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

Ladawn Ostmann is a veteran of our Western trips and has traveled to Turneffe Flats Belize with us in addition to spending time with us in the Smokies. She really set the bar high for the whole group by catching this monster 23″ cutthroat / rainbow hybrid from Henry’s Lake before lunch on the first day of the week.

It doesn’t look like you could slap the smile off of Mike Downey’s face. He caught a number of nice rainbows like this on the Box Canyon section of the Henry’s Fork.

Chris Thompson shared the boat with Mike Downey and ended the day with this slab of a rainbow trout. Well done!

Charity and I spent our day with our children in Yellowstone National Park and did some fishing. As many of you know our daughter Willow is progressing as a fly fisher and having fun in the process.

Willow brought in this nice brown trout on the Gibbon River not far upstream of its confluence with the Firehole at the source of the Madison River. Willow actually landed her first trout with some assistance at the age of 3 in Yellowstone. Since then she’s started to hone her skills in the Smokies and is eager to get back on the water in the Rockies.

We end the day at the TroutHunter Bar & Grill every evening. So far we’ve enjoyed dishes like bison short ribs, wasabi crusted tuna, and cheese burgers and washed them down with some brew like Black Butte Porter. Here’s the view of the sunset over the Henry’s Fork from the window.

September 18 – 24, 2010

With 1 1/2 miles of access to Montana’s Gallatin River, the lodge is also conveniently situated near the Madison and Yellowstone Rivers as well as several private spring creeks. This provides for 5 days of fishing on some of the best trout rivers in North America.

Our trip includes either 5 days of guided fishing or 3 days of guided fishing with 2 days to spend as you please. All meals, guiding, airport shuttle and 6 nights lodging are included in the price.

Check in is September 18, 2010 and we are offering two different packages

6 nights at the lodge with 5 days guided fishing including one day on a private spring creek
Double Occupancy with Shared Guide $3,305 per person
Single Occupancy with Private Guide $5025 per person
Single Occupancy with Shared Guide $4125 per person

Non Angling companion $2105

6 nights at the lodge with 3 days guided includes one day on a private spring creek
Double Occupancy with shared guide $2,980 per person
Single Occupancy with private guide $4,375
Single Occupancy with shared guide $3,800

50% deposit is due to reserve your room and guide.

Book Now! Space is limited.

I recently spent six days fly fishing in Yellowstone National Park. Craig Langer who runs the FlyBook from Portland, Oregon joined me. It was a great week of camping, fishing, and hiking in our first national park.

An elk skull along the banks of the Yellowstone River

We started our trip by hiking into a relatively unfished section of the Yellowstone River. Cutthroat trout were the primary species and fish in the 14″ range were abundant with a few larger than that.

A typical cutthroat trout from the Yellowstone River

We spent our second day exploring a canyon stretch of the Lamar River. We caught a few rainbow trout in there, but Cutthroats were the primary fish we found. Most were in the same size range as what we found in the Yellowstone.

One of the few times a cutthroat refused Craig's #8 Pink Foam Hopper

A Northern Harrier scans the Lamar Valley for prey

We moved camp to Lewis Lake and explored remote sections of the Lewis River. The Lewis is among the most difficult rivers to fish because there are few trails or access points along most of the river.

Scenery in the canyon is stunning

Brown trout are the main species in the Lewis River system. There are a few cutthroats and whitefish near the confluence with the Snake River and lake trout in Lewis and Shoshone Lakes, but it was the browns we came for.

Craig scored a few nice Lewis River browns too.

The Lewis River meadows run right along the road to the park’s South Entrance. This is flat water with exceptionally wary trout, but the fall colors made for spectacular scenery.

From the Lewis River we moved over to the west side of the park and camped along the Madison River. I’ve spent so much time here it almost seems like home to me. Craig and I fished the Madison in the mornings and evenings and the Gibbon River in the afternoon.

That's what we came for!

A Gibbon River brown trout

Craig scans the Madison from a high point in the Beaver Meadows

Craig lands a nice Madison River rainbow trout

Anchor ice is rarely seen here in the Smokies. Ice forms in small micro-eddies on the bottom of the stream in riffles

Water just doesn’t get any colder than this. It was 32 degrees and frozen anywhere it wasn’t moving. Not good fishing conditions, but pretty to see. This small waterfall on the West Prong of Little River, just upstream from the confluence with Middle Prong was particularly impressive. That’s not a long exposure, the cascade is mostly ice!

And you thought the rocks were slick in the summer!

