Native Brook Trout

Several days of adventure are behind me after my cousin came up to visit and do some fishing.  We waded Cumberland Plateau streams for smallmouth (forgot our cameras), floated the Caney (remembered cameras and nailed a nice brown on a hopper), and then camped for a couple of nights in the Smokies.  While in the Park, we caught a ridiculous number of trout but no monsters.  The highlight of the camping trip was fishing a steep stream full of rainbows and brook trout.  Here's a sample...

Not Every Day

"Can you handle a really rough stream? Like climbing over boulders and scrambling over logs?"  When the potential client answered in the affirmative, I decided to take a chance.  As a guide, safety always comes first.  Oh, sure, when I'm out fishing on my own I've been known to occasionally cut corners in the safety department.  I've taken some really hard falls also.  Getting into those tough to access streams is sometimes worth it although not always.

For this particular guide trip I decided to try a stream that is tough to access but not terribly difficult to navigate once you are in the stream bed.  Just hope it doesn't storm upstream.  Getting out includes a bushwhack and mountain climbing if you try in the wrong spot, maybe even if you try in the right spot.

The other detail for this particular trip is that my client would be a first time fly fisherman.  As with all guide trips, I never know for sure what to expect but with beginners that big question mark looms a little larger.  Some people take to the sport like a fish takes to water and others are more like Frog's Fanny meeting up with water.  Of course, the majority end up being somewhere between these two extremes.  Only the rarest of individuals can pick up a fly rod and start casting the rod with one hand, tending the line with the other, throwing mends in the line when necessary, setting the hook as quickly as required, and in general doing all of the little things that add up to fish caught.

When we arrived stream side, accessing the water was our first challenge.  After a long walk we got to the spot where we would jump in and start fishing upstream.  I gave a quick explanation of the mechanics of fly casting, and gave Stephen the fly rod.  Within about ten casts, with only a couple of suggestions, he was casting.  I showed him about holding the line with his other hand and he immediately started casting like he had done it his whole life.

Moving up the stream he started catching fish here and there, sometimes several per pool.  The first fish of the day was a gorgeous brook trout.

Later, another pool was good for a Smoky Mountain double.  Seriously, I've fished the Park a lot and had this happen only a couple of times.  This guy was on fire.

Eventually the day was over, but not before Stephen impressed me with how quickly he took to the sport.  There are very few beginners out there who can legitimately say they caught 25 or 30 trout on their first day of fly fishing.

The scenery was great as well.  The Rhododendron is past its peak at low elevations but good in the mid to high elevations right now.

It was a pleasure having Stephen out on the water for a day of fly fishing.  I wish him the best as he continues in this new hobby.

If you are interested in a guided fly fishing trip in the Smokies, please contact me at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com or call/text (931) 261-1884 or see TroutZoneAnglers.com for more information.  

What A Fish!

One of the toughest parts of guiding is probably similar to raising a kid, but I can only speak from experience on one of those.  I'm talking about watching someone else doing something and you just wish you could step in and help them do everything correctly.  If you're a parent, maybe you can let me know if that's about how it goes or not.  As I guide, I definitely know the feeling.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of guiding Shane for a day in the Smokies.  Having lived in Tennessee for a few years, but never making it over to fish the Smokies, it was high time he learned a little about the Park streams and how to catch the beautiful wild trout there.  With a cool start to the morning, I decided that fishing on Little River would be a good way to start the day and we stopped in a likely area.  After chatting a bit while rigging up and getting on our wading gear, we finally approached the stream.

Looking just downstream, I noticed a spot that I've long suspected had a nice fish.  After getting confirmation from Shane that he was willing to start his day with a challenge, I explained the approach, the cast, and the drift.  He nodded and started to work into position.  After a few drifts in which I felt we weren't getting deep enough, I added another split shot and he resumed casting.  A few casts later the indicator dove convincingly.  When he set the hook, a beautiful brown trout came all the way out of the water in a leap for its life.

Immediately I got nervous.  Fish like that don't come around every day, and certainly not in the Smokies.  Thankfully, I hadn't told Shane that his bottom fly was on with 6x tippet so he wasn't nearly as nervous as I was.  In fact, he was probably one of the calmest anglers I've seen with a nice fish on the other end of the line.  

