It’s always the same every fall. September is a period of relatively light guiding as the kids are back in school, football starts up, summer’s heat hasn’t quite dissipated and fall color is still about a month away. That’s why we go to Yellowstone country in September. The weather’s still nice and we’re not missing much while we’re gone.

We come back to one of the busiest guide months of the year in Tennessee; October with colorful fall foliage, cool mornings, and trout rising to olives in the Smokies. It’s a great month to be on the water but we’re all worn out by the end of the month. This year I had a four day camping trip on Hazel Creek sandwiched on both sides by float trips on the Clinch River. October wears us out but we’re always ready to hit the water because the fishing is so good.

November is always different from one year to the next. Sometimes the fall color arrives a bit late and it’s a colorful month. Other years (like this one) winter arrives early and it’s cold. Regardless of the weather, anglers are eager to get one last trip in while the weather is still reasonably good.

Thanksgiving week is always a busy one and we’ve gotten into the habit of staying home for the holiday since we always seem to have trips the days before and after. This year was no different.

All the guides we regularly see on Little River were out as well. Saturday was a tough day in spite of mild weather conditions. It was the first morning in some time that was free of frost and temperatures were in the high 50’s. We all expected it to be a great day for fly fishing in the Smokies. Well… It was a good day for fishing, but not so hot for catching. That was the general consensus among all the guides. Fishing nymphs deep only yielded a modest number of strikes and there wasn’t much reason to fish a dry fly unless you just liked to watch it drift. I’m guessing that melting snow from the higher elevations knocked water temps down enough to put the fish off. The guage near the Townsend Y showed water in the high 40’s, but it was much cooler around Elkmont.

Nice way to round out the season!

Charity seemed to have to single bright spot from Saturday. One of her anglers caught a beautiful brown that taped out at 14″.  Whenever asked what the fish ate Charity will sigh, “Prince Nymph…” like you should know all good autumn fish caught in the Smokies eat nothing else.

The tailwaters have been really fishing quite well. In fact, I’ve been quite impressed with the Holston lately. Good hatches of midges along with a smattering of olives and caddis have kept fish looking up. The Clinch is still fishing good, but maybe not quite as good as it was a month ago. We’re thrilled to see the Clinch coming back around. The past few years were tough so it’s nice to see our old friend fishing good again.

We’ve got plenty of things to keep us busy. We’re rounding out a couple of new books we’ve been working on. One is a guide to the previously closed brook trout streams in the Smokies. Think of it as an addition to Angler’s Companion since those streams were closed to fishing when that book came out. The second book covers fly fishing with streamers. This is one of our favorite ways to fish and we’re aware that the methods for fishing with streamers are poorly understood.

We plan on doing some fishing for ourselves plus we’ll do some more guided trips as well. The park should have some good fishing in the afternoons as the winter progresses. The Tuckaseegee, Clinch, and Holston Rivers always fish pretty good in the winter and we even float them through the winter.

Stay warm and fish when you can!

Smokies Improving

Fishing in the Smokies is getting better but cold weather will keep it mostly a mid-day affair. The combination of low water and cold weather made fishing tough in the park. In fact, we redirected most of our wade trips to the Clinch or Holston for that reason. However, recent rains and melting snow have caused water levels to rise and milder temperatures have the trout much more active. Water temperatures have risen out of the 30’s into the mid 40’s. We’re sticking with nymphs most of the time, but you might be able to fish a dry fly with some success in a sunny spot during the afternoon.

Tailwaters

The tailwaters have been fishing extremely well and that’s where we’ve been focusing most of our attention lately. Generation schedules have been favorable for both wading and floating and we’ve done plenty of both. Midge pupa and small Pheasant Tail Nymphs have been our best flies, but we’ve seen some decent caddis hatches on both the Clinch and Holston Rivers and that’s allowed for some good dry fly fishing.

