Fly Fishing Adventures
in the Southern Appalachians
in the Southern Appalachians
Hoping all of the southeastern anglers out there had a good Memorial Day as we honored our fallen on this important remembrance day. This day also marks the day TVA begins our guaranteed summer release schedule for the HIwassee river. Now through the summer we are assured of adequate non fluctuating flows to drift fish the upper river and the gorge. Due to adequate spring moisture levels the reservoirs in the area are at summer pool and in excellent condition. June and July will be our 2 peak months to fish the Hiwassee river especially for dry fly activity. We have also had more water in the river for the past 8 months than we usually do and for this reason the river has an unusually high fish population with plenty of larger than average trout available.
So if you have been a little over sheltered lately come and drift the river with us in the cool mountain breeze and see if you can catch that big one you have been after for a while now.
We Are Open Southeastern Style........
To all of the southeastern anglers out there - The Hiwassee river is going to be a shining star once again this year for April, May and June. For those of you that fished here with us last year during this time period, it is going to be much the same. The abundant winter rains have provided us with flow rates to fish the upper river for a lot of April and May which is not the norm. The entire river is full of fish that have seