Great Smoky Mountains at day break

Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report 10/03/16

It was a cool morning again in the Smoky Mountains. The high country saw lows into the upper 30’s on Mt LeConte and Clingmans Dome. In Bryson City and Gatlinburg the day started out mid 40’s. It’s finally starting to feel like Fall and football weather around here!

Speaking of football, how about them VOLS! Yes I’m a die hard Tennessee fan. Knoxville and most of the Smokies towns are still taking about this past Saturdays game against Georgia. The radio stations I listen to on my drive each morning driving across the Smokies have been nothing but UT football talk. I love it!

The leaves are starting to turn a little more each day. The high country of course is seeing more color early on than lower elevations. This years color season is expected to be longer than normal mainly due to lack of rain in August and September. It’s highly possible that we will be enjoying Fall colors for up to six weeks along the Smokies and Blue Ridge Mountains. Personally some of my favorite things about living in the mountains are the fall colors and the fact we have year around trout fishing.

Rainfall totals for the year are at a 6.75 inch deficit according to forecasters at WLOS out of Asheville NC. I would suspect those numbers are a bit skewed as we have not had much rain to speak of most of the Summer and early Fall. We did however get more than our fair share from January to May which would account for a deficit not reflecting conditions as of late.

The fishing of course is very good despite streams being low. Dry fly action has been incredible so far this Fall season! I’ve seen more rising trout lately than Spring and Summer combined. Today we watched as Ocotober Caddis females came back to the water to lay eggs and the trout would just sit and gobble them up as fast as possible. Of course we tied on some of our good friend James Conner’s pattern for the October Caddis which works exceptionally well inside the park. James is the oldest commercial fly tier in the South! It’s pretty cool to have that level of experience as a friend and neighbor. We spend many hours talking about the old traditional fly patterns of the Smoky Mountains. Little known to most, I started tying my own flies at age 9, and was tying flies for local tackle shops and anglers at the ripe old age of 11. I’m sure they bought them out of pity as I doubt any of my early flies held up to the first trout that hit them! Lol!

This week is forecasted to be fairly dry. We do have a slight chance of rain each day with that chance increasing to 60% on Friday. Highs for most of the Smokies are expected to be in the mid 70’s all week. Hurricane Matthew is expected come near the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina. It’s up in the air just yet if that will bring any rain our direction. As bad as we need rain, the devastation this storm will bring to the Caribbean is horrific. Please keep those folks in your prayers this week.

Faith, Family, and Fishing

We’ll see you on the water!