The Tuckaseegee has been fishing quite well. We’ve fished more nymphs than anything, but Woolly Buggers will always turn some fish on the Tuck. I was surprised to find rising fish extremely selective just up the river from Dillsboro. We did best with a small #18 midge pupa dropper under a dry fly. A few fish ate the varied dry flies we fished, but to dropper hooked the bulk of the fish.

We Give Thanks

It’s quite a life we live here in the Smokies. We’re extremely grateful to be able to make a decent living doing something we love in a beautiful place.  The 700+ miles of wild trout streams just out our backdoor in the Great Smoky Mountains are incredible and we always seem to find a new place to explore. The large tailwaters we have are great and give us unparalleled variety. One day we’re on a small brook trout stream high in the Smoky Mountains, the next we’re in a drift boat casting to 16″ trout rising to caddis emergers.We have the best job in the world and thank you for your business!

We’ve had some good fishing though. Charity and I spent a day fishing on Little River a few days back. We agreed that we would spend the day headhunting, moving from spot to spot and looking for big brown trout to cast at. Early November is a great time for this as post-spawn browns are extremely active and can be found feeding in the tails of pools or shallow riffles. This can be a tough program to stick with if you see plenty of other feeding fish, but we stayed true and didn’t fish as much as we looked and lurked about the stream.

This is an extremely slow method of fishing for anyone accustomed to constantly casting. We’ll spend far more time moving and looking than actually fishing. Often one of us has to watch from another vantage point and direct the angler since their view might not be clear because of glare. I caught this 16″ brown trout from the tail of a pool on Little River. The fish was moving about quite a bit in about 18″ of water so I changed from a big nymph to a #16 Pheasant Tail. The fly landed about two feet up and to the right of the fish and he ate it like a champ. Charity yelled down that he ate but I was already bringing the rod tight. This wasn’t the largest fish we cast to, but the only one we got a hook in.

Charity spotted this hellbender. She initially thought it was a brown trout wedged in a crack in the rocks, but quickly recognized it for what it was. Most folks are unaware of hellbenders and very few ever see one. I’ve often told anglers about them, but usually get skeptical looks in response. You can learn more about hellbenders here. I’ve included this like since I’m sure many think I’m pulling their leg. I get that all the time with fishing spiders too, but they’re real.  Fact is stranger than fiction as my grandmother used to say.

Hellbenders are the largest species of salamander in the world and actually common in the Smokies. However, their camouflaged appearance, slow moving nature, and propensity for hiding in dark spots along streams make them hard to find.

The hoop on this net is 18″ long so you can tell the salamander is a little bigger than that.  While this one was a pretty good one, they grow larger.

I caught this fish on Little River this week

The weather, fall colors, and fly fishing were absolutely spectacular this week. Charity and I each guided Lewis Raker from Michigan this week. He fishes all over the country but was impressed by the fly fishing here in east Tennessee. He caught a number of nice trout on Little River with Charity. The next day I floated him on the Clinch River and he caught plenty really nice fish. In fact, he caught fish on dry flies which is extremely rare. We’re seeing some tiny black caddis on the Clinch and they’re bringing fish up to the surface. Pam and Buddy Leach also caught some nice trout on caddis dry flies on the Clinch last week.

I guided Lew Raker on Little River on his third day of fishing here and it was a good one. Fish were rising to dries all day. At one point we saw a large brown trout of at least 18″ rise but didn’t get a fly on it. Later in the afternoon I spotted a huge fish in shallow riffle water. I re-rigged Lew’s rod but he insisted I cast to the trout. I refused but Lew said that my excitement over the big fish that morning made him realize that we don’t see many in the Smokies. True, but he still should cast to the fish. Again he refused and said he’d like see how I’d handle the situation.

I cast a lightly weighted Woolly Bugger to the fish and it ate immediately. It was as long as my arm, fingertips to my shoulder, approximately 24″. Lew was as happy as I was, and believe me, that’s pretty happy!

