A nice Hazel Creek rainbow trout

Overall, most of the fish our group caught was on nymphs, but my anglers had a good day of dry fly fishing between the Sawdust Pile and Sugar Fork on Friday. We experienced heavy rain on Saturday night, but had plenty of dry space to hang out for dinner and socializing.

Here’s a quick video clip of what the fishing looked like on Friday upstream of the Sawdust Pile.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The creek was blown out Sunday morning, so we were able to make our return to civilization a few hours earlier than anticipated.

Steve Claxton treated us to his extraordinary camp cooking the whole time. Charity and I are returning to Hazel Creek again this weekend with another group and can’t wait!

Steve pulls his made from scratch biscuits out of the camp oven

Hang in there! Spring is coming soon!

It’s still winter but many of us are already planning our fishing in the months ahead. We get numerous emails and phone calls over the winter from people planning trips. Many of those folks are trying to hit a particular hatch, good flows on the tailwaters, or the best conditions for an extended backcountry fishing trip.

February There’s not usually a whole lot going on in during the heart of winter, but you can get out on the water more than you might think. Focus you attention on the tailwaters for the best action. It’s been a long winter with little to no tailwater fishing depending on the exact river, but TVA should begin to moderate generation by February. The South Holston and Watauga Rivers always have the most consistent schedules for fishing, but look for the Clinch, Holston, and Hiwassee to get good.

Fat rainbows can be caught on the Clinch and Holston in the late winter

The South Holston is the head of the heap for dry fly fishing with great Blue Wing Olive hatches. Also bring some midge patterns along with a few Sulphurs. The Clinch can have some superb midge fishing in the winter. Try some sowbug patterns if the midges aren’t hatching.

Most of the streams in the Smokies will fish slow. Abrams Creek in Cades Cove usually fishes better than most other streams because it has warmer water temperatures from numerous springs that feed it. Delayed Harvest streams like Paint Creek and Tellico River in Tennessee and the Nantahala and Tuckaseegee Rivers in North Carolina are also good bets in the winter.

Periodic mid-winter “thaws” can provide some very good fishing on all waters. Warm, sunny days will get midges hatching on the tailwaters and fish in the mountain streams will become more active as well. Some years spring weather can arrive by the last week of February.

March is really when spring fishing kicks off in the Smoky Mountain region. Fishing on the tailwaters can be good, but dry fly fishing on many of the creeks can be nothing short of phenomenal. Quill Gordons and Blue Quills are mayflies that hatch on the larger streams and bring trout to the surface.

Little River, Deep Creek, the Oconaluftee River, and Bradley Fork have some of the best dry fly fishing in the Smokies during March. These hatches can start as early as the first of the month or as late as the 15th. Bugs will start hatching between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM and may linger up until 3:00 PM or later.

One thing to be aware of in 2010 is that Cades Cove will be closed March through May while the road is re-paved. This means no fishing on Abrams Creek this spring.

Midge fishing is usually pretty good on the Holston and Clinch Rivers in March. There might be a few caddis on the Holston to whet your appetite for the coming months, but focus your efforts on fishing nymphs. Small Woolly Buggers can also be quite effective in the spring. Bring them across riffles with an erratic retrieve for the best results.

April is when things start to heat up all over. Fishing starts to pick up on all the tailwater rivers and the streams in the Smoky Mountains only get better. The Clinch, Holston, and Hiwassee Rivers are all usually on a “pulse” generation schedule. This is a minimum flow schedule when flows are generally low and generators will give occasional pulses of water to keep water flowing. Caddis usually hatch on the Hiwassee and Holston while Sulphurs start to hatch on the Clinch.

In the Smokies the trout will be rising very well and certainly eating nymphs when they’re not. Quill Gordons will begin to fade from the scene but they are replaced by Hendricksons and March Browns. The yellow mayflies start to hatch by the end of April. Light Cahills and Sulphurs hatch late in the afternoon into the evening.

Watch for Yellow Sallies to start hatching by mid-April but the real action with these bugs happens later in the month when they lay eggs on the water just before dark.

Yellow Sally stonefly

May is one of the best all round months for fly fishing in East Tennessee and western North Carolina. Fishing is excellent in the Smokies at all elevations. Hatches are well under way on the tailwaters and smallmouth bass are also active on the rivers.

