on the lower creek was slow as is normal. The average sized fish was also really small which led me to believe that the creek may have been fished in the last day or two. Or it could just be not as good. Clearly, further investigation is necessary. Larger fish were there, however, but appeared to need a few extra meals. This relatively long fish compared with the little guys I started out catching was as skinny as any brook trout I have ever caught.

As the water slowly warmed, so did the action. By the time I was moving higher up the creek, I had cut off the dropper and ditched the short experiment of a double nymph rig (which to be fair did catch a fair number of fish). A simple Parachute Adams or Elk Hair Caddis was all the fish seemed to want and so that's what I fished.

Moving up the creek, I paused to eat lunch before catching more brook trout. I decided that one sandwich was not enough and made a mental note to bring two next time.

The stream was so beautiful that I stopped to take pictures of the water from time to time as well as the usual pictures of the trout I was catching.

Eventually, with the nice bright sunlight to allow fast exposures, the wheels started turning in my brain, and I decided to plan around with some in the water shots. While I have no problem with a quick fish picture as long as one is careful to wet their hands and being fast to get the fish back in the water, shots of fish in the water are nice because they look more natural. Here are two of my favorite results.

By this time, I was getting hungry. Wishing for a second sandwich didn't seem to fix the problem so I started the hike out before things got desperate. On the way, I stopped to take a shot of the "trail."

The stream also begged for another shot or two as well.

Walking through one section where I had been in the stream on the way up, I noticed the flowers were even better than on the hike in further down the mountain. Out came the camera and if anyone had come along they would have been calling for a rescue probably as I was all sprawled out on the ground trying to get just the right angle.

Farther down the mountain, I again stopped to catch a second species for the day. The stream I had been fishing was strictly a brook trout stream and hopefully it stays that way. Down below, the stream is a good rainbow trout fishery. Watching this fish come up all the way from the bottom to eat the Elk Hair Caddis was a good ending to a fun day on the water.

One more stop with the camera not far from the trailhead made for two more enjoyable pictures and then I was back to the car and heading home for something to eat.

This day was a great reminder that this is not all about the fishing. The little things along the way from flowers to trailside reflections help make each day out something special to be remembered for years to come. The brook trout were just a bonus. I did get to spend the day out in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after all...

Lynn Camp Prong in Smokies Opens to Fishing

One of my favorite mid elevation streams in the Smokies, Lynn Camp Prong has been closed for several years due to brook trout restoration, and I have eagerly awaited the chance to fish the stream.

Now I can fish there again. Today I received a press release from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park announcing the opening of Lynn Camp Prong to fishing. Over 27 miles of streams have now been restored to native brook trout water and Lynn Camp Prong is probably the most ambitious undertaking to date.

Matt Kulp and the rest of the Great Smoky Mountains fisheries crew has done a lot of work to bring us to this point. This is the first time in many years that all water in the Park has been open to fishing.

The best part about this opening is that it will take the pressure off of some other area brook trout waters. That is to be expected anytime you add an additional 8.5 miles of water to any given area. The downside is that I am not the only one excited about fishing Lynn Camp Prong. Lots of area fishermen have been waiting for this moment.

That said, the best thing about this opening is that there was no announcement ahead of time and no fanfare, just a simple press release the day of. For other stream openings, people have been waiting at dawn on the announced date for a chance to head in and fish the stream for the first time in a while.

I'll eventually get over to Lynn Camp Prong to fish for brookies, but hopefully the crowds will not be too bad. I'm guessing that it will get a fair amount of pressure from area guides since it is the most accessible brook trout water close to Townsend. That is just fine with me as other streams will now be less pressured.

If you are interested in fishing Lynn Camp Prong, you should know that it is almost the perfect size stream for learning Smoky Mountain fly fishing techniques. The water is never too big and thus you never have to cast too far. There are tons of great pockets which makes it ideal for teaching high stick dry fly and nymph presentations. In other words, it is a great all around trout stream.

If you are interested in a guided trip to explore Lynn Camp Prong, you may also contact me at the email address above or using the contact form at www.troutzoneanglers.com.

Hiwassee River Round Two

After such a fantastic day on the Hiwassee River last week, I had to go back for more. A couple of friends planned to meet me for an afternoon of fishing.

We planned on meeting just about the time they cut off the generators, but instead of starting at the powerhouse as I did two days prior (if you haven't read it, you will want to do so then come back), we started a bit further down the river. Since the water was still high, we had to be extremely careful wading as the water slowly dropped out. The Hiwassee is one of the slickest rivers I know, and more than once I came close to taking a spill when my wading boots slipped on the slick ledges of the big river.

Both of my friends quickly got into a trout or two on nymphs and streamers. There were a couple of flashes in the vicinity of the streamer I started out with but otherwise it was slow compared to the last trip.

Once the water dropped out enough, I switched over to the same dry/dropper rig that had produced so well for me earlier in the week. That proved to be the ticket once again, especially once the water levels dropped out close to the minimum flow level. Fish again showed a distinct preference for my subsurface offerings instead of the dry fly.

Not too long after we had slowly slipped and stumbled our way across the river, my buddy Chase hooked a hot fish. After a strong fight, he finally managed to land it. We were both surprised that the fish wasn't any larger. Based on the fight, this fish should have gone more like 16-17 inches, but that is the effect a tailwater has on fish. I never cease to be amazed at how strong fish from area tailwaters are.

Meanwhile, Jayson was off fishing some ledges above us. He continued to catch a fish here and there. I happened to be nearby for at least one of them and snapped a picture of one of his fish as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to catch my first ever brookies on the Hiwassee River on this trip. While they may not be the best use of TWRA's money (seriously, they just become bait for big browns and stripers), they do provide a bit of a break from the routine of stocker rainbows and fingerling browns. The average size of stocked trout on the Tennessee tailwaters seems to have decreased over the years. I'm guessing that it has something to do with the budget and cost associated with raising larger fish. Interestingly, in some states at least, they have discovered that they can stock fewer but larger trout and actually provide better catch rates.

Catching a Hiwassee River slam was a nice first for me. The brookies are sadly pale compared to their wild counterparts that I love catching so much in the Smokies but they are still brookies.

The day had one last high point for me. With the sun sinking quickly, I found myself in the same area that I caught the nice brown on the previous trip. Throwing my fly in the same run the brown came from, I hooked a strong fish. When I got it closer, I saw that it was one of the prettiest rainbows I have seen in a long time. It reminded me a lot of the beautiful rainbows I caught in Colorado.

Shortly after catching the rainbow, the generators came back on for the night. With rising water approaching, we made our exit from the riverbed and headed home completely satisfied with another great day on the water!

You may enjoy reading some of these other recent articles:

• Stripping Streamers
• Greedy Smallmouth
• Birthday Brown Trout

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