The very next day I took Andy Cross of South Carolina on a walk-in trip up Little River upstream of Elkmont. Andy had a great day hooking rainbow and brown trout on dry flies. After lunch I spotted a nice brown in shallow water and tied on another Bugger based on the experience from the previous day. I gave Andy a quick pep talk about where to cast the fly and what to expect if the fish ate. He made one cast that was a bit too far right and the fly hung up in shallow water. I advised him to tighten up slowly to free the fly and hopefully not spook the fish. Some tension on the line freed the fly and it was pulled into the current. The brown streaked across the riffle and inhaled the fly. Andy got a good hook set and the fish went ballistic!

There was about 60 seconds of absolute chaos but Andy hung on and I was able to tail the fish and land it for him. It had a nice hook jaw and measured from my fingertips to the bend of my elbow, right at 18″. It was a beautiful fish, bright orange with radiant red spots. I had a telephoto lens in my bag but no camera. Andy left his camera in the car. Oh well… Neither of us will forget it.

For the past two days we guided Alex Skallon Sr. and Jr. on Little River. I put them over a massive brown late in the day. Alex Jr. cast to the fish for about 15 minutes, but didn’t get a take. Charity put them over three good fish today and young Alex had one give his fly a close inspection but didn’t eat. Whew! Talk about sweating bullets.

We’ve got a few free days to fish this week and plan to try to get on some of the fish. The weather is forecast to be cool and rainy this week; perfect brown trout weather. We’ll keep you posted if we hook up!

Dry fly fishing has been nothing short of excellent over the past few days. Midges, Blue Wing Olives, and a variety of small caddis have kept the trout looking to the surface. The best fishing has been in the middle of the day, but we’re still getting fish up in the morning and late afternoon.

Late afternoon on the Clinch

While Tim and Charity have spent most of their time in the Smokies I spent most of the week floating the Clinch River. The Clinch has been surprisingly consistent. Most of the trout we’re catching have been less than a foot long, but we’re still getting a few to the net in the range of 14 - 18″.

There has been a pretty even distribution of rainbows, browns, and brook trout. Most of the sizeable trout have been rainbows, but Ben Shawler landed a 18″ brown this week. I’d like to take this opportunity to openly taunt Tom Chandler of Trout Underground. Tom is a brook trout fanatic and often wonders if I’m taunting him when I post photos of brookies. Most of the brook trout have been in the 10″ range, but a few are a little better. They aren’t the biggest fish in the river, but they’re cooperative and it’s fun to catch them on a big river from a drift boat.

A standard issue brook trout from the Clinch

We’ve also seen a little bit of dry fly fishing on the Clinch. Most of the fish are coming on midge pupa or small beadhead nymphs fished under a strike indicator. Some small black caddis are hatching late in the afternoon and we’ve been able to pick up some fish on #18 emerger patterns.

The weather forecast looks good for the next few weeks and the fishing usually holds up through the end of the month. After that it’s anyone’s guess when the cold weather will set in, so get out on the water while the getting is good.

A chunky rainbow from the Clinch

Yarn

Yarn is our favorite strike indicator for several reasons. First of all it easy to use as much or little as you want to vary the size of the indicator. Yarn also sits up off the water which makes it easy to see. Since it is light it is also easy to cast and lights on the water without making any disturbance. There are some drawbacks to yarn strike indicators though. If you are fishing big, heavy nymphs or using additional split shots to fish flies deep in swift, turbulent water the yarn might not stay on the surface. It can get pulled under by currents in this type of fishing situation. Yarn should fish small nymphs #14 and smaller in this type of water and can even support a micro split shot.

We always put a little bit of fly floatant on our yarn before fishing it. Regardless of claims made on the packaging, we’ve found that a dab of floatant keeps the yarn floating longer and keeps it riding high on the surface where you can see it.

We attach the yarn by putting a slip knot in the leader. A slip knot allows an angler to either remove the yarn or move the placement of the yarn with relative ease. This can put a crimp in your leader when you remove the yarn. This doesn’t generally bother us when nymphing, but this is one thing that seems to irritate many anglers.

