We’ve had a very wet fall and winter so rivers across the region have been well above average. In recent weeks most of the tailwaters have not had many days with fishable flows. Hopefully this will change. Long range forecasts show us drying out over the next few weeks, so hopefully this will translate into better flows from the tailwaters.

This chart from TVA shows that it will probably be a few more weeks before the Clinch river will have lower flows. Norris Lake (shown as the red line) is currently higher than TVA’s flood guide so you can expect them to generate as much water as possible until the lake falls below that level.

Fortunately we should see lower flows in the coming weeks on the Holston, South Holston, Hiwassee, and Watauga Rivers. It’s been November since our drift boat has been out of the garage and we’re ready to get it back on the river.

Smoky Mountain streams have provided the best opportunities to fish over the last couple of months, but even they have had a good number of days with high flows. Fortunately they don’t stay high for more than a day or two.

Mild weather has meant far better action than typical for January and February. All this warm weather also means that our hatches will probably start earlier than normal. We wouldn’t be surprised if our Quill Gordons start hatching in a couple of weeks. We usually look for them around March 1, but this year it could be mid-February.

We’ll be sure to post a report when the hatches start.

Great Smoky Mountains – We are very involved with the biologists in the national park and already knew most of what they had to say. Most of the commentary from Steve Moore was about the Lynn Camp Prong brook trout restoration in the Tremont section of the park. It seemed that someone had taken a few rainbow trout back into the stream after all rainbows had been removed and restored with brook trout. Last September brookies were removed from that stretch of water by electro-shocking and taken to a neighboring stream. This was done to keep them separate from the rainbows that had to be removed. After the brook trout were moved out, that section of Lynn Camp Prong was re-treated with antimycin to kill any remaining rainbow trout.

Lynn Camp Prong brook trout captured during a sampling to check the growing population

Exhaustive shocking was done throughout the entire length of the stream and that was the only section with rainbow trout. About 70% of the brook trout were recovered from the neighboring stream and brought back to the section of Lynn Camp Prong where they had been removed. Furthermore, an additional 800 brook trout were brought into Lynn Camp Prong to bolster the population. Heavy flows from this last fall may have hampered the spawn, but nothing can be known for sure until later this summer when the stream will be sampled.

Tellico River basin – Jim Herrig of the US Forest service reports that the Tellico trout hatchery is a pioneer in propogating native Southern Appalachian brook trout. This is an experimental program in cooperation with TWRA. Brook trout were collected from Sycamore Creek, Bald River, and Henderson Branch for brood stock. About 120 fingerlings were produced and biologists reported that wild brook trout behave far differently in a hatchery than typical rainbow trout reared in a hatchery. One of the largest issues was that about half of the fish would not eat trout pellets and had to be released. The biologists plan to change their methods slightly next year and the long range plan is to use this method to propagate native fish for future restorations.

Brook trout are becoming more common in the Tellico River basin

Steve Moore from Great Smoky Mountains National Park related the recent discovery that Southern Appalachian brook trout have spawning preferences that biologists have no idea of how to identify. DNA samples were taken from fish used in restorations. Fish from different streams were used in restorations to minimize the effects of removing too many fish from any one stream. After several spawning seasons DNA samples were taken from fish. DNA samples show that there is very little, if any, cross breeding between those populations of fish placed in a restored stream. Moore pointed out that this may have contributed to the limited number of fish that were successfully spawned in the hatchery. This seems to be an issue that will have effects on restorations.

Jim Herrig reported that a brook trout restoration done on Sycamore Creek some years ago in the small headwaters with only 200 fish was wildly successful. The numbers of those fish grew significantly and the population moved downstream of a barrier falls and displaced a wild population of rainbow trout for over a mile. Herrig would like to remove rainbow trout even further by electroshocking and immediately place brook trout in that water. His hopes are that expensive, time intensive restoration methods used now may not be necessary if brook trout can displace rainbows on their own.  The Sycamore Creek restoration is already more successful than it was envisioned and the Forest Service would like to try this in conjuction with the brook trout hatchery program as an experiment.

Herrig also reported the banning of Off Road Vehicles in the Tellico River watershed seems to have already had beneficial results. Tellico River clears much faster after rains and the numbers of mussels in the lower river have increased dramatically. This should help aquatic insect populations and have benefits for trout spawning.