Light colored mayflies and stoneflies come out in the evenings on Smoky Mountain trout streams. The caddis hatch on the Holston River can be downright ridiculous at times and the Sulphurs usually have trout rising on the Clinch. Dry fly fishing is certainly part of the experience no matter where you fish for trout, but don’t leave the nymph box at home.

Charity hooked this brown trout on a dry fly

Nymphs are often required on the tailwaters in the hours leading up to a hatch. They continue to work well during a hatch, but who can fish a nymph when trout are rising to the surface? May is usually our best month for dry fly fishing on the Holston River. Caddis hatches can get crazy at times!

May is also the best month for Sulphurs on the Clinch. Last year was the best Sulphur hatch we’ve seen in a long time and we’re hoping for a repeat in 2010!

We had some high water last weekend, but water levels are very good right now. Water temperatures have been in the low to mid 40′s and the trout have been surprisingly active. We haven’t been out on the water in the morning, but fishing has been excellent from about noon to 4 PM.

We’ll see if this good fishing keeps up, though. Next week temperatures are forecast to be about ten degrees cooler than what they’ve been this week. If that’s the case we’ll be dredging bottom with bigger nymphs like #8 Rubber Leg Tellicos and #10 Princes.

The Tuckaseegee River continues to produce even when the water is high

The tailwater scene has been as grim as we’ve seen it in years. High flows have kept us off the big rivers for a while. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the fish, though. Flows are pretty standard and the fish are accustomed to it. Problem is that there’s just no option for wading and the increased flows keep the fish deep and spread out.

The Tuckaseegee River near Dillsboro, NC has been our destination for float trips. The river has been higher than we’d like, but we’re still managing to hook some trout. We usually focus our efforts on fishing nymphs, but lately we haven’t even brought them out of the box. Streamer fishing has been the way to go.

Streamers allow us to cover more water more effectively. Furthermore, we seem to be hooking a few more real good fish than we typically do on nymphs.

Just like the mountain streams, the Tuckaseegee has fished best in the afternoon but we’re still moving fish before lunch. Wading the Tuck really isn’t much of an option. Anglers who are extremely familiar with the river probably know of a few spots where wading is possible, but there’s not much room to move about.

A view of Mout Leconte from Townsend, TN on a winter day

View from the fly tying desk on a cold day last January, Townsend, TN

Spring rainbow trout during the Quill Gordon hatch, Great Smoky Mountains National park

BBQ Ribs on Hazel Creek; Not a bad way to end a day of fishing.

Little River rainbow trout, Great Smoky Mountains

Michael Kennedy hooked up with a nice trout hooked on a dry fly from the drift boat, Holston River, Tennessee

Hooked up with a rainbow on the Clinch River, Tennessee

Nice brown trout during the Sulphur hatch on the Clinch River, TN

John Emert caught this beautiful rainbow on a #18 caddis dry fly on the Holston River, Tennessee

A black bear eating poke berries, Townsend, TN

A curious deer fawn edges closer to investigate fly fishers on Abrams Creek, Great Smoky Mountains

This tiger striped smallmouth bass inhaled a brown and orange Clouser Minnow on Tennessee's Pigeon River

Did you miss this post last summer? Click the photo for the full story.

Casting terrestrials on Little River mid-summer, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Madison River, Yellowstone National Park, Montana

Lewis River Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Madison River rainbow trout, Yellowstone National Park, Montana

A brown trout holds in the current in Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The view from Newfound Gap on our commute to work guiding the Oconaluftee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A trout rises among leaves drifting in the current, Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

John Coley caught this beautiful wild brown trout in the backcountry on a dry fly, Little River, Great Smoky Mountains

That's a nice brown anywhere, but particularly for the wild streams of the Smokies, Oconaluftee River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Autumn scene on Hazel Creek, Great Smoky Mountains

Your moment of zen: The bright red adipose fin of a Smoky Mountain trout.

View from the Foothills Parkway on a beautiful fall afternoon

The Nantahala River Delayed Harvest is blown out. The Nantahala Powerhouse is offline and water is now being spilled from the dam. This is at a water level that’s too high to fish the delayed harvest section. The river below the powerhouse is probably pretty high as well although you might find a few spots to drift nymphs.

Elk are the headliners in Cataloochee Valley, but there is some great fishing too.