While I was nervous and really concerned about losing that fish, Shane did everything he needed to perfectly, working downstream with the fish until he was able to lift its head so I could slide the net under it.  I had spent all that time worried, and in the end I didn't need to.  Shane did a great job fighting such a nice brown trout and clearly didn't need any help at all.  There are few people who can say their first Smoky Mountain trout was such a pretty fish.  Congrats to Shane on a job well done and a beautiful Smoky Mountain brown trout!

If you are interested in a guided fly fishing trip in the Great Smoky Mountains, please contact me via email at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com.  

Smokies Adventure

Adventure is a huge part of fly fishing for me.  During a conversation on our camping trip, I was telling my buddy Joe how I enjoy exploring almost as much as the actual fishing.  Thankfully I was able to enjoy both on this trip.

On Sunday, I arrived a bit later than Joe.  Coming from Central time into Eastern time always makes it hard to get up and on the river as early as my friends.  Getting there at first light means being up to leave around 3 or 3:30 a.m.  No thanks...  Anyway, so eventually I did make it over there and when if found Joe he was already hard at work fishing a likely run.  He reported good early morning action on the usual nymphs and we decided to continue fishing up through a nice mix of pools and pocket water.

Not too far upstream, I came across Mountain Laurel and stopped to play with the camera a bit.

Just above the blooms, Joe worked a really nice run.  When he finished and headed down to the truck for some lunch, I noticed a few rises and moved up into the run.  Tying on dry flies, I worked the fish hard but in the end was humbled.  If I had known how spooky those fish would be I probably would have brought a 3 weight and also used a longer leader.  Dry fly fishing is excellent on Little River right now, but the long still flats on the roadside stretches may produce some challenging conditions.  It was every bit as tough if not more so than chasing a picky riser on a tailwater.

Anyway, eventually we had lunch, set up camp, and headed back out for an afternoon of catching fish.  We both caught a lot of nice trout on nymphs and eventually made it back to camp to rest up for the next day's action.

We fished on both sides of the mountain and hit up some stretches that were new to both of us.  One of my favorite parts of the trip was exploring a stream known as having the ability to produce the Smoky Mountain Hat Trick.  After a fairly early start, we made it over to the stream on day 2 and started fishing by looking for nice browns in the larger holes.

While Joe worked the pools, I fished the pocket water.  A double nymph rig seemed appropriate early in the day.  Wet wading was a little chilly with the temperature hovering right around 50 degrees in the early morning shade.  Hatches were pretty much nonexistent but the rainbows were feeding well subsurface.  This is where I picked up my better rainbows on this stream.  Strangely, neither of us caught a brown trout in this stretch.  By the time things had warmed and the sun was triggering some hatch activity, we decided to head upstream and look for the slam.

Both of us had fished just a little bit of this section before but we had no idea of the challenges awaiting us.  Huge piles of debris from a semi recent flash flood made stream navigation a challenge to say the least.  The fish population seemed to be on the low side but we both caught trout.  The pools were beautiful flat runs that were mostly shallow to medium depth, perfect dry fly water if you ask me.  Of course on water that pretty we both fished dry flies.  I choose a new Yellow Sally imitation I've started tying and Joe went with the standard for brookies, a Yellow Stimulator.  Betchya can't guess what color of bugs were hatching...

I found the brookie before I found the brown.  Both came out of fairly fast but large pockets.  The nice dry fly runs were not producing for the most part.

After a ton of effort to fish maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of a mile of water, we got tired at the lack of fish and decided to head out and hit up another brook trout stream.  That was a good choice as we caught a lot of trout although the number of rainbows was a concern.

That evening, we had a good fire as it was our last night.  Staying up late, talking about trips from past years, we reminisced about our Yellowstone Trip (here and here also) as well as the epic one day fishing trip in Colorado last year.  Good days fishing the Smokies, large fish caught, and lots of other topics kept us up late but not too late to be up early the next morning.

Joe didn't have long to fish the next morning, so after fishing just a little together, he took off, and I decided to hit up a favorite stretch of Little River.  The water here is a nice mix of pools and pocket water, classic Little River water if you know what I mean.  In the first pool, I caught 4-5 trout and probably could have caught more if I had chosen to.  Best of all, most of them were browns.

