This angler couldn’t resist watching risers as we ate lunch on a float trip and waded out to hook this fish on a dry fly

So far we’re still seeing most of our action on float trips take place on nymphs. Most years we’ll see tons of hatches and have long periods of dry fly fishing. This year we’re getting in some dry fly fishing in a few spots, but nymphs are out producing by far. Zelon Nymphs in #16 have been our “go to” pattern and we’ve fished it almost to the exclusion of everything else.

Not only is the fishing excellent in Great Smoky Mountains National Park right now, it’s absolutely beautiful. Mountain Laurel are in full bloom along many streams.

Dry fly fishing has been pretty good, but we’ve relied on nymphs a fair amount, especially in the mornings. We had some cool weather this past week and the fish were a little slow to move. Tellico Nymphs in #12 and Copper Johns in #14 were our best producers along with one of our favorites, the Pat’s Nymph. As the days have progressed we’ve used a dropper rig with a Stimulator on top and a #16 Copper John or Zelon Nymph about 24″ underneath.

We’ve seen a few nice brown trout in the park this week but rainbows have made up the bulk of the catch on the larger streams we’ve been frequenting. There are plenty of chunky fish this year like this one that ate a Mr. Brownstone.

It’s May and that means that Yellow Sallies are out in full force. You’ll experience the best egg laying flights just before dark, but look for them hatching on rocks and boulders in the middle of the stream. You can also expect a #16 Yellow Stimulator or Smoky Mountain Sally to raise a few fish.

We’ll be on the water all week!

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I’ve had a pretty good run of anglers hooking up with fish like this one landed by Jeff McSwain a few days back. Some days have certainly been better than others, but every float has landed some very nice fish in the 14″ range and we’ve seen more than our share of fish in the 18″+ range. This one was officially taped at 19.5″, but we’ll just go ahead and call it 20″ for Jeff.

Not all of the fish are big, and quite frankly they aren’t supposed to be but that shouldn’t diminish the beauty of the stream or the importance of the moment. Here’s a great pic of 10 year old Maggie Niemayer with her first trout. We always enjoy teaching new fly fishers the finer points of the sport, but it’s particularly rewarding when we pass our knowledge along to young anglers. Maggie spent a great morning on the water with her father.

Everything is fishing well right now. The mountain streams have excellent water levels and the fish are looking up. If you can’t attract any attention with a dry fly you should find success with a nymph. We’ve focused our attention on using Parachute Adams and Haystacks. Even when we’ve used nymphs we’ve primarily used dropper rigs with Stimulators on top and Copper Johns on bottom.

Tailwater fishing is pretty good, although we haven’t seen all the great dry fly fishing we usually expect in May. Sulphurs are hatching on the Clinch, but expect them later than earlier in the day. Generation schedules from Norris Dam are great for wading in the morning, but make it more of a floater’s river late in the day.

We’re seeing occasional caddis on the Holston, but nymphing has been far more consistent. We’ve experienced some areas with good rises on every float, but not enough to keep up from going back to the nymph.

An angler takes a break from fishing out of the drift boat to do some wading and hook up with this jumping trout rainbow trout

Ian has spent most of his days rowing the drift boat on the Holston and Clinch Rivers. Hatches have been sporadic on most days with periods of good dry fly fishing, but most of the fish are being hooked on nymphs. Periods of generation on the Clinch have had some pretty good streamer fishing when Sulphurs weren’t hatching.

Remember back in the winter when tailwater flows were so high it was hard to get any fishing in? It seems like it wasn’t that bad a thing after all. There have been some exceptionally nice fish brought to the boat over the past week including this 19″ (that’s measured) rainbow trout. There was also another fish put in the net this week that stretched out past the 20″ mark on the ruler. Unfortunately, a *ARGH* camera malfunction kept us from having anything to show.

Dry fly fishing in the Smokies has been very good this week, but don’t leave home without your nymphs. The weather forecast shows plenty of afternoon thunderstorms so water levels may rise enough to make nymphing more productive. A dry and dropper rig with a #12 Stimulator on top and a #14-16 Copper John or Pheasant Tail Nymph underneath is a great way to compromise if there is clear water.

The unseasonably warm weather last week actually had us wading wet already, but it looks like cooler weather on the way will put us back in waders in a few days.

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It’s that time of year. Every day we’re on the water whether it’s up in the Smokies or rowing the drift boat on one of the local tailwaters. Dry fly fishing has been spotty on the tailwaters, but nymph fishing has been very consistent. Caddis hatches are spotty on the Holston and Sulphurs are primarily a late afternoon and evening event on the Clinch.

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Yes, the fishing this week from the drift boat has been phenomenal. It’s been one of those weeks when the fishing has been so good I know I’ll pay for it later when I’m having to massage a full day of fishing out of marginal generation schedules or labor through incredibly hot days when even Jedi mind tricks are only barely effective when fish are sluggish in the Dog Days.

Even when the fish are rising fast and furious and the strike indicators barely drift a yard before plunging under, you need to stop and look around. There’s more to floats than just catching trout.

Two fish in the net at once? That might be enough for most people to suspect the tailwaters are fishing well. But that could be nothing more than a fluke. Need more evidence?

OK, that’s a pretty nice fish. But again, that could be a fluke. I mean, how many nice fish can you really expect? Well… It is April, the flows are perfect, and the bugs are starting to hatch.

If you’re not convinced now, there’s probably not much we could do to convince outside of getting you out on the water!

Most of the fish we’re catching are on nymphs. A #16 Beadhead Pheasant Tail or Zelon Nymph has been the fly of choice. We’re also see some pretty good caddis hatches on the Holston so dry fly opportunities are only getting better. No real hatch of Sulphurs on the Clinch yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

We’ll see you on the water!

We didn’t see any monster brown trout as we have on a few previous trips, but there were plenty of nice trout brought to hand and plenty of missed fish. It was generally a blend of dry fly and nymph fishing all weekend and the trip wrapped up with the onset of Blackberry Winter. There was a dusting of snow on the Smokies this morning!

Here’s a slide show of the weekend