Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Report May 10th
The fly fishing inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is reaching its peak. Mid May is always when experienced Smokies anglers feel the park streams are fishing at their best! Perfect weather and abundant insect hatches keep the trout happy and looking up. Some of the best dry fly action of the Spring is happening right this very minute!
Black Berry Winter
Blackberry Winter blew through the region this past weekend, bringing with it severe high winds which toppled tress and closed the park down for a few days. Park officials told us there was over 150 downed tress in the roadways inside the park. Thats impressive considering we have had the remnants of hurricanes and everything in between and that has never happened before to that magnitude. Just goes to show how raw and wild the Smoky Mountains can be at times. The winds subsided and snow blew across the high country dumping upwards of 6 inches of snow in places like Mt Leconte and Clingmans Dome. Crazy right? However, history shows, it has snowed each month of the year inside the park over the years. Roadways are now clear and everything is operating inside the park as usual.
This week has been excellent weather as day time temperatures have reached the high 70’s inside the park. In downtown Gatlinburg it feels almost Summer like with mid 80’s. Its certainly nice to be outside in the Smokies now. Bryson City also topped out at 80 today as well.
Smoky Mountains Fishing
Our favorite dry fly hatches of year have begun inside the park. Yellow Sallie stoneflies and light Cahills are flying through the air and crawling acros the rocks. These hatches drive the Smokies Trout absolutely crazy. Trout leap into the air wildly to take a struggling insect off the waters surface. Every guide on our staff looses their minds this time of year as we enjoy the bounties of warmer weather. Right now there is an abundance of great hatches all across he region. There is no less than 26 different hatches you should be aware of. However if you plan to fish this weekend, bring a handful of Yellow Sallie dries in #14-18, light Cahills in #14-16, and plenty of olive and tan Caddis dries in sizes #14-18.
The Weekend
This weekend looks to have some rain moving into the area and thunderstorms are possible. It is the Smokies however and you never know what your going to get weather wise. We have an old saying, well actually we have lots of sayings, that’s what mountain folk do, but anyhow. If you don’t like the weather, just wait fifteen minutes, It’s going to change! Highs on Friday will reach 77, rain on Saturday with a high of 66, and sunny on Sunday and back up to 76. Grab a rain jacket and get to the water, the trout are waiting!
Faith, Family, and Fishing!