I continued fishing until around 2 in the afternoon when hunger started to gain the upper hand over my desire to fish.  On the way out, I found a hat hung on a rock in Little River.  If you happen to have lost one while fishing, it is now over at Little River Outfitters in Townsend.  For this last day, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Tips and hints: The best action was in the faster deep pockets...

Little River Blooms

Today I returned from a quick camping trip with my buddy Joe to Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains.  We fished a wide variety of water and caught a lot of nice trout.  I'll get a full report up in the next day or so but just know that the fishing is great right now.

The first Mountain Laurel blooms of the year are making an appearance now, and I found some nice ones along Little River while fishing on Sunday morning.

Availability

The spring fishing is finally settling into a predictable pattern and this next week is looking perfect.  Trout are active and looking up for a good number of their meals although fishing subsurface will sometimes be best for overall numbers.  May is the one month of the year where anglers will likely catch more fish on dries than on nymphs.  In fact, my best day on Little River ever was in May, and I caught all my fish on dries.

If you are visiting in the area and would like to set up a day to get out on the water, I still have a couple of days available this week, specifically Monday and Tuesday.  Please head over to Trout Zone Anglers or email me if you want to set up a trip.  If you are willing to hike, the Smoky Mountain backcountry is at its best right now.  An easy 3-4 mile hike (easy meaning no major elevation gains/losses) can put us on lots of willing fish or if you want to hit up some brookie streams we can do that as well.

BRRRRR

The frost this morning appeared as promised, but thankfully it doesn't seem to have hurt anything too badly.  We don't have too much green around here yet.  The trout streams are probably having a much tougher time of it.  Take a look at this temperature graph from Little River just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Talk about falling water temperatures...that is a continuous drop of close to 15 degrees, and a drop from the highest recent temperature of more than 15 degrees.  I would be willing to bet that the fish might be lethargic to start things off today simply because of the drastic change.  Fish don't like huge fluctuations in temperature or water levels very much and will normally take a bit of time to adjust.  The good news is that the general direction of the water temperature is most important.  We should see temperatures begin to increase shortly as the stream receives full sun exposure throughout the day.  Once that temperature starts to rise, then the fish will be happier for sure.

In other news, it looks like I might get out on the water.  The Caney Fork is showing a 5 hour window without generation so someone clearly needs to go investigate to see how things are on the river.  Hopefully I'll have good news!

Seriously?

Warning: I'm not going to apologize for the following rant, so if you don't want to hear me complaining, then stop reading now.  

Seriously people?  Fly fishermen have long had a reputation for looking down on "lower" forms of fishing.  Exactly where the reputation came from I have no idea, but I'm guessing there is probably some good reasons for people's opinions of our sport.  Fly fisherman are known as sticklers for the rules, often telling other people when they are in error.  Of all fisherman I've met stream side, I have run into far fewer fly fishermen who were trying to get ahead by cheating then any other.

In my opinion, chucking bait is not any better or any worse than any other type of fishing.  In fact, I'm guessing that's where most of us got our start, and let's admit, it's fun to watch that little bobber with a worm dangling under it.  However, I'm guessing that a lot of the bait chucker crowd tend to have less of a clue about the rules for a very simple reason: they don't know much else about fishing and probably just bought the gear they are using.  It might even be there first time ever trying out fishing.  "We have to have a license to do this?"  It's just ignorance.  In my opinion, ignorance is a problem, but is forgivable considering it's definitely not as bad as willfully breaking the rules.

On the other hand, if someone has progressed to the point of being a fly fisherman, there is a pretty good chance they at least know a little about what they are doing.  Same thing goes for someone who is an expert with a bait caster and haul in the bass one after the other.  They've been around the block a few times and know exactly what they are doing.  My favorites are the ones who do a little bit of everything and fish bait when they want to take a few home.  Those are probably some of the best fishermen out there and they always know the rules too.

That's why I hold some anglers to a higher standard than others.  Fly fishermen should know better than to break the rules and should always try to play by the rules.  All of this is leading up to why I was so ticked off yesterday.

While chucking streamers in the Smokies in what proved to be a futile effort, I came across a HUGE articulated fly beside a pool that has been known to produce some big fish.  I won't say how big, because someone would doubt without pictures, and I'm not at liberty to share pictures that friends have sent me.  Let's just say there are some monsters in the Park and leave it at that.

