Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report October 31st

Happy Halloween y’all!

October has whizzed by in a hurry this year. Where did the time go?? By far October is my favorite month of year for various reasons, and it’s going to leave me a tad bit sad to have to say goodbye until next year. I’ll certainly be savoring the last bit of Fall colors around the Smoky Mountains. My saving grace is the great fly fishing will still be here long past the foliage!

The Great Smoky Mountains fishing has been fantastic this past week. Dry fly action continues to be epic if you’re throwing the right stuff. We spent this past weekend fishing mid elevation streams and catching wild Bows and Browns with a combination of October Caddis, BWO Comparadunns, and Beetle patterns. There is a good subsurface bite as well with BWO nymphs and emergers, along with Ocotober Caddis pupae.

The weather in the Smoky Mountains has been very warm to almost hot. We have seen some record setting highs with nightly lows dropping into the lows 40’s in the valley floors and down to freezing in the back country and high elevations. Rain has been scarce but that is supposed to change on Thursday. We are forecasted for an 80% chance with totals that may help with the low water levels we have seen this season. The rain will certainly make the fishing even better!

Fall colors are beautiful in mid to low elevations now. This past weekend was the peak of elevations between 4,000 to 2,000ft. We still have plenty of green leaves waiting to turn in the lower elevations around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Those leaves should be in peak by the weekend. Traffic shouldn’t be no where near the bumper to bumper stuff we saw over the weekend. You should still expect some delays around Cade’s Cove and the Gatlinburg Bypass.

It should be a great week for fishing inside the park. With the Fall rush coming to a close we will see less people on the streams and on the roads for the next few weeks. November is always good fishing and often an overlooked time to be here. Have a great week and we’ll see you on the water!

Faith, Family, and Fishing