TWRA cold water biologist Jim Habera reported that several wild trout streams in the southern districts of the Cherokee National Forest have not made much of a recovery from the drought of 2007-2008. Water levels have recovered, but high water levels during spawning periods have hampered reproduction. Trout populations are higher now than they were immediately after the drought, but far from what they were previous. He fully expects populations to make a full recovery when water conditions normalize.

Clinch River -  Jim Habera reports that the slot limit on the Clinch seems to have had impressive results. Trout in the 14″ – 20″ size range are at a record density. Slot limits have had mixed results in the past, but this is by far the best result they have ever seen.

Clinch River trout in this size range are more common than ever before

South Holston River – Jim Habera reported that the number of fish in the slot limit was nearly as low now as when it was first imposed. However, that comes after several years of higher populations in that size range. Right now there is a year class of fish missing from the river, almost surely the result of a bad spawn several years back. Every year those fish will be missed less as successive generations grow. On the bright side, the overall number of 9″ – 12″ trout in the river is at an all time high. This sets up for good numbers of large fish in the next couple of years.

South Holston brown trout are more numerous than ever, but currently a little smaller than previous years

Hiwassee River -  This is the first year of delayed harvest regulations on the river and the removal of the “Trophy Section”. This was done because water temperatures played a much larger role in fish populations and growth rates than angling pressure. The most accessible areas with the most angling pressure also received the most stocking. The former Trophy Section had extremely limited access and light angling pressure. That also meant it received very light stocking and also had the fewest fish. Light angling pressure often leads to larger populations and larger trout, but this was not the case here. Trout populations and sizes never showed any benefit from the previous regulations. Sampling will be done on the river this year to see how the seasonal catch and release regulations affect the population over the course of the year.

Caney Fork -  This middle Tennessee tailwater has seen an explosion in trophy trout populations. A slot limit was imposed on brown trout several years ago with positive results. Last season a 13 pound brown trout was captured in a TWRA population sample. Regulations have been deemed so successful that catch and release regulations have been imposed on brown trout up to 24″ and rainbow and brook trout also have a 14″-20″ slot limit protecting fish in that size range.

Smoky Mountain streams got relatively high over the weekend and will certainly rise today. You can track stream levels throughout the Smoky Mountain region on our website. This is extremely useful to figure out whether or not a stream is worth fishing so you might want to book mark the page for future reference.

Fortunately the streams don’t stay high for more than a day or two and will be fishing when the water falls. In the meantime, conditions are prime for tying flies or reading books.

Fill ‘em up!

Icicles at Tremont just a few days ago

Even as it has been an exceptionally mild winter across most of the country, even here in East Tennessee, it’s still winter in the Smoky Mountains. It’s easy to forget that the Smokies have their own climate, but all it takes is a few times of leaving Townsend in a light jacket and finding snow and ice about 20 minutes away.

Snow along Little River last weekend

The tailwater situation hasn’t been great either. TVA has started to ease up on generation, but this isn’t a highly predictable thing and we haven’t made it over to the Holston or Clinch when the water was right. It’s almost as if TVA knows our schedule and drops river levels when we’re committed to other things and blow it out when we’re ready to go.

Yesterday I found a few free hours and decided to head up the river just to get out of the house. I’ll often coordinate with my neighbor and fishing buddy Doug Sanders several days in advance, but found him in the same spot doing the same thing. We had modest expectations but had to get outside.

The water temperature was 41 degrees F so we were braced for some deep nymphing. Doug already had his rod rigged with a couple of nymphs. I had one rod with a streamer and a second with a dry fly. I grabbed the dry fly rod and had every intention of clipping off and re-tying with a pair of nymphs. Doug caught a fish almost right off the bat and handed off to me to make a few drifts with the nymphs.

Of course I wasn’t going to sit and tie knots while I could fish, so I traded off with Doug and rationalized the whole thing by deciding that we’d have a dry fly already rigged in the off chance it might work.

As it turns out I made a few test drifts with the dry fly on the second run of water and a fish rose to it! We spent the afternoon picking and choosing, but by the end of the day we had actually caught a couple more fish on the dry fly than we did on the nymphs.

We saw a number of cased caddis that had migrated to the water’s edge, perhaps in preparation of hatching. This might explain the good dry fly action, but we only saw a few caddis and a couple of tiny winter stoneflies.

We’re glad to see some good fishing in the Smokies because the tailwater situation is still pretty grim. It looks like there could be a break on the Clinch at any time, but we’re not holding our breath. Right now there are very short windows of fishable water near Norris Dam in the afternoon, but it’s not long. We’ll keep you posted.

