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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. Foggy conditions are burning off revealing the bright sun. Today will be a great day to enjoy some time outside.

An unexpected rain storm came through the area yesterday. I didn't think it was supposed to rain. Someone in the Shop said that nature was just so used to raining lately that it figured it was supposed to. The rain thankfully didn't affect water levels.

This morning the stream gauge on Little River is reading 2.84 feet or 598 c.f.s. The normal flow this date is 344 c.f.s. Water clarity is good.

Water temperatures have dropped a bit in the last couple of days but not too drastically. The Little River (at the Park boundary) is 48F at 8:30. It will warm today and should keep warming the next couple of days.

Fishing conditions are improving but water levels are still higher than many people like. You need to be a bit choosy about where you get in the water. Smaller streams like West Prong and Laurel Creek will be eaiser. On the big rivers stay to the edges and work the sections you can get to. A longer rod will help with getting a drift in the faster currents.

Spring hatches have begun. The Smokies is seldom a place of epic hatches. On a rare occassion you might luck into a big hatch. These can be memory making moments. Other times they can be frustrating when you see the air full of bugs and the surface covered with an armada of mayflies......and not a trout rising...anywhere. Other times you would think a Quill Gordon is a myth but you cast any dry fly onto the water and trout fight each other to eat it.

Good dry patterns to have in the box right now are Quill Gordons ( #10 - #12 ), Blue Quill ( #18 - #20 ), Blue Dun ( #14 ), Parachute Adams ( #12 - #16 ), and BWO ( #16 - #20 ). Wet flies are very effective this time of year also. Hares Ear Wet flies make an excellent immitation of the adult Quill Gordon. Nymphs like Pheasant Tails, Hares Ears and Prince Nymphs in the #12 - #16 range are always good to fish.

What size leader and tippet do you use? We try not to question customers when they bring items to the counter to buy. Some know a lot more about what they are doing than I do. One thing that I do question is when someone has a cup full of big flies and then a pack of 9 foot 6X leaders. I think that we think of the mountain trout as small and spooky so the thought is to go light. A problem with this is that those big flies will not cast well on light tippets.

Big, wind resistent flies require heavier tippets. Have you ever been fishing and when you look at your leader/tippet you notice it is all furled up on itself? This is because as you cast the fly spins and twists up the tippet. You need to use a heavier tippet material to counter this. In the higher and rougher water the trout have a harder time seeing the tippet so you can get away with a much heavier tippet size.

Leader length can also help or hurt your fishing. If you are fishing a small stream a short leader is better. Think about how far you are casting. When you are only casting 10 or so feet away, if you have a 9 foot or longer leader you won't have enough fly line out to turn that leader over. Also, if you are going to be using a dry with a nymph dropper, think about what your final leader length will be. Starting with a 7.5 foot leader then adding 18 inches of tippet for your dropper you have a final length of 9 feet.

A 5X leader and or tippet is generally a good size in the mountains most of the year. With larger dries you may want a 4X and with heavy nymphs you might even want a 3X.

Do you fish with nymphs? Dry flies are fun but trout do a majority of their feeding near the bottom. I know I usually fish dries because I find that it is easier. We have two different Nymph Fishing Classes. Nymphing Tactics covers nymph fishing generally. You spend the first part of the day in the classroom learning about nymphs and leaders and theory. The second part is on the water putting it into practice. Another class we have is about Euro Nymphing. This class is more specific to the Euro Nymphing techniques using long/light rods. Getting more familiar with fishing nymphs will increase your catch rate exponentionally.

Nymphing Tactics - $150
Saturday May 11, 2019
Sunday June 30, 2019
Sunday August 11, 2019
Saturday September 14, 2019

Euro Nymphing - $100
Saturday May 4, 2019
Saturday May 19, 2019

Give us a call at the Shop for more info and the sign up.

Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.

Daniel Drake
March 12, 2019

Fly Tying Classes January, February and March 2019 Taught by Walter Babb and Brian Courtney Beginner to Advanced CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Respond to: info@littleriveroutfitters.com