2007 saw the worst drought on record for the Southern Appalachian region. Water levels were at historic lows throughout East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Many fly fishers wrote the park off as a disaster area and headed to other destinations. While we couldn’t blame anyone, we experienced great fishing […]

There are some new regulations that have taken effect and should help provide better fishing in the future. These regulations apply to trout in the Clinch River tailwater below Norris Dam and smallmouth bass in several East Tennessee rivers.
Perhaps the most promising regulation is the new catch and release slot limit on the Clinch. The […]

The Haystack is one of our favorite fly patterns for spring mayfly hatches in the Smoky Mountains. We’re providing the tying instructions because this fly isn’t readily available in most fly shops or catalogs, even in the Smoky Mountain region. This fly is easily tied with materials found on virtually any fly tying desk. There […]

Dry Fly Fishing in the Smokies
We’re on the back side of Labor Day, the traditional end of the summer season. While it’s still pretty warm here in East Tennessee there’s a touch of fall in the air. Overnight temperatures on the mountain tops are beginning to dip into the 40’s and Townsend is shrouded in […]

By now it’s no secret that the Smoky Mountains have experienced one of the worst droughts in recorded history. Water levels in Little River have been at or below record flows since spring. Fishing was tougher than usual but things got pretty grim in August when East Tennessee also experienced record high temperatures. Recent rains […]

A box of appropriate flies to entice the big one.
Fishing with streamers is perhaps the best way to connect with an oversize fish. However, this is one of the least utilized means of fly fishing. Even when anglers do use streamers they often go about it wrong. This article will explore the best ways to […]

Charity and I always do something a little different in the dog days of summer as trout fishing slows down in the Smoky Mountains. Fly fishing for smallmouth bass and backcountry brook trout are two ways we mix it up, but we always head for the saltwater whenever we get the chance. We blocked a […]

This article about fishing terrestrial fly patterns in the Smoky Mountains originally ran in the Summer 2006 issue of Fish & Fly magazine although it was originally scheduled to run several summers earlier. In any case this has been of the most popular articles we’ve ever had published. We’ve received comments about it ever since […]

This article is written with a foucus on the freestome streams of the Smoky Mountains and the tailwaters of Tennessee but the information is just as applicable to waters in other parts of the country.

Winter can be a tough time to catch trout in the Southeast. Hatches are sparse on most tailwaters like the Clinch […]

The main focus of this article deals with fly fishing streams in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, but the information is just as applicable to streams in other parts of the country.
It’s August and the temperatures back in town are forecast to be in the mid-90’s. It hasn’t rained in […]