Last weekend was exceptionally mild for January, but there was an interesting phenomenon in the Smokies. Since there wasn’t much wind and the sun was at a low winter angle it was still bitterly cold along most streams. I talked to a friend of mine from Bryson City who drove over into Tennessee and noted that the temperature at Smokemont was 35 degrees in the afternoon but the temperature at Newfound Gap was 45 degrees. Most of the time this would be reversed but the exposure on the ridge tops actually made it warmer along the tops of the mountains than in the shaded valleys.

Nothing special this week, just the typical fish in the typical places

A front moved through earlier this week and brought some rain. This warmed things up nicely, but we had several thunderstorms – exceptionally rare in January! Now I’m writing this update with snow flurries falling gently. There is a light dusting of snow here in Townsend with several inches higher in the mountains depending on the location. It still looks like this will be a mild winter, though, as temperatures are forecast to be in the 40′s and 50′s next week.

If you’re someone who likes to fish on East Tennessee’s tailwaters it looks like better days are coming. Judging by flow predictions on TVA’s reservoir information site there will be lower flows on area rivers. It’s hard to say if this will just be for the coming weekend or a long term trend.

If you’re heading over to the Clinch I wouldn’t expect much on the first day with lower water, although we wouldn’t discourage you from trying. River levels have been pretty high for a while and it usually takes the fish and bugs a day or two to adjust to the lower flow.

Mild weather through the end of the year and some negotiable tailwater schedules led to some excellent opportunities. Unfortunately we’ve only had a few chances to spend a few hours on some local streams near Townsend. Little River, Tremont, and Abrams Creek all fished quite well last week.

The recent surge of Arctic cold has put a damper on things. I tried to do some fishing yesterday but the air temperature of 35 coupled with 20-30 mph winds just made it miserable so I cut it short, came home, and watched football by the fireplace. Stick with the heavy nymphs for now and look for the milder weather in the extended forecast.

Here are a few predictions for 2012 I’ve put together:

Tailwater fishing will continue to be tough in the area around Knoxville.
2011 was a wet year in East Tennessee and rainfall totals were over 9″ above average at the airport. This translated into high flows for a good chunk of the year. It looks like this trend will probably continue for at least a few more months. We almost always get good flows in the spring but last year the reservoirs filled so fast the window wasn’t as long as it usually is. There is an upside though…

There will be excellent numbers of large trout in the Clinch, Holston, and Hiwassee Rivers. All of these rivers have been too high to fish quite a while. High flows on these rivers are also good for trout, regardless of what anglers think. Sure, you can’t catch many fish when flows are that high, but it doesn’t have any adverse effect on the fish. In fact, these stable flows on the Clinch will probably allow some fish to spawn without redds getting dried out. We’ve seen some brown trout in the Clinch over the past few years that look wild and seen them spawning. Most years those redds will end up high and dry when generation ceases, but that didn’t happen this year.

The Quill Gordon hatch will start early this year. This is one of the top events of the year in the Smokies and I’m going out on a limb and predicting it will arrive early in 2012. Back in 2010 and 2011 we had exceptionally cold winters that just continued to drag on well into March. We even had one cold snap in May last year. The Quill Gordons were essentially on time, showing up by March 10, but after looking at this year’s predictions for a mild winter I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’ll see them around March 1 this year, perhaps even earlier. Two of the best trout I’ve ever caught in the Smokies came to dry flies on the 27th and 28th of February during Quill Gordon hatches.

We’ll see and hear about a lot of big brown trout in the Smokies in 2012. We saw, missed, hooked, and landed good numbers of large browns this fall and those fish aren’t going away any time soon. This is likely the long term upside from the droughts of 2007 and 2008. Brown trout weren’t affected so much as rainbows and had a bit of a population surge. This bump in large brown trout numbers is almost certainly the result of those fish growing up and having good water conditions to prosper.

Ian will receive Husband and Father of the Year honors for 2012. I like to think of myself as a good husband and family man, but the whole world will see what a great guy I am as I hold things down here in Townsend while Charity heads out to fish in Patagonia in February. Hopefully she’ll be able to do some blogging from waaaayyyy down under.

Expect some cool stuff from R&R Fly Fishing besides the old stuff. Yes, we’re still doing our Hazel Creek Fish Camps and our annual trip to Yellowstone Country, but you can expect some new products this year. Soon you’ll see leaders and tippet from R&R Fly Fishing along with a few other cool items.

