Wild Rainbow Trout in the Smokies

Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report 9/19/16

Today started out with steady rainfall most of the night across the Smoky Mountains and surrounding region. Local rainfall totals varied between locations and which side of the mountains you happen to be on. In Bryson City it rained hard at times, enough that you could hear the old tin roof singing it’s sweet music above this humble log cabin I call home.

At 6:00am in Bryson City it was 67 degrees and we had thick clouds and some rain until around 9:00am. The cloud cover hung in there over the Smoky Mountains and didn’t break until 11:00am on the Little River. As I crossed the spine of the Smokies this morning around 7:00am it was raining steadily at Newfound Gap and air tempratures were 63 degrees. I couldn’t help but be excited as I noticed the water levels appeared the best I’d seen in a while over on the Tennessee side of the park. Walker Camp Prong looked great as it had plenty of water and was clear as a bell. The Little River was looking better than it has in weeks as water levels came up to around 60cfs today.

The fishing right now is HOT in terms of dry fly action. We started seeing rising fish by around 9:00am and the action continued through the day peaking around 3:30pm and tapering off from there. Bettles and Caddis were the hot ticket for dries. The hot subsurface pattern was a dark brown stonefly nymph. Water temps at Elkmont were 63 degrees and dropped to 61 degrees near Huskey Branch Falls. We didn’t go much farther today as the fishing was great and every pocket was producing explosive strikes.

Our guides reported good fishing on the North Carolina side of the Smokies on Deep Creek and Noland Creek. Dry fly action was strong there as well. Caddis dries, Stimulators and small hoppers produced good fishing on the surface. Pheasant Tail nymphs did the trick on the bottom.

Weather forecasts for this week show 20% chance of rain each day until Saturday and it drops to 10%. Partly cloudy skies will keep the tempratures from soaring and highs across the Smokies are expected to be high 70’s. Finally we are starting to feel like Fall around here!

The Fall color season this year is expected to be longer than normal according to local WCU biology professors. The dry weather we had this Summer combined with a wet Spring is ideal for a Fall color season to last up to five weeks, possibly six. That’s great news if you’re like myself and wish to savor every bit of color and beauty these mountains display!

Hope you get out on the water this week and enjoy September fishing at its best!

Faith, Family, and Fishing

We’ll see you on the water!