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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

We’re still waiting for the hatches to get started in the Smokies, but the rainbow trout are preparing to spawn. Here are a couple of fish paired up near Tremont.

We took a family trip this afternoon that combined a picnic, short hike, and some fishing. This is our daughter with her first trout of the year. She’s a bit of a veteran at four years old, but she still needs some help. She did the release all by herself though.

This was upstream of Elkmont and it was a really fun day. It was warm in the sun but there was still more than enough snow in the shade to have a few snowball fights.

This will be the week when things break out. Fishing was OK this weekend, mostly because we’re all tired of the snow and cold weather, but next weekend things should really be rolling. Generation on the Clinch, Holston, South Holston, and Watauga are all good for waders to negotiate. By next weekend the fish will have adjusted to the lower water on the Clinch and Holston and the fishing should be excellent with a variety of nymphs and midge patterns.

So far we’re seeing a few bugs in the Smokies, but nymphs have been the way to catch fish. Within a few days we’ll be nymphing in the mornings and fishing dries in the afternoons.

We’ll see you on the water!

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Let us know if you have any questions or topics you’d like to see us cover in future installments.

It was another cold weekend here in the Smoky Mountains, but we got out and did some fly fishing anyway. The fishing wasn’t red hot. Far from it to be honest, but we have spring fever and honestly, I can’t help but think that the fish and the bugs do too.

The fish stayed on the bottom and even though they didn’t eat much of what we fished, they sure seemed to be moving around whenever we got a good vantage point where we could see into the river. No stray mayflies out and about, but there were some caddis.

There were a few of these #18 Little Black Caddis crawling on the rocks

Charity and I did spot one hefty brown trout finning in the current in one deep run. I was positive I hooked it, but it seems his body guard flung himself into my fly. It was a nice brown anyway, just not the exceptional one I was hoping for. Subscribers to our Fly of the Month will recognize the Rubber Leg Tellico Nymph.

Does this weather have you bouncing off the walls?

If you’re in the greater Knoxville area next Saturday we’ve got something just for you!

Tennessee Casting for Recovery will be screening two great fly fishing films, Drift and Rise. The doors open at 5:30, Drift begins at 6:30 and Rise starts at 8:00. Tickets are $15 at the door and light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Charity and I will be there and we expect to see many of our friends there as well. Trust me, if you’ve been dreaming about fly fishing this winter these movies will put you in a cold sweat! Here’s a preview of Rise.

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You can buy your tickets in advance here.

The weather last weekend was absolutely beautiful here in East Tennessee. Even better, TVA cut generation back dramatically at Cherokee Dam. Charity and I hitched up the drift boat and headed for the Holston!

One of a few fish we picked up on a weekend float

We should really know better by now, but I don’t think we do. Here’s the set up: It’s been cold and snowy in the Smokies and the tailwaters have been running water non-stop for months. A few days of warm, sunny weather come along and TVA cuts generation so the tailwaters are fishable. We all run for the rivers, but the fishing just doesn’t quite live up to our expectations.

Snow melt in the Smokies kept the streams as cold as ever and the fish were generally locked down. I did pick up a decent brown trout on a dry fly this Saturday and got cell phone video of the fish to prove it.

It was the first time in months that the water was off for any appreciable length of time on the Holston and I think the bugs and fish were just freaked out. I’m sure they got pretty used to holding in places at 14,000 cfs that were high and dry at 400 cfs. There were a few midging trout, but only a few seemed to be in a rhythm and even those fish shut it down if we put a fly anywhere near them. Here’s a quick look…

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We picked up a few fish by keeping the fly in the water drifting into them with the boat. Late in the day we stripped streamers through a few favorite locations and had a real flurry of activity. None of the fish were very large but it was a great to feel the sun on your face and row the boat.

Of course, as the days go by we can expect the fishing to only get better. Nymphing in the Smokies should fish pretty good this week as temperatures will be moderate, yet still wintry. Winter stoneflies and Early Brown Stoneflies should start to appear and we’ve seen plenty of cased caddis moving around. Blue Wing Olives, Blue Quills, and Quill Gordons are probably two weeks or less from hatching.

Right now the South Holston, Watauga, and Tuckaseegee are the best big rivers to fish. Generation is favorable and the fish are eating.

After the great fishing Charity and I had yesterday, I went back in the park with my fishing buddy Doug Sanders today. We went up Little River and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. All that snow was melting today and the water was absolutely bone chilling.

We really didn’t do very well at all. Doug caught one nice rainbow trout on a George Nymph and I caught one brown trout on a Parachute Adams. That’s the first one of the year I’ve caught on my favorite fly. Have a look.

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It’s yet another snowy day here in the Smoky Mountains. The same system that brought snow to the deep south gave us a little bit as well.

Roads were closed in the park today so we couldn’t get to our favorite runs of water to do some fishing. We parked at the Townsend Y and took a short hike up the river along the closed road. Here’s a short video of what we saw.

We’re hoping to get at least a few hours of fishing in this week. The tailwater situation looks as bleak as ever. TVA continues to generate around the clock to keep the reservoirs below the flood guide. Perhaps we’ll finally get back on the Clinch or Holston in a couple of weeks.