Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report October 23rd

The Smoky Mountains have had some crazy weather changes over the past few days. On Thursday we set a record for highs at 83 degrees in Bryson City and tied the record in Gatlinburg! Wow, for Ocotber that’s crazy right? Well.. Not so fast. On Friday tempratures dropped dramatically, and by nightfall we had snow falling on high elevation peaks such as Clingmans Dome and Mt. LeConte! Lower elevations recieved some much need rain on Friday, while not enough to raise water levels much it was enough to knock the dust down as they say! On Saturday the high struggeled in the valleys to get above 47 and the winds blew hard all day making it feel colder than it actually was. High elevations were barely making it above freezing by noon and snow still fell on Clingmans Dome forcing the park service to close the Dome road. Hours later the road reopened for visitors to catch and glimpse of the first snow of the season. High winds lasted until after dark clearing the skies for some dramatic long range evening views and sunsets in the Smokies. This morning there was frost on the pumpkins all across the Smoky Mountains. Today’s high is 61 in Bryson City and 67 in Gatlinburg. It’s sunny and for all purposes a beautiful day and perfect weather for being outside.

Mt. LeConte Lodge

The fishing has been great over the weekend. The cold blast did nothing to damper the fishing or the bite. Trout love cold weather! The Smokies streams fished well all weekend long and produced a consistent bite all day until the sun started to set. Dry fly action on the Smokies streams is still good. October Caddis, Blue Winged Olives, Cinammon Caddis, and Beetles are still producing good numbers of strikes and fish to the net.

The Tuckasegee River has been fishing very good in North Carolina. Duke Energy has started releasing some more water down the streams and the fishing has been consistent all day long. We’re seeing great hatches on some stretches of the Tuckasegee River including several varieties of Caddis, tiny BWO’s, and lots of micro mayflies and tons of midges. Stone fly hatches have been great too at certain times.

This week the weather will improve to mid 70’s across the region with nightly lows dropping into the low to mid 40’s most of the week. There is a good chance of rain on Thursday which has us crossing our fingers!

Fall colors have been beautiful this past week, and we have more yet to come. Much more in lower elevations! The high winds over the weekend stripped some turned and dying leaves off trees on windward facing slopes, opening views up for the bright reds and oranges of the oaks and other hardwoods that have yet to turn. All experts say this weekend will be very good for mid to low elevation colors!

Faith, Family and Fishing!