We went on to Cades Cove parked at the bridge over the spring creek section of Abrams Creek. At 3:30 the temperature was 19, but it was just nice to get out. While the other streams were icy, the spring influence was evident on the stream. There was absolutely no ice anywhere and it was so cold that putting your hand in the water felt relatively warm. We saw a 10 point whitetail buck browsing along the stream and watched a beaver maintaining a dam.

On the way back home we saw these fish in Little River just outside of the park. It was tempting to pull over and fish, but the floating ice was enough to convince us to head for home and the fireplace.

Trip summary in a nutshell: Big sky, big fish, big smiles  LaDawn Ostmann with a nice Madison River brown trout.

The Madison River is a tailwater below Hebgen Dam just outside of West Yellowstone, Montana. Western tailwaters are far different than those we have in the Southeast. While we’re used to water levels fluctuating on a daily level, most western dams run at a fairly even pace and flows generally mirror natural flows with the highest flows during early summer snow melt and the lowest flows in the fall and winter.

Less than two weeks before we arrived on the Madison there was a problem with Hebgen Dam that allowed far more water to flow than should have. Typical September flows on the Madison are 800 – 900 cfs. We arrived to find something like 3200 cfs flowing. We knew this in advance and weren’t worried since guides we have used for years were catching some nice fish. However, dry fly fishing was practically non-existent and nymphing was tough. The best method for catching trout would be fly fishing with streamers. Fortunately, most of the anglers on our trip were die hard streamer fly fishers.

Streamer fanatic Peter Petruzzi shows off a nice Madison brown near Ennis

To quote one of the guides, “The streamer fishing is off the hook!” Matt Smargiasso floated with guide Steve Mock one day and had his best day ever on the Madison. They covered about 20 miles of river that day; a long float but it only took about 8 hours with the high flows. Steve estimated that Matt moved 4-6 fish per mile. You do the math. Matt’s best fish with 21 1/2″ with a few more around 20″. They figured the average fish was around 16-17″.

Flows began to fall mid-week and wading and nymphing became an option, but most of our anglers hung in there with the streamers. There were some floats up on the Jefferson and lower Madison below Bear Trap Canyon, but the main section of the Madison upstream of Ennis was the best place all week.

Guide John McClure rows John Milner and Peter Petruzzi from Varney Bridge to Ennis

Not all of our anglers were experienced with streamers. Julie Tallman was somewhat new to the tactic of throwing large articulated flies with a sinking line but was a quick study. She hooked what would have been Slide Inn’s largest fish of the season but it managed to run under the boat and oar when her guide tried to net it and it popped off. The guide estimated the brown trout to be around 8 pounds and 24 -26″ long.

Julie Tallman and her guide John can’t help but grin after a big day on the Madison

Wading became an option later in the week and fishing with small nymphs was the best method. Most flies were in the #18 range to imitate the baetis that were sporadically hatching. However, the streamer bite continued for those who wanted to cover lots of water and throw big streamers.

It was easier to nymph spots by wading when the water got low enough for it to be effective

While brown trout tag streamers the most, we still picked up some nice rainbows

As always, chef Trey Braasch kept us eating well. Evening meals consisted of champagne chicken and mushrooms, shrimp scampi, bacon wrapped pork loin, and other great entrees. Desserts included white chocolate raspberry cheese cake, molten chocolate lava cake, and apple pie a la mode. We’ve become pretty good friends with Trey since we’ve been going to Slide Inn and try to fish with him at least once while we’re there. He’s an absolute streamer nut and enjoys splitting time on the oars to float the best streamer water on the river.

He can fish almost as well as he cooks

We can’t wait to get back to the Madison next year.

The good news relating to the dry weather conditions is that the tailwaters have good flows for fishing. TVA is usually dumping water from the reservoirs, but since there isn’t much to dump anglers can count on fishable flows. The best bet is to fish low on the Clinch near Clinton. Generation comes on mid-morning so you’ll have most of the afternoon before water rises downstream. The Clinch also has superb flows for floating right now. The South Holston and Watauga also have great conditions for fishing as well.

Update from Yellowstone

Ian rowing the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley Montana

We’re at the Slide Inn on the Madison River right now, but spent several days in Yellowstone Park and on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley, Montana. The elk are bugling in the park and bulls are rounding up their harems. September is our favorite time in Yellowstone.

We hit an important milestone in the Rutter family. Our three year old daughter Willow caught her first trout on Lava Creek in Yellowstone Park. She’s been pretty revved up to try some fishing so we let her cast a rod with some assistance.

