YEAH rain!!! So happy for the rain that came today.  The streams got muddy this afternoon after a heavy downpour this morning. Light rains continued off and on throughout the day. The forecast shows more rain through the week.

Thanks to Ian’s guys today for forgetting their rain jackets – that old rain jacket voodoo kicked in! (For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, we have a saying that if you forget your rain jacket, it’s sure to rain. It’s the “rain jacket voodoo!” )

Ian guided up in the park today after a few days of floating for smallmouth over the weekend. I took a few beginners up in the park over the weekend and we got into some greedy risers when we threw the Elkmont Ant at them. Got a few on nymphs before lunch while fishing a dropper rig.

All in all it was a great weekend and were off to another good week on the water!

Check out the link below to read more about the trip we are hosting in Montana this September. We only have two rooms left and would love for you to join us!

It was a great day for a hike and we cruised along the Little River Trail upstream of Elkmont. I know the following encounter would creep out a bunch of folks, but Charity and I always take pleasure in seeing wildlife.

A timber rattlesnake creeps out onto the trail

Timber rattlers are among the most intimidating snakes you’ll ever see, but I always tell people that they are among the easiest going snakes I see. Most of the time I see rattlers as I’m about to step on the them because of their incredible camouflage. In spite of my many bumbling up close encounters I’ve never had one act threatening toward me.

True to form, we saw this snake as a pair of hikers came down the trail toward us, stepped right over it and never saw it. We only noticed the snake because it flinched to avoid the hiking boots bearing down on it. The hikers smiled and waved in blissful ignorance as they went by. Charity and I decided to let them keep on moving without giving them the fright of their life.

If you haven’t been able to get out on the stream or you’re sitting at work right now and could use a 60 second vacation, this is for you. As you can see, water levels in the Smokies are great right now and the fish are looking up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

The Smokies are still fishing great. However, don’t get your heart set on dry fly fishing all day long on the larger streams. We’ve had a number of instances this week when the dry fly wasn’t pulling much to the surface, but a nymph could hardly make a good drift without a strike.

This is typically in the middle of the day or early in the morning when its very cool. We’re still seeing some frost on the mountain tops at night. In fact, it’s still in the high 30’s or low 40’s many mornings here in Townsend.

Cliff Nolan caught this beautiful brown trout with Charity

We’ve even had a few trips up into the brook trout streams and they are fishing. You might let things warm up in the afternoon, but you can certainly expect great dry fly fishing.

The tailwaters are still progressing around Knoxville. While the fishing has been very good on the Holston River, the vast majority of fish we’re catching are on nymphs, midge pupa, or the occasional streamer. We’ve seen very little dry fly activity, but we are seeing a few caddis and expect the hatch to progress in the days ahead.

The same goes for the Clinch River. All fish have come on small beadheads or midge pupa. No Sulphurs yet, but with low flows and beautiful weather it shouldn’t be long before we see them hatching as well.

Yesterday Charity and I were both on Little River. There weren’t many bugs hatching, but the fish would certainly rise to a good drift. There were some brown stoneflies laying eggs on the water throughout the morning, but for some reason these guys just don’t seem to get the fish up.

Parachute Adams and Haystacks kept the trout up for us all day long. I was upstream of Elkmont. The water is a little on the high side up there, but quite fishable.

This bald eagle kept vigil as we ate lunch today

Floated the Holston today and there was very little insect activity. It was a breezy day and it was a real challenge to keep the boat positioned properly while my anglers struggled to cast in the wind. Fortunately the fish were on nymphs and we were able to stay hooked up more than enough to make it worth the effort.

We saw a couple of bald eagles on the river today, but were able to observe an immature eagle at relatively close range while we ate lunch. I first saw the eagle when he swooped down on a lone Canada goose. The goose saw him coming and was able to make a last minute dodge to deter the attack.

The photos I was able to take were with a telephoto lens, but we were within 100′. Bald
eagles have this coloration until they’re three years old. After that they develop the white head and tail.

Keep checking in and we’ll keep posting reports and photos!

Sunrise over the world headquarter of R & R Fly Fishing in the Smokies. That's the silhouette of Mount Leconte in the distance.