Pinch On / Stick On

Pinch on strike indicators are perhaps the easiest to use for novice anglers. They come on a sheet and a fly fisher simply has to wrap them around the leader and go fishing. Adhesive keeps it in place. While they are easy to use they have a number of drawbacks. The adhesive limits their ability to be adjusted. When you do move them or remove them from the leader the adhesive leaves  some of the foam on the leader. These strike indicators work well for smaller nymphs in the range of #12 and smaller but don’t hold up larger nymphs or heavy rigs in turbulent water.

Foam Footballs

Styrofoam indicators in the shape of footballs or spheres are particularly effective in swift water with riffles and pockets. These come in a variety of sizes and it’s a good idea to keep several sizes on hand if you decide to use them. Larger, heavier flies require a bigger indicator and smaller nymphs cast better with a smaller indicator.

These types of strike indicators are usually quite easy to adjust for depth and don’t generally leave any impressions on your leader. They do have a tendency to hit the water with a plop, so they aren’t the best choice for fishing nymphs in quieter waters or places where fish might be exceptionally skittish.

We prefer to fish these indicators when the combination of weight on the fly and turbulent current will sink most other styles of strike indicator. For this reason we don’t usually fish the smaller sizes, but favor the medium to large sizes. Plenty of weight on the leader combined with a bulky strike indicator makes for tough casting. We recommend keeping casts short and either using a roll cast or short lob to get the flies in the water.

Putty

Putty strike indicators aren’t as common as they once were, but they can be useful in some circumstances. An angler can mold as much or little strike putty as he needs on his leader or tippet. However, putty indicators aren’t known for their ability to float very high and we’ve found a small amount of putty is best for small flies. Putty weighs more than the foam style or yarn indicators and will certainly come to the water with a plop if very much is used. However, a small amount on a leader can be fished discreetly and is a reasonable choice for anglers fishing small, light flies over midging trout or fish sipping emergers just under the surface.

Dry Flies

Perhaps the best type of strike indicator for midging fish or those sipping emergers is a dropper rig. A small, yet bushy dry fly like an Elk Hair Caddis or Royal Wulff will easily stay afloat over a midge pupa or soft hackle. Furthermore, many anglers are surprised at how often “selective” trout will eat an attractor pattern. Tie 12″ - 24″ of tippet to the bend of the hook of the dry fly. On eastern tailwaters a #18 - #22 midge pattern is good, but emerger patterns or unweighted nymphs are good choices depending on the hatch situation. Many accurate dry fly patterns like Comparaduns are effective dry flies that will also support a light nymph or emerger.

Larger bushier dry flies are better in tumbling freestone streams. Stimulators are an excellent choice and will support a host of beadhead patterns to fool fish in streams everywhere. The benefit of the dropper rig is that the dry fly is often just as effective as the nymph.

The Prince Nymph has been one of our favorite flies for a long time. We’ve caught lots of big trout with it not only in the Smokies but in Western rivers as well. We fish it frequently from the first cold snaps of fall through the winter and spring. We’ll continue to fish it in the summer if water levels are a little high. The Prince is one of those flies that always seems to catch fish when we fish it in swift water. We like to fish it on the heavy side so it gets down deep quickly. The instructions shown here show our favorite variation with red hackle and red thread, but you can use the standard brown hackle with black thread and it will still work great. Our suggestions for fishing the Prince Nymph are at the end of the tying instructions.

Hook:            #8 - #12 Extra Long Shank Nymph or Standard Streamer Hook

Underbody: .010 - .015 Round Lead Free Wire

Thread:          6/0 Fire Orange, Red, or Black

Tail:                Ginger Goose Biots

Rib:                Copper Wire

Body:             Peacock Herl

Hackle:         Red or Brown Chinese Hackle or other soft hackle for wet flies and nymphs

Wings:          White Goose Biots

Step 1.

Starting near the rear of the hook shank wrap lead free wire forward to about one and a half hook eye lengths behind the eye of the hook. Wrap 1/2 to 2/3 of the way back over the first layer of wire. This makes the fly heavy so it sinks quickly and also helps to give the body a natural looking taper.

