I had my last eye checkup after cataract surgery today and should now be able to keep this report up to date. All the streams in the park are still very low. It is going to warm up some for the next few days and hopefully water temperature want be the factor is currently is. Currently, the water is still relatively cold until noon or later in the day. I will leave the following generic recommendations up for another day or so. As mentioned before, trout in cold water don’t expend much energy and as a result, they don’t need much food to replenish it, so you do need to slow down your presentations. You have to stay hidden from them and make good presentations, preferable using Perfect Flies which look like the real things. It also helps to dress to match the shades of colors of the background. Fish the lower elevations with choppy water with a broken surface as opposed to smooth surface water. You can still catch trout. They still eat in low water. Today will be nice and warm with a high temperature in the upper seventies. Tomorrow will be even warmer with a high near eighty degrees. Rain is expected for Thursday night and Friday.
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Smoky Mountain Stream Conditions:
The streams with links that have nearby USGS Station Real-time stream data: Click the links to see updates:
Little River: Rate 39.6 cfs at 1.27 ft
(Good wading up to 239 cfs and with extra caution up to 300 cfs)
West Prong Little Pigeon River (Gatlinburg): Rate 11.9 cfs at 2.61 ft (Good wading up
to 95 cfs and with extra caution up to 125 cfs)
Oconaluftee River: Rate 118 cfs at 1.03 ft, (Good wading up to 550 cfs and with extra
caution up to 850 cfs)
Cataloochee Creek: Rate 27.8 cfs at 2.17 ft. (Good wading up to 200 cfs with extra caution up to 250cfs.
Hazel Creek and the other larger NC streams flowing into Fontana Lake:
The streams are all well below normal levels.
Weather Forecast: (click the boxes below for more detailed weather information)
https://forecast7.com/en/35d71n83d51/gatlinburg/?unit=us
https://forecast7.com/en/35d48n83d32/cherokee/?unit=us
Trout Flies Currently Needed or needed very soon;
Streamers:
Brown Sculpin: 6
White Belly Sculpin: 6
Articulated Sculpin and Leeches: 4
Blue-winged olives: 16
nymphs
emergers
duns
spinners
Green Sedge Caddis: 14/16 (mostly Abrams Creek)
larva
pupa
adults
Slate Drakes: 10/12
nymphs
adults
Recommended Fishing Strategy:
Keep in mind, the strategies I am recommending is for the maximum odds of catching numbers of fish. Many prefer or favor a dry fly and by all means there isn’t anything wrong with that. It’s just a fact that if nothing is hatching at the time, it reduces your odds of success. You can still probably hook some trout, just not as many as if you fish subsurface. Of course, this is also based on using good techniques and the right flies. Some guys don’t know how to fish below the surface.
Strategy:
Not all of the insects you see above will be hatching in the same location. It is usually only one or two. It varies with the elevation. Some are just starting in the low elevations and some about finished in the higher elevations. If you fished the day or two before and know where something is hatching, fish the nymph or larva stage of it. If you haven’t fished the day or two before, until I spotted something hatching, I would fish the BWO nymph. If you spot something hatching (coming off the water), change to the appropriate emerger, dun or adult imitations of the insect.
Tips for Beginners:
Don’t let anyone intimidate you by contending that fly fishing is more difficult to learn and master than other types of fishing. It isn’t.
Thank you for visiting our website
James Marsh