Charity and I noticed some blank days on the guide calendar and decided we needed to take advantage of the break. Even those of us who live in the Smoky Mountains like to take a few days to get away and do nothing more than camp and fly fish.

After a quick scan of a map of the Smokies we decided to head for the Cataloochee Valley. We haven’t fished there this season and it’s always fun to see the elk. We remembered the mild temperatures and brook trout after we arrived in the valley.

Charity fishing on Palmer Creek

Those of you who have followed our fishing report will remember all the great weather we’ve been talking about. Our time at Cataloochee was no different. We wore light fleece jackets in the morning as temperatures dipped into the mid 50′s. Afternoons were pleasant and close to 80. Water levels were absolutely perfect and water temperatures were anywhere from 60 to 62. Absolutely amazing for August!

The streams fished best with dry flies. I caught a few fish on beadhead nymphs, but felt like I did at least as good if not better on dries. Terrestrial patterns like the Elkmont Ant did pretty good, but in the end it was pretty tough to beat a good old Parachute Adams.

Trout about this size are pretty standard in the streams that flow through Cataloochee Valley

Specks (brook trout for those of you outside the Smokies) have made an impressive comeback in Cataloochee Valley. We’ve heard about fly fishers picking up some specks in the main stem of Cataloochee Creek over the past few years. We’ve been catching them in Palmer and Little Cataloochee, but that’s where we’ve spent the bulk of our time the past few years when we made the trip.

We actually caught more specks than anything else this trip and that includes a good deal of time spent on the main stem of Cataloochee Creek. If you haven’t been there, the stream is roughly equal in size to Deep Creek, Tremont, and Hazel Creek. In other words, this is a big stream for specks to be the main catch. Rough Fork was nothing short of superb when it came to brookies. Charity had a real chunky one on that flipped off the hook just as I was focusing the camera. We both figured it was about 9″ long. We caught specks as low as the group camp site which is pretty low in the valley.

We caught more brookies than we can remember that were about this size

Brown trout have traditionally been the main reason we’ve fished Cataloochee Creek. Long pools in the valley directly adjacent to meadows have always made for some superb terrestrial fishing. Browns are as abundant in Cataloochee Creek as other streams, but now we’d have to rate the creek as a top roadside destination to catch a Smoky Mountain grand slam. As always, the brown trout will be the toughest third to land.

I missed a real nice brown on an Elkmont Ant. It wasn’t a beast, but no less than a foot long. We didn’t land many browns on this trip compared to specks and rainbows, but we hooked enough browns to keep it interesting.

This is typical of the brown trout we landed. This one was in the campground.

If you can swing a free day you should head on over to Cataloochee. It’s always a beautiful place to visit and you’ll probably see more elk than fly fishers.

A cow elk grazes in the valley with her calf

Rainbow trout released back in Little River

We spoke in Asheville a few nights back at the Land O Sky Chapter of Trout Unlimited and had a great turnout. Thanks to all who endured cramped conditions to hear us talk about our favorite waters and fly fishing methods here in East Tennessee. Jeff Curtis, chapter president, joked that he’d like for us to speak at every meeting if the turnout would be that good.

Charity and I stayed with our good friend Charlie Downs, bamboo rod maker, fly fisher, and all round good guy. The next morning we followed Charlie to the Davidson River to meet Starr Nolan, Casting for Recovery volunteer and guide at Brookside Guides in Asheville.  The Davidson was dramatically different from the streams we fish in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fish get large from feed pellets that wash out of the hatchery there. Intense fishing pressure has caused the fish to become quite acclimated to an angler’s presence; so much that they don’t seem to spook.

We caught fish on small midge pupa and I was broken off twice when I drifted a #8 Rubber Leg Tellico Nymph through deep slots. The water levels on the Davidson are noticeably lower than they are here in East Tennessee. While we’re recovering from drought, southwest North Carolina is still feeling the effects.

Little River fished quite well yesterday. The fish ate nymphs in almost every good looking spot. A #14 Pheasant Tail Nymph was my best fly, but my buddy Doug Sanders caught most of his on a George Nymph. A split small split shot crimped on the leader seemed to make the flies more effective. Water levels are very good and it looks like we’ll be getting some more precipitation over the next few weeks.