Step 2.

Start to wrap thread just behind the eye of the hook and continue over the wire underbody. Wrap to the bend of the hook. Tie in two ginger goose biots so the natural bend of the feather points outward and away from each other.

Step 3.

Tie the copper wire just ahead of the goose biots, then tie in about 5 or 6 strands of peacock herl. Be sure the strands of herl are close to even along the tips, then clip about 1/2″ from the tips since they are weak and often break. Tie the peacock in at the tips then wrap the thread over the wire underbody up to the bare hook near the head.

Step 4.

Wrap the strands of peacock herl  forward over the wire under body. Tie off with the thread and clip off any excess. Be sure to leave some space. Don’t crowd the eye of the hook.

Step 5.

Wrap the copper wire forward using a reverse wrap. That is wrap the wire forward in the opposite direction that you wound the peacock herl. This keeps the wire from becoming buried in the herl. More importantly it allows the wire to wrap over the top of the fragile peacock and adds durability to the fly.

Step 6.

Prepare a piece of hackle by clipping the base away and stripping some hackle fibers from the stem so it will tie in cleanly. Tie the feather in so the shiny side is forward and the natural bend of the feather is toward the rear of the fly.

Step 7.

Wrap the feather around the hook 2 or 3 times and tie it off. Clip the tip of the feather off. Now using the thumb and forefinger of your free hand pull the hackle fibers back. Wrap thread over the base of the hackle fibers so they lay back.

Step 8.

Tie in two white goose biots so the natural curve of the feather is downward. Tie each one in at a slight angle off to each side and try to make them symmetrical. Clip the base of each biot after it is tied in.

Step 9.

Wrap thread over what remains of where you clipped the white biots. Wrap to the eye of the hook and finish the fly with a few half hitches or a whip finish.

Fishing Suggestions

The Prince Nymph is an excellent choice for cold water conditions in the fall, winter, or spring. Its contrasting colors allow fish to see it in swift flows and its weight gets it in the strike zone quickly.  Don’t be afraid to add a split shot or two if you don’ t think it’s reaching bottom. Fish it no less than 24″ under a strike indicator, but don’t be afraid to put it 36″ or 48″ deep

The Prince is a superb fly to use with another nymph. There are many times in the spring when smaller mayflies are moving about to hatch. We’ll fish a #12-16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymph about 18″ - 24″ up from the Prince. This allows us to fish two entirely different flies in two different locations. The Prince should be ticking bottom and the smaller Pheasant Tail is higher in the water column like a hatching or drifting mayfly nymph.

Don’t try to fish this large Prince Nymph with fine tippet like 6X. This fly is intended for hard work and will hopefully hook nice trout from pockets in swift water. We usually use 3X or 4X when fishing it. That also goes for when we use a smaller nymph in tandem. Swift, turbulent water conditions preclude any need for a fine tippet plus you’ll be grateful that you have it when you hook a strong fish in a rocky run of fast water.

A colorful Clinch River rainbow trout caught last week

The Clinch has been fishing quite well this fall. I hate to act surprised, but this once remarkable tailwater has been on the slide for the past several years. While most of the trout we’ve been hooking have been less than 12″ long, each and every one is colorful and strong. There have also been a number of fish hooked up to around 16″ or so. We’re hoping that the slot limit imposed by TWRA earlier this year will continue to help bring this fishery back to its former glory days. We’ve also seen some of the huge brown trout that contributed to the river’s reputation for big fish. A couple of those browns were easily in the 8 -10 pound range.

We’ve been sticking with small beadhead nymphs in #16 - 20. Trout have been rising to midges and a small pupa pattern fished about 12″ - 18″ under an indicator or dry fly will hook far more fish than a dry fly.

Both turbines were down on Norris Dam for a couple of weeks. The constant flow of 420 cfs was superb for floats or wade fishing. One of the generators is now back on line so you can expect the typical day to day variation in flows, but expect good flows for wading. Those who want to float will need to keep an eye on the schedule to be sure the river isn’t too low.

