Beautiful scenery, perfect weather, lots of fish and great folks are just a few ways to describe the trip I had with the Scarbrough family. We headed out late Monday afternoon to the park for some great dry fly action and we found it. The Caddis (Brown, October) are coming off really good in the afternoon, but anything dark in a # 16 will  work or orange in a # 12 or # 10 will do just fine. Don’t forget the BWO’s, it is a little early for them, but they are still coming off here and there. The fly that worked so well for us was a #16 peacock Caddis and a very fine leader, also a good presentation never hurts.

We hit one of my favorite holes in the park where there are always at least 10 good fish rising. To my surprise there was not a one in the spot, so someone must have beat us to it. The next spot we went to, the fish told us that nobody had been there, no I don’t speak fish but Wills got a few rises right off the bat. Wills saw that dry fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains can be frustrating, but hung in there and landed a fat Brown on his next cast. Wills is a great golfer so patience is something he has. Here is a shot of the first fish of the day.

We moved on after a short while, just a little higher up where we got into some more fish and some wildlife. As we were fishing I happened to look over and spot 2 doe cruising down the bank without a care in the world. After spotting a few fish Archie and Wills got into position and hooked up with fish only for them to get off. This happened a couple of times, but Archie managed to catch 2 nice rainbows about 10 inches a piece. Here is a shot of  Archie’s catch and of the deer we got to see.

I decided to take them a few miles down stream to show them some different water and how to fish it. We were fishing longer, slower pools in the early part of the trip and they were interested in learning how to fish the park so we went to some really productive pocket water and they picked it up quick. High sticking, mending and fast hook sets are what you need for this type of water and they saw it. We had strike after strike but the fish were usually faster than us and I explained that it was normal to miss fish in the Smoky Mountains. Anybody that fishes here will testify to that I’m sure.

We had a great day on the water and caught quite a few fish. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day and warm weather. Archie and Wills were great fisherman and super easy going guys and Kathy, the Mrs., was a super nice lady who came along to take photos and enjoy the fall weather. What more could you ask for with all of that. I look forward to fishing with these guys again in the future. Fishing in our area is great, so go fishing when you can and call us for any details about the stream, bugs or taking a trip. Later guys.

I thought I would take a trip to Anderson County yesterday and check out the sulphur hatch on the Clinch. As soon as I got there I realized that everyone else was thinking the same thing. I actually stepped in the river around 4:00 pm.  When I got to the river I didn’t really see that many bugs coming off, so I tried some nymphs and did ok with them. I noticed 1 fish sipping emergers in a small riffle and realized at that moment that I forgot my box with all my emergers in it. The nymph did the job though and I was soon hooked up with a nice rainbow.

The nymphs worked well all through the afternoon, I was throwing a size #14 pheasant tail and a #14 sulphur nymph. I tried them with and without weight and it didn’t seem to matter to the fish because they are so focused on the bugs that whatever they see, if it matches, they will eat it. An emerger would have been perfect, but I made do with what I had. I noticed a pretty nice fish eating in a spillway and made a few casts at him and was soon rewarded with a nice brown.

When the sun started going down the adults were really coming off and the dry fly action was just right. When it gets darker the fish won’t be as picky with the patterns you throw at them. However, I would still throw something that matches pretty close to the size and color. I was throwing a comparadun sulphur with CDC for the wings and they seemed to like it. I noticed the fish rising pretty much all the way until dark. Here are a few more pictures of the fish we caught . I hope we have been of some help and thanks for joining us, hope to see you out there.