Doug Sanders on Little River

Tailwater flows haven’t been favorable for fishing locally on the Clinch or Holston, but it looks like that might be changing next week. We’re ready to get the boat back in the water!

The Scenery

Abrams Creek on a snowy day last January

Misty spring day on Newfound Gap Road

Daffodils at Elkmont in March

Rhododendron blooms on a remote brook trout stream

Rainbow over Rich Mountain, Townsend, TN

The Fish from 2008

A Little River brown trout fooled by a Haystack

A native brook trout miles from the trailhead

A rainbow trout feeds in the current in a Smokies stream

Charity with a 18″ Hazel Creek brown trout

John Switow shows a beautiful rainbow that he caught on a caddis emerger on the Holston

A nice Holston brown trout caught by Chad Plumly last May

A family float on the Holston

A smallmouth bass from the Pigeon River

A different view of a Smokies rainbow trout

Underwater view of a Smoky Mountain brook trout

The rare big brown trout landed on Little River

Another very nice Little River brown trout

A rainbow rises to an emerging caddis on the Holston River

The Wildlife

A bull elk along the Oconaluftee River near Cherokee, NC

 A bull elk in Cataloochee Valley

Ruffed Grouse along Little River

River otter in Little River

River otters on Calderwood Lake

Bear tracks at the mouth of Hazel Creek

Black bear eating cherries in Cades Cove

This timber rattler was sunning along the trail up Fish Camp Prong

A colorful Clinch River rainbow trout caught last week

The Clinch has been fishing quite well this fall. I hate to act surprised, but this once remarkable tailwater has been on the slide for the past several years. While most of the trout we’ve been hooking have been less than 12″ long, each and every one is colorful and strong. There have also been a number of fish hooked up to around 16″ or so. We’re hoping that the slot limit imposed by TWRA earlier this year will continue to help bring this fishery back to its former glory days. We’ve also seen some of the huge brown trout that contributed to the river’s reputation for big fish. A couple of those browns were easily in the 8 -10 pound range.

We’ve been sticking with small beadhead nymphs in #16 – 20. Trout have been rising to midges and a small pupa pattern fished about 12″ – 18″ under an indicator or dry fly will hook far more fish than a dry fly.

Both turbines were down on Norris Dam for a couple of weeks. The constant flow of 420 cfs was superb for floats or wade fishing. One of the generators is now back on line so you can expect the typical day to day variation in flows, but expect good flows for wading. Those who want to float will need to keep an eye on the schedule to be sure the river isn’t too low.

Hazel Creek

Last weekend I was on Hazel Creek for our semi-annual fly fishing camp out. We had a fun group of folks and had a great time. I’m considering changing the name of this trip to “Smoky Mountain Drought Busters” since we always get some rain whenever we’ve done this trip. Fortunately the rain was short lived and seemed to bring on a decent hatch of Blue Wing Olives.

Bear tracks along the banks of Fontana Lake at the mouth of Hazel Creek

Wildlife on Hazel Creek was quite active. Members of the group saw about every large mammal in the Smokies. For bears were seen as well of tracks of a couple more. Deer, turkeys, and wild boar were also seen along the stream.  Both rainbow trout and brown trout were caught by our party. Water levels were low and fishing was a bit more difficult than we like to see it in the fall, but the fishing was still good enough for everyone to hook up with some fish. We’re looking forward to our next trip in the spring.

In past week we’ve had guided trips on Little River and the Greenbrier section of the park. While Smoky Mountain trout are exceptionally skittish is low water, the good news is that they are actively feeding. Midges, small caddis, and Blue Wing Olives are all hatching on the streams and the fishing are rising well. Deeper riffles and plunge pools are producing quite well right now.

So far the rain has been steady without any sudden downpours. This is the best situation for water to soak into the soil and help stream levels. Sudden downpours get the water up in the short term, but do little for long term benefit.

Signs of fall are everywhere. Cool temperatures have started the leaves changing and colors are vibrant. A couple of days ago we saw 8 black bears over the course of the day on the stream. None paid us much attention. In fact, once they saw us they all steered well clear of us so it was almost impossible to get a photo through the forest. The bears are out eating acorns in preparation for winter.  Summer berries and fall nuts have been abundant this year so the bears will be in great shape when they go into their dens for winter hibernation.