Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report 10/1/16

Its October 1st,  and what a day it has been in the Smoky Mountains! The weather is much cooler this weekend with lows in the Smoky Mountains dropping into the mid 30’s on Mt Leconte and Cingmans Dome! Wow talk about a drastic change from last weeks heat wave. Gatlinburg and Bryson City were down in the low 40’s this morning and reached a high of 76 degrees. No rain today unfortunately as streams are still very low across the region.

Trout were very active today especially in the afternoon where light winds blew and knocked many ants and beetles into the water making a terrestrial bite on top very good. We saw lots of October Caddis hatching which of course brought fish to the surface to feed too. We haven’t said it enough, but dry fly fishing in the Fall in the Smoky Mountains is top notch. Wild trout here crush your flies at 40mph, you better be paying attention or they’re gone in a blink!

This week looks like a dry week, chances of rain each day are only 10%. Tempratures are expected be in the mid to low 70’s all week and lows hovering around upper 40’s to low 50’s depending on elevation. Of course the temps are very different in high country. There could be as much as a 10 degree difference in areas like Mt Guyout and Mt Leconte.

Traffic in the Smokies is really starting to get congested. Plan to give yourself extra driving time when traveling across the park. This afternoon it took just a little over an hour to get from Gatlinburg to Cherokee. Partly due to the Elk out putting on a show near Towstring the Job Corps fields on the Cherokee side of the park.

Fall colors are just starting to turn in the high country. We expect this weekend to be a pretty sight near the peaks over 6,000ft. Leconte and Clingmans Dome will be beautiful by the weekend.

Hope you guys have a good week and et some fishing in.

We’ll see you on the water!