We can sum up the fishing pretty quickly – It’s excellent where ever you go right now. We’re glad to report that because our guide season really cranked up. We’ll have multiple guides on the water several days this week. Our wading boots and drift boat oars will both get a work out.

The recent warm up has the trout in the Smokies feeding really well now. Over the past few days we’ve seen a little bit of a slump in the dry fly fishing. It really had no where to go but down after a couple of weeks of good Quill Gordon hatches, but fish will certainly eat a nymph if you can’t get them to rise.

Miles Duncan of Knoxville shows off his first trout in the Smoky Mountains

It’s gotten to the point where we would even recommend fishing the backcountry and higher elevation brook trout streams. In fact, it will be downright hot a few days this week. The leaves haven’t sprouted on most trees yet so there’s no shade from the warm 80 degree temperatures we’ll see this week.

If you’re more of a tailwater angler, TVA has the schedule for you! Conditions are perfect for wading on the Hiwassee, Clinch, Holston, and Watauga. South Holston Dam is sluicing about 500 cfs right now while the generator is undergoing maintenance, but locals should easily find a few places to wade and the increased flow should make the trout less picky.

Keep an eye on the schedule on the Clinch. While there will always be somewhere to wade, there might be a few spots too high to wade during short periods of generation. Midges are still the main attraction, but fish #16-18 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymphs to imitate Sulphur nymphs. The Sulphur hatch isn’t that far away.

The real sleeper could be the Hiwassee. We haven’t made it down there this season, but we’re hearing excellent reports of caddis hatches and good dry fly fishing. Fish #16-18 Elk Hair caddis patterns or similar size beadhead nymphs.

The weather forecast for the week features plenty of warm sunshine, but there were some cloudy moments today when it got a little cool. Charity guided some of our oldest customers, Jim and Glenda Gibson from Michigan. We even stayed with them for a few days a couple of years back when we spoke to fly fishing clubs in Kalamazoo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana the same week.

Charity got this photo of a Quill Gordon while Jim Gibson fishes in the background

Glenda caught this nice wild brown trout on a dry fly on Little River

We’ll be on the river quite a bit over the next few days and we’ll also be speaking at the grand opening of the Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Great Outpost in Gatlinburg this Saturday. They’ve set up a beautiful 17,000 square foot store and it’s conveniently located right at the park entrance.

We’ll both be there all day on Saturday so come and talk fishing with us!

On the other hand, it’s all come together this week in the Smokies. We’ve seen some excellent Quill Gordon hatches. Have a look for yourself. This was earlier in the week.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The weather forecast for the weekend is OK, but not great. Looks like Saturday will be the best day with more rain on the way on Sunday.

I was actually expecting a pretty good day of fishing since it’s not unusual for spring mayflies to continue hatching on such days. The wet and cold conditions will often keep the bugs on the water and whip the trout into a feeding frenzy. In a nutshell, that didn’t happen.

There were a few bugs and a few fish on Little River, though. Take a look.

Fly Fishing the Smoky Mountains During a Spring Snow from Ian Rutter on Vimeo.

The weather forecast calls for sunny and warm temperatures starting on Wednesday.

One of many rainbows caught by the Moak boys on dry flies

Hatches are still developing everywhere, but we’re seeing some great moments in the Smokies. Tom and Jake Moak went out on their first Smoky Mountain fly fishing trip last Friday. It was Jake’s first time handling a fly rod and there was one point when he hooked and landed five trout from one small pool. There were a number missed strikes, but both Tom and Jake caught a good number of rainbows on dry fly.

The tailwaters are fishing pretty good too

Saturday was clear and sunny when I took Buddy and Pam Leach for a float trip. Midges hatched sporadically through the day and like my last tailwater float, things were a bit streaky. We’d get into a few fish and then have relatively slow period. This cycle continued all day long. Pam caught the fish of the day on a #16 Beadhead Zelon Nymph.

Buddy also caught one close to this size on the beadhead, but experimented with streamers for about 30 minutes. Typical of streamer fishing, he had several swipes on the fly and hooked one large trout. The big one was a rainbow that absolutely crushed the fly. He had it on for a few seconds but the fish managed to free itself after only a few seconds.

This week is off to a wet start with a bit of a cool down but remember, rain is not a bad thing! Fish like water. This kind of weather is typical of March and even April, but the weather and fishing will only get better from now on!