Hazel Creek

Last weekend I was on Hazel Creek for our semi-annual fly fishing camp out. We had a fun group of folks and had a great time. I’m considering changing the name of this trip to “Smoky Mountain Drought Busters” since we always get some rain whenever we’ve done this trip. Fortunately the rain was short lived and seemed to bring on a decent hatch of Blue Wing Olives.

Bear tracks along the banks of Fontana Lake at the mouth of Hazel Creek

Wildlife on Hazel Creek was quite active. Members of the group saw about every large mammal in the Smokies. For bears were seen as well of tracks of a couple more. Deer, turkeys, and wild boar were also seen along the stream.  Both rainbow trout and brown trout were caught by our party. Water levels were low and fishing was a bit more difficult than we like to see it in the fall, but the fishing was still good enough for everyone to hook up with some fish. We’re looking forward to our next trip in the spring.

We’ve floated the Clinch a few times this week and it has been fishing  very well. Both generators are down at Norris Dam and TVA is sluicing a steady flow of 420 cfs. That is, they have a gate cracked to keep a steady flow. The result has been great for fishing. While water is still low enough for wading, it’s a little higher than we’ve typically seen in past few years. The fish seem to be feeding better and are certainly less skittish if you’re fishing from a drift boat.

Brook trout have been a new addition to the river this year. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency started stocking them in the river close to a year ago. I used to wonder why the state didn’t stock them there since that’s one of the coldest tailwaters we have and brookies flourish in ice cold water. Most of the fish were stocked in at a relatively small size, but right now you’ll find most of them between 9″ and 12″ long. They’ve been in the river long enough that they have very nice color. Some have vibrant orange bellies.

The old standby Clinch River flies are working as well as ever. About any midge pupa or larva pattern will work well.  The Zebra Midge has been one of the most popular in the past few years. A #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymph is also as effective as ever. You’ll see numerous rise rings on the surface as the fish are eating midge emergers, but you’ll hook more fish using a nymph.

Trout Streams in the Smokies

Fall color is getting more vibrant every day.  We had a pretty good rain a few days ago and water levels improved a bit. There’s a chance of scattered showers late this week. Weather has been unseasonably warm. Our average temperature for this time of year is in the low 70’s or high 60’s in the Smokies. We’ve been about 10 degrees higher than that but it looks like a cool down to more seasonable conditions is on the way.

Fish are rising to Blue Wing Olives, midges, and micro caddis. A #18 Hi-Vis Parachute Blue Wing Olive has done extremely well for us this week. We’ve also used #14 Parachute Adams and #16 Haystacks in the rougher water.

It’s a good time to see black bears out and about. I saw another bear above Elkmont a few days ago with Brian Jones and Eric Tuttle. We were on the trail and we spotted it on the other side of the river foraging about for acorns. It’s one of the largest I’ve seen, perhaps 40o pounds.  I pull that number out because it was at least twice the size of bears I usually see and the average Smoky Mountain black bear weighs about 200 pounds.

In past week we’ve had guided trips on Little River and the Greenbrier section of the park. While Smoky Mountain trout are exceptionally skittish is low water, the good news is that they are actively feeding. Midges, small caddis, and Blue Wing Olives are all hatching on the streams and the fishing are rising well. Deeper riffles and plunge pools are producing quite well right now.

So far the rain has been steady without any sudden downpours. This is the best situation for water to soak into the soil and help stream levels. Sudden downpours get the water up in the short term, but do little for long term benefit.

Signs of fall are everywhere. Cool temperatures have started the leaves changing and colors are vibrant. A couple of days ago we saw 8 black bears over the course of the day on the stream. None paid us much attention. In fact, once they saw us they all steered well clear of us so it was almost impossible to get a photo through the forest. The bears are out eating acorns in preparation for winter.  Summer berries and fall nuts have been abundant this year so the bears will be in great shape when they go into their dens for winter hibernation.