Anyway, as I get out of my car, I see what looks like a dead bird stuck to the side of a tree.  Walking over to investigate, I find a huge articulated fly stuck there.  How someone snagged the tree, broke off the fly, and completely did not see it is beyond me.  This is larger than a lot of flies I throw for musky.  I love throwing articulated flies in the Park, but am very careful to cut off all but one of the hooks.

This fly had two hooks.  Big ones too, I might add.  If you are fly fishing, you know better.  Park rules clearly state that the use of a dropper fly is permitted but the second fly must be a minimum of 12 inches from the first fly.  An articulated fly is no better than throwing bait on treble hooks.

The big browns of the Park are susceptible to unscrupulous fishermen and it doesn't take a whole lot of skill to put a serious dent in the Park's population of large browns.  Fly fishermen should know better. Play by the rules people!!!

Rant over.

Where Are the Fish?

A few weeks ago, I was contacted about doing a half day guide trip in the Smokies.  Roger had been to the Smokies on vacation other times and fly fished some, but had never caught any trout while he was at it.  He had fished in some other places including the White River in Arkansas and had done very well, but the Smokies were a completely different story and he hoped to learn how to approach fishing in the Park.

We had decided to meet at Little River Outfitters so Roger could pick up a fishing license before hitting the stream since he had just arrived the previous evening.  After meeting up and taking care of the fishing license, I asked him what he wanted out of the trip.  His reply was music to a guide's ears. "Catching fish would be nice, of course, but what I really want is to learn where the fish are and how to approach the water when fishing in the Smokies."

"We can do that for sure, and we'll catch some fish while we're at it," I promised.  As a guide, I really enjoy clients who are wanting to learn.  In fact, in my opinion, that should be the main goal of any guided trip.  Catching fish are clearly part of the equation, but if you don't somehow become a better angler then why bother?

We headed for a stream with lots of willing fish that I like to hit when the water is on the higher side.  There is a nice mix of pocket water and pools that keeps the fishing interesting.  After rigging up, we headed down to a good starter pool.  The backcast isn't too cluttered here and there are normally several fish feeding in its depths.  Since the goal was to learn, we started out with nymphs under an indicator.  Before we started fishing, I pointed out the best spots in the pool for trout and explained why the fish liked each one.  Roger immediately got the idea and pointed to another spot and asked "What about there?"  I nodded and grinned.  He learned very quickly!

After several drifts and a quick tip on mending, he was fishing the pool like a pro.  At the end of one drift the fly started to swing to the surface when a hungry fish hit it hard.  It quickly went airborne not just once but twice.  Soon he was grinning with his first Smokies trout on the fly!

A quick picture later and the beautiful fish was on its way back for the next angler.  We began slowly working our way upstream and fishing the best pockets and pools.  The next method that I showed him was one he had tried before but got frustrated because of the tangles it produced.  It was the dry/dropper.  I told him not to worry about tangles, that was my job to fix.  Glad that he didn't have to fix them, he relaxed and started fishing.

The pool he was in was shallower in the middle with two distinct currents on either side.  I pointed to the foam line along the seam of the farther current and mentioned that fish like to sit in water like that and leisurely feed on whatever comes along.  He placed the next cast with the precision of someone who has been doing this for a while and after drifting a couple of feet, a nice rainbow came up and sipped the dry fly.  He had already missed a couple of rises, but this time was ready.  Gaining quick control of the situation, he soon landed the rainbow and we snapped another quick picture.  This fish was memorable because of the deliberate take off the surface as well as its spirited efforts to throw the hook.

We kept working upstream and picked up another couple of fish on the dropper, but then noticed another angler about to get started and decided to find a new stretch of water.  The next section was mostly pocket water, and so we switched back to nymphs after a little while.  The fish were mostly staying deep in the bright sunshine and heavier than normal currents.  Eventually I decided it was time to show him one last thing, nymphing without the indicator.

Again he picked it up like a pro and was soon drifting the weighed nymph through likely pockets and runs.  Our time was quickly running out and before we knew it the time had come to head back down to the shop.  We had caught some fish, and more importantly he had learned the answer to the question of "Where are the fish?"  Back at the shop, he wanted to pick up a few flies and some split shot and indicators so he could nymph fish effectively.

