Tennessee Fly Fishing

The Elk: This river continues to produce good numbers of fish. I say this every week it seems and maybe we are just lucky. The fish continue to come to our nymphs and make indicators as well as the dries of the dry/ dropper combos disappear. The afternoon hopper bite is OK on some days and better other days. 

Don't forget TWRA is doing an angler trout survey on the Elk. The survey is done in person, but you can send your comments to glenn.brian@tn.gov I have talked with Glenn and sent some information after floats. He is a nice guy and was receptive to our input.

The Caney Fork: The recreational traffic on the Caney Fork is beginning to slow and we are able to do half day trips for the evening hatch again. Although the current release schedule is getting better it only allows us to do these trips on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We have been fishing some dries to the stockers, then going to nymphs and finally if we find the rising fish we go back to dries and terrestrials. So be ready to fish everything for the best results

Fishing the Park: The fish in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are feeding well and will be in the shade, but they can be very skittish at times due to low, clear water. Putting on a thin leader and smaller flies can help with that and wearing natural colors does not hurt. Want to know which flies are really working? We can hook anglers up with seasoned guides who will know the right flies to use at the right time of the day.

 

The Holston: Guide reports for the Holston say smallmouth fishing is very good and the fish are eating poppers as well as streamers hitting topwater all day. A Fall warmwater trip is an excellent change of pace if you are in the area and now is a great time to try something different.

The Obey River: We pulled the drifter to the Obey this week and it's a ditch. OK, let's just say I misjudged the level of the Cumberland and it was like fishing a lake. After the first set of shoals, below the second ramp, the flow stopped and that slowed the bite to a crawl.  If you fish this river stay up high in the river. (FYI we did spot a 30 something inch striper just below the first ramp and it will not hit a terrestrial pattern...jest sayin). We definitely have better results in the Spring and early Summer on this river.