Willow caught a 9″ brookie on a Stimulator with a little help from Dad

The park fished good, but the Yellowstone River was excellent. Trout were rising all day long. We fished #18 tan caddis patterns and Blue Wing Olive patterns in the evening. We hardly even tried nymphing. Willow even caught a few decent rainbows from the drift boat and hooked up a really nice cutthroat that came off before we could net it.

Ian with a nice Yellowstone River cutthroat

The weather was great! About 80 in the afternoon with mornings in the 30′s. We dressed in shorts with sweatshirts and were in T-shirts by lunch time. We’d put the heavier layer on again about the time we’d be pulling up to the take-out boat ramp.

Charity caught this 19″ brown trout on a #18 Hi-Vis Blue Wing Olive Parachute

We’ve fished the Madison several days and done extremely well in spite of high water. We’ll post a report about that in a few days.

Dry fly fishing is good right now. The basic Parachute Adams should work well, but downsize your fly if you get a few refusals. A #18 BWO will be the ticket in the weeks to come. Beetles and ant patterns should produce for a few more weeks. Switch to a #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail or Hare’s Ear Nymph if you can’t get the fish to look up. In fact, this is a good way to go if you’re out early in the morning.

 Report from the Road

Wyoming’s state motto is no lie: “Like no place on Earth” Charity and I have been on the road. We’re now at the Slide Inn on the Madison River in Montana, but have come via Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. Of course we’ve fished along the way.

We set up camp at Gros Ventre (pronounced “Grow Vaunt”) Campground in Grand Teton National Park. The Gros Ventre River was about 150′ from our tent and the hoppers were jumping all over as we got our camp established. The hopper bite was still on in Jackson Hole and we did very well on the Gros Ventre.

It’s always been a goal of ours to float the Snake River through Jackson Hole. The scenery is incredible and it’s one of the last best big rivers with native populations of cutthroat trout. The float was everything we hoped it would be. The Tetons towered over us all day long and the cutties rose to hoppers along the banks. Rowing the Snake was an experience we’ll never forget!

Changing to a less chewed up hopper pattern on the Snake River

Just getting to the river anywhere in Jackson Hole puts you inside a postcard. This is one of those places that I’ve often said Stevie Wonder could take a great photo.

Our motto is “It’s all about the experience!” This is so true of our western fishing trips. We have a great time staying in the cabins at Slide Inn, but camping is a big part of it for us. It’s been 3 years since we’ve camped in Yellowstone country and we’re glad we did it again. Yes, it’s cold in the mornings. There was frost on the tent, but you can’t trade the experience of brewing a pot of coffee on a camp stove while a bull moose saunters by.

A bull moose behind our tent

From Jackson Hole we turned our sites toward Yellowstone Park and the Yellowstone River. I’ll post that in a day or so.

Mayfly nymphs and caddis larva can be in the same place at the same time. Doesn’t it make sense to fish the same way?

We rig droppers two different ways depending on the situation. The most popular rig for droppers is the “dry and dropper”. This is when the fly fisher uses a dry fly, then attaches a wet fly or nymph underneath. This allows the dry fly to act as a strike indicator in addition to being an effective fly on the surface.

We rig this by tying a second piece of tippet to the bend of the hook of the dry fly. This is accomplished with a simple clinch knot. The wet fly or nymph is then tied onto the additional tippet. Use at least 12″ of line, perhaps more depending on the water you are fishing. Depending on the situation it may be appropriate to use 24″ – 36″ of tippet to separate the dry and nymph.

There are a few things to consider when rigging the dry and dropper. Be sure your dry fly is big enough and bushy enough to support the second fly. Second, your nymph or wet fly must not be too heavy to sink your dry fly. We recommend Stimulators and Wulff patterns in a #12 or #14 for streams in the Smokies. Our favorite droppers under these dry flies are #16 Copper Johns and Beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymphs.

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On the tailwaters we like to use Zebra Midges, soft hackles, or unweighed Pheasant Tail Nymphs under an appropriate caddis or mayfly dry fly. Small dry fly patterns used on Southern tailwaters won’t hold up much weight, but we’re often casting dries to risers anyway. Many of these rising trout are eating emergers just under the surface so weight isn’t required anyway. Comparaduns are superb dry flies in their own right, but will easily support a small midge pupa or unweighted Pheasant Tail Nymph. Elk Hair Caddis are also good choices on rivers with good caddis populations. Pair them with caddis pupa, soft hackles, or small Hare’s Ears or Pheasant Tails.