I enjoyed teaching Roger and wish him the best as he enjoys a few more days of vacation. Hopefully he will enjoy catching some more Smoky Mountain trout while he is there!

If I can help you learn about fly fishing in the Smokies, please head over to Trout Zone Anglers and check out the guided trip options or contact me.

Help Us Out

I try not to ask for too much help on here, but could definitely use a little help to continue getting out word about Trout Zone Anglers.  Right now, however, I'm unashamedly asking for a specific favor.  With Facebook, it is difficult to increase the number of "Likes" and people following without paying Facebook some money, and since money is tight, I was hoping I could persuade each of you who has a Facebook account to just head over to our Facebook Page for Trout Zone Anglers and hit the "Like" button.  In addition, it would also be helpful if you would share the page to help gain exposure.  Finally, if you know anyone who is looking for a guided wade trip for the Great Smoky Mountains or the Caney Fork River, please let them know about Trout Zone Anglers.  Thank you for your help!!!

One Small Trout

If I had to go back to one moment that started me on the writing and photography road, it would be during the spring hatches on Little River.  Back then, I mainly fished smaller streams, finding the fishing easier there, or perhaps I should say the catching.  On this particular day, I had ventured onto Little River proper, somewhere downstream from Metcalf Bottoms.  The goal, of course, was brown trout.

For someone who had rarely caught any brown trout, the opportunity to at least attempt to catch one was eagerly seized upon.  The moment that trout came out is still as clear in my mind's eye as it was when it happened.  In fact I can still show you the exact rock where it happened.  I had just cast upstream along the bank where the current swept down towards an undercut rock.  The fish darted out from under that rock, stared at the fly for a second, and then gently gulped it in.

I was ecstatic but also afraid of losing the beautiful brown.  That fear was enhanced because I was carrying a camera for the first time ever and wanted that picture!  My sister had loaned me her point and shoot. At the time it was a very nice camera, but today most phones have better cameras.  Finally I had the fish corralled.

Nothing was memorable about the fish in terms of size.  In fact, it is probably one of the smaller browns I've caught in the mountains.  On later trips I would catch many fish that could have had this fish for a snack.  There was a moment, though, when everything came together.  The light, the fish, the water, all blended into one golden moment.  

After that I was hooked and started looking for a camera of my own.  Since then, I've taken pictures of many trout, both ones that I have caught and ones that friends have caught, but I'm still waiting on that perfect combination of light and water.  Someday it will happen, and hopefully I'll again have my camera ready.  

Smokemont

While it requires a bit more of a drive then the Tennessee side of the Smokies, I always enjoy my trips over to places like Smokemont and Deep Creek.  Perhaps this is because the vast majority of my trips to the North Carolina side of the Park have happened with friends.  Outdoor adventures are almost always better when you can share them with someone else.

Some of my friends who are still in the education field were on Spring Break.  After a few phone calls and text messages, everyone agreed that a camping trip would be nice for a couple of nights.  It's not the same epic type of trip as our Spring Break trips of old, such as to the Everglades or Grand Canyon, but sometimes a couple of days to relax are better for the soul.

Naturally I took along my two favorite toys, a camera and a fly rod.  The fishing was just starting to heat up over on that side of the Park.  I did not exactly catch a ton of fish, but all were nice healthy brown trout so I wasn't complaining.  The hatches were still nonexistent there the first week of March other than the Little Black Caddis.  Things should be much different by now with the fish starting to respond to the increase in available food.

While I did enjoy the fishing, the trip was mostly about time with friends.  We went on a short hike up the trail above Smokemont along the Bradley Fork which was the first time I've walked up above the campground.  The water is beautiful up there! I'll definitely have to return later in the year for another adventure over there to fish the Bradley Fork a bit more.  I've fished the majority of the major streams on the North Carolina side as well as some smaller tributaries at least a few times each, but for some reason I keep ignoring this stream.  Doesn't this water just beg to be fished though?

All in all it was a great chance to catch up with friends, spend a bunch of time nursing a campfire, and even take a few pictures.