We’re so blessed to have so many fly fishing options from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to our big tailwater rivers, to our phenomenal smallmouth bass fisheries. Here’s a look at our 2011.

The Scenery

One of the best things about living in the Smokies is just getting up in the morning. Several times a day we stop what we’re doing to just take a look around. Here are a few of those moments.

That’s why they call them the Smoky Mountains! The mountains rise above the morning mist.

Beautiful morning light in Townsend. That’s Mount Leconte poking into the clouds.

Another incredible sun rise over the Smoky Mountains.

On our “commute” to float the Tuckaseegee we had to stop to take this in. Looking down the Deep Creek valley and Bryson City, NC is under the fog.

Moments on the Water

Ice bells on a cold day on the stream

Unmistakably spring in the Smokies – Dogwood blooms along the stream.

A magical spring afternoon in the Smokies with warm sunshine, hatching mayflies, and rising trout.

Floating the Clinch River on a bluebird October day

Casting streamers along rock ledges

An idyllic summer afternoon creekin’ for smallmouth bass

A cool autumn morning on Hazel Creek

Could you create a prettier spot on a creek?

It was a phenomenal year for fall color in the Smokies

The Bugs

Without bugs where are we as fly fishers? Here are some of our favorites from the last year

Salmonfly up close and personal

Our favorite mayfly in the Smokies, the Quill Gordon

Small but they still bring trout to the surface – Blue Wing Olive

An extreme close up of a #20 Trico

The Fish

Early spring rainbow trout on a float

A healthy rainbow trout that we found rising to Quill Gordons

The best part about catching Smoky Mountain specks is just looking at them

A solid smallmouth bass from the Holston River

A solid Hazel Creek rainbow trout

A great pair – A nice brown trout and a Tellico Nymph

Wildlife

One of the best parts of our job is who we share the “office” with.

A curious but cautious black bear keeps its distance on Hazel Creek

Iconic image of spring – a tom turkey struts for hens

A bear cub high up in a tree over Bradley Fork

Show respect! A timber rattlesnake takes its time crossing the trail in the backcountry

Perfectly camouflaged a copperhead remains motionless on the forest floor

Out West

Every year we make our annual pilgrimage to Yellowstone Country. This year we hosted a group on Idaho’s Henry’s Fork and spent some personal time on the Yellowstone River and in Yellowstone National Park.

Ultimate prize – A big rainbow trout and a little fly on the Railroad Ranch section of the Henry’s Fork

Sunset over the Henry’s Fork

A heck of a slab! Cuttthroat/rainbow hybrid on Henry’s Lake

A family effort in Yellowstone Park. Dad holds the brown trout and carries young Boone in the pack, Willow holds the rod, and Mom takes the picture

“Mend it Mom! Mend!” Floating the Yellowstone

Welcome to your place in the food chain – A grizzly bear track along the Yellowstone River

A native Yellowstone Cutthroat trout

The Big Moments

A beautiful brown trout from the Smokies and a priceless smile

An early season slab of a smallmouth from the Pigeon River

A beast of a brown trout caught last spring on Hazel Creek. We saw him in the same spot later in October.

Can you believe this 23″ chunk took a dry fly? Best eat of the year!

This 20″ smallie ate a popper!

Not nearly so big as the others, but this 10″ native speck is equivalent to a 20″ brown.

A beautiful fall brown trout!

I still got it!

Charity shows off a nice wild fish

This is one way…

We’re in the middle of another high water session all across the Smoky Mountain region with creeks boiling with whitewater and our tailwaters running full. The Norris Dam is about start spilling so we won’t be fishing the Clinch any time soon. Even the Watauga and South Holston, usual good bets in high water, have pretty high flows.

If you haven’t seen it yet we now have a page on our site that has stream flows for many streams in the region along with our commentary of what the different levels mean. You can find that by clicking “Stream Flows” on the menu bar or clicking here.

We saw some very cold overnight temperatures over the weekend and water temperatures reflected it as they dipped well into the 40′s from the 50′s we’ve been long accustomed to seeing. The fish didn’t seem to mind much though. The mornings were a bit slower than we’ve seen, but they kept on rising in the afternoon.

Water temperatures will certainly rise back into the 50′s this week as temperatures remain warm and a shot of warm rain will probably stimulate both the bugs and fish into action.

Tailwater schedules remain dismal in our neighborhood. The Clinch is too high to bother with right now and it looks as if the Holston River will be the same. You can find some fishable water up on the South Holston and Watauga if tailwaters are your thing.

Click here to view the embedded video.