We’ve covered a lot of water in 2009! Here are some of our favorite moments from the mountains and rivers captured with a camera. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there!

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

Little River rainbow trout, Great Smoky Mountains

A [...]

We spent the weekend out on the water, but not where most people might think. We live within spitting distance of the largest wilderness area and selection of wild trout streams in the eastern United States and only an hour or so from a few quality tailwaters so it only makes sense we’d be fishing [...]

It’s been too long since I’ve posted a report and the reason is because we’ve been fishing so much. Fishing in the Smokies, fishing on the tailwaters, fishing for smallmouth. You name it, we’ve done it over the past two weeks.
Smoky Mountains
Water levels have come down to where you’d expect them to be in late [...]

We’ve had a full week of fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee this week. Mild weather and good water levels have made for perfect conditions from the brook trout streams high in the Smokies down to the smallmouth rivers in the valleys.
This is peak season for hike-in trips in the Smokies. While [...]

Water conditions remain excellent for fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains. Recent rains are keeping streams at spring time levels. While dry fly fishing has been good in the medium to smaller streams, nymphing has accounted for more fish in the large to medium size streams.
Smallmouth fishing has been a bit erratic lately. Some days [...]

We’re certainly in the middle of a wet thunderstorm season here in East Tennessee, receiving heavy downpours somewhere everyday. This has kept the trout streams in the Smoky Mountains full and the fish are happy. We’re still experiencing water levels similar to March and April and it’s a nice change after two previous years of [...]

The big news is that the drought is officially over. In fact, we’re
currently running a rainfall surplus here in East Tennessee. This has not
only brought our stream levels back to normal, but also has implications for
fly fishing on the tailwaters.
Smoky Mountain Streams
Spring hatches started strong with Quill Gordon mayflies in the Smokies and
midges on the [...]

Another year has come and gone. We’re gearing up for a busy 2009. We’ve got a hefty schedule of appearing at fly fishing expos in the next couple of months, we’ve got two new books that will be coming out within a month, and we’ve already booked a number of guided trips. But before we [...]

I’m a tad reluctant to say fishing has been excellent. We’re in the hottest part of summer and still in the dry grip of a drought that just won’t seem to break, even steering a tropical storm around us. However, I’ve got to say that everywhere we’ve been fishing this week has been pretty good!
I [...]

 Yesterday Charity and I hitched up the drift boat and headed over to the Holston River. Our original intent was to focus our attention on smallmouth bass, but we were in a section of the river that has good trout populations in addition to smallies.
We put the boat in the river and the water was [...]