Interested in learning to fish in the Smokies and looking for a guide?  Contact me at TroutZoneAnglers@gmail.com to discuss setting up a trip.  

Too Busy Fishing

Fishing and other outdoor adventures have been front and center for the last few days.  Last week I did a trip to the Smokies, a hike, a local trip for winter stocked trout, and a trip to a local pond to check out the panfish population.  This week I spent the last few days with friends camping at Smokemont.  I'm happy to report that the local brown trout population on the North Carolina side of the Park is healthy.

Over on the Tennessee side, the spring mayfly, caddis, and stoneflies have all started.  The hatch will continue to increase in intensity over the next several days so this is a good time to start thinking about a fly fishing trip in the Smokies!

I will try to get some specific trip reports and stories up over the next few days so check back for more soon!

March is the Month

I've caught many nice browns over the years.  March and April have been particularly kind to me when it comes to catching big browns in the Smokies.  Here is one really nice brown from Little River from March a couple of years ago.

The best part about this fish?  I didn't actually catch it.  Well, not exactly anyway.  For those that have not read the story, go back a couple of years in time and check out this old blog post.   It is one of the crazier fishing stories I've ever been a participant in.

There She Goes

If you enjoy fishing tailwaters, I hope you made it to the Caney or are swinging by today.  Just like that, we get a good rain and everything is blowing out.  I'm guessing the generators come on tomorrow but we might, if we are extremely lucky, get one more day out of the recent lack of precipitation.  Here is a streamflow chart for the Collins River, a tributary of the upper Caney Fork at Great Falls Reservoir.

Spikes like that are not what any of us want to see, but I'm sure it is probably better to be getting all this cold water now.  The fish will appreciate it by late summer and so will the fishermen.  Great Falls lake is showing forecast releases somewhere north of 10,000 cfs.  I'm sure we can all guess what that will do to Center Hill dam and the Caney Fork tailwater.  It looks like two generators around the clock for a while again.

On a more positive note, the rain has cleared out the Smokies streams of ice.  The ice buildup should be a thing of the past unless we get some more extremely cold weather.  Now it is time to start thinking about the spring hatches.  Head over to the fishing report on my new guide site to see a fly I like tying for the Quill Gordon hatches.  For the Blue Quills and Quill Gordons, it is also hard to beat an appropriately sized Parachute Adams. I've had fish doing backflips (literal ones mind you) to eat that fly all day.  For a really picky fish, I'm a big fan of Comparaduns and Sparkle Duns.  Whatever pattern you decide to tie, just make sure you have plenty.  When the fishing is really on, you can never have too many flies.

It's Official

Trout Zone Anglers is now officially in business.  The paperwork with the National Park Service that will allow me to guide in the Great Smoky Mountains will take at least another two weeks and probably longer.  I anticipate being up and running in terms of doing trips by about the first of March.  In the meantime, check out my new page and give me some feedback.  I'm still working on the site almost continually trying to make it more user friendly and easy to navigate/understand.  While you're at it, I would really appreciate it if you would head over to Facebook and 'Like' Trout Zone Anglers.  Finally, please spread the word about Trout Zone Anglers.  The more exposure the better.  Thanks!

First Fish of 2014

What a great way to start the year! Even though I still have boxes and stuff scattered all around from my move back to TN, I knew that I couldn't wait on visiting the Smokies any longer.  After an early morning, I made it to Townsend and stopped for a while at Little River Outfitters to chat with Byron and Daniel.  As always we had a great time talking about a little of everything.  Eventually the pull of the streams was too strong, and I headed out of town and into the Park.

Driving slowly up Little River, I stopped at several likely pools.  At one stop, I spotted a nice 18" brown sitting right by the bank.  After several casts to judge the drift, I got a good one in there and the fish came over for a look.  Thinking it had taken the fly, I set the hook.  The fish moved back the other direction casually and would not be fooled into a second look.  Oh well!

Several times, fish came charging out to inspect my large offerings, but each time refused at the last second.  I was beginning to think that my day would be done without catching anything, and of course sometimes that does happen this time of year when you are chasing big fish.