Perhaps the most popular Western dropper rig is the “Hopper Dropper”. This rig uses a large dry fly that imitates a grasshopper with any of a variety of nymph patterns. Serendipities are popular to use on the Madison, but a nymph that imitates any insect that’s in season to hatch will work on any river. A #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail or Hare’s Ear is about as universal a pattern as you’re likely to find. You can also make this an all out attractor rig by going with the “Hopper Copper Dropper”. This uses a foam dry fly in the tradition of a Chernobyl Ant or Hopper with a Copper John. Some will even tie on an additional nymph that is more in the “match the hatch” tradition. That is, the large foam dry and glittery Copper John will get a fish’s eye, but the third fly should seal the deal for picky fish.

The “Hopper Dropper” is popular on Western Rivers 

Fishing with Two Nymphs

The second type of dropper rig we use is with two nymphs or wets. We try to make the two nymphs pretty different. In the Smokies we’ll use a Beadhead Hare’s Ear or Pat’s Nymph fished with a Beadhead Pheasant Tail or Copper John. These flies are all about the same size, #14 or #16, but have different color schemes. A Hare’s Ear Nymphs and Pat’s Nymphs are both dull colored, tan or gray, flies. A Pheasant Tail Nymph is darker and a Copper John has a lost of flash.

Another way we present nymphs for variety is by using a large nymph with a smaller one. We’ll fish a bigger stonefly nymph patterns in tandem with a smaller beadhead. Our favorites are a #8-10 Tellico Nymph or #10-12 Prince Nymph fished with a #14-16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail, Pat’s Nymph, or Copper John.

Using two flies at once is a quicker way to discover the best fly to use for picky tailwater trout

The tailwaters call for a slight variation. A #18-20 Zebra Midge paired with a #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail is the combination we use most frequently. In our opinion, a Pheasant Tail will pick up fish in at least 50% or more of the situations we see on the tailwaters, so it’s on our line more than idling in a fly box.

The way we usually rig our nymph droppers is different from the dry and dropper. We take the top fly and slide it on up the leader at least 12″, often further, then tie a clinch knot. This leaves a long tag of tippet which we use to tie on the bottom fly. This method leaves both hooks completely open and unobstructed.

Fishing with two weighted nymphs can provide more weight to reach sluggish fish when the water is cold

In the Smokies we usually put the heavier fly on bottom. Smoky Mountain trout holding in swift water are not tippet shy so we’ll 3X or 4X tippet in this situation. In the high flows of spring we’ll fish a #12 Beadhead Pheasant Tail or other similar size nymph on top with a stonefly pattern on bottom. This puts the stonefly pattern near the bottom where it belongs while the mayfly or caddis imitation is higher in the water column as if it’s ascending to the surface. We use #8 – 10 Tellico Nymphs or #10 – 12 Prince Nymphs most often for this rig. Heavier leaders and tippet help turn these heavy rigs over better than light line. Anglers are also far more likely to get their flies back using heavy tippet when they inevitably snag the bottom.

On the tailwaters we usually put the heavier fly on top so it sinks the smaller one as well. Tailwater trout are far less likely to go out of their way for food since they’re pretty well fed. Getting both flies down deep is important if fish aren’t actively rising. This is also important when you’re fishing a #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail and have it paired with a #20 Zebra Midge. A smaller fly often requires the use of finer tippet. Also, using finer tippet helps your cast by continuing the taper of the leader. You can tie the finer tippet to the bend of the top hook. Another option is to tie the extra tippet to the eye of the larger hook. Large hook eyes will often have more than enough room for some fine tippet.

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You make the call: This or a computer keyboard. Does it help if I mention there’s no wi-fi hotspot?

We’ll post a complete wrap up of our trip to the Slide Inn on the Madison as well as our experiences in Yellowstone Park, the Bighorn River, and the South Fork of the Snake.

Right now there’s a mixed bag of fishing conditions in Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. Water levels are at historic lows in the mountain streams throughout the region. This is making things tough, although not impossible. Tim Doyle was on the water yesterday and reported seeing a good number of feeding fish and even hooked a better than average brown trout.

The tailwater scene is looking pretty good. The Clinch River is currently running one unit at Norris Dam which is the ideal flow for a float. While this doesn’t make for good wade fishing, the fish are actually more comfortable with one generator flowing and this water level is perfect for nymping and streamer fishing. In fact, it’s not unusual to find pods of risers up on the surface taking midges. Small black caddis also emerge at this time of year.

Smallmouth fishing on the Holston River should also continue to be good since flows are moderate and water temperatures are perfect. Poppers will continue to work well and draw fish to the surface.

The Tuckaseegee in North Carolina usually starts fishing at this time of year, but flows are way too low for floats. Wade fishing should be good though.