I was running low on water by this time with both Nalgene bottles almost empty.  A quick run up to a good spring seemed like the logical solution and would enable me to check out Middle Prong.  The very first hole I hit had a great surprise.  As I was slowly working the pool, a fish came up and ate.  I just barely felt the soft hit but set the hook and was soon staring in surprise at a very nice rainbow of about 14 inches.  Probably it had swam up from the stocked water in Townsend, but it looked healthy and even wild so I'm not entirely certain.

Later, after filling up on water, I was working my way back downstream and stopped at a very nice pool that I know holds good fish on occasion.  The rain was falling by this time and it was getting close to sunset.  The low light conditions were perfect for brown trout to be out hunting.  I worked the top half of the pool thoroughly and then moved down to the back.  Pitching a careful cast out between two trees, I started my retrieve when I saw the golden flash.  Feeling nothing, I continued the retrieve.  On the second pass, the fish made a solid grab.  After a solid battle, I was holding my first Smokies brown trout of 2014, a beautiful 17 inch fish.  Because of the rain, my camera was staying dry in the car, but I still have my memories which sometimes are better.

That fish was another first for me as well: it was the first brown trout I've caught on Middle Prong.  I've seen plenty of them but never actually caught one until this trip.  Not a bad way to start the year and not a bad first brown for me on Middle Prong!

Smokies Interlude

Part of my plans for Christmas break naturally involved fishing.  However, most of the break was planned for me with family time taking precedence over everything else.  The one small trip I allowed myself was a one day interlude to the rest of my vacation.  Even though conditions were not ideal, I still was happy to visit the Smokies.

Last Thursday, I finalized plans to meet my friend Travis in the Park.  My goal was to get there early, before the sun was on the water, and throw streamers for a while.  He would join me later.  As it turned out, he had the best game plan.  The fish really did not become active until later in the morning as the sun warmed the water just a bit.  Fish will feed in very cold water so it can still be worth getting out during the cold months, contrary to popular opinion.  However, the water temperature's direction is very important.  Even a small increase in water temps can get the trout moving around and active.  The sun warmed the water just enough that we started to see fish up and moving around.

One pool in particular has a good population of trout that are normally willing to eat a well-presented fly.  We all rigged up with nymphs and spread out along the stream.  I worked my way up a small side channel while my friends Travis and Buzz thoroughly worked the pool.

After fishing my little stretch of water, I moved back down to discover that, other than small rainbows, they had not had much catching going on.  Since I had not caught anything, small rainbows sounded better than nothing.  I attached a strike indicator and started working the pool.  A few drifts later the indicator dove, and I found a small rainbow on the end of my line!

There's nothing like getting that first fish out of the way.  Able to relax since the skunk was no longer a possibility, I tossed the double nymph rig a bit longer before changing back to a streamer.  In the winter, when the streams are so cold, I prefer the faster paced method of fishing streamers as opposed to staring at an indicator while my fingers freeze.

Continuing upstream, I found a pool that I know holds some nice fish but one that I've never had much luck in.  This trip would end that.  Just a few casts into my systematic search for trout, a flash indicated a brown in hot pursuit.  The fish abruptly turned away, but I thought I might still have a chance.  Two casts later the fish rose off the bottom again and hammered the streamer.  The heavy tippet allowed me to keep the fight short.  Soon I was releasing the brown back to his pool.  Not a bad last trout for 2013!

Later, I headed in to Townsend for lunch and to stop by and see the crew at Little River Outfitters.  After chatting with Daniel for a while and looking at all the remodeling changes that have been happening, I stumbled upon the fly tying clearance bin.  This has been and, after this trip, continues to be a huge drain on my finances.  I mean, who can pass up a great deal?  I hit the jackpot on this trip when I found a LOT of tiny hooks on sale, perfect for midge and BWO patterns.  I'll be tying small flies in anticipation of the tailwater fishing this upcoming year.  If you tie and stop by LRO, make sure you check out the sales bin.  Your wallet might not appreciate it but think of all the money you will save with some of the super deals you can find there!

Connected Again

The Smokies are connected again!!!  According to WBIR news from Knoxville, TN, the road has reopened.  The contractor is in for a nice bonus as well since the Park and Eastern Band of Cherokee offered an incentive of $18,000 per day (up to $500,000) that the job was completed early.  The original target date was May 15.  That means a nice bonus of $500,000 should be headed the contractor's way...

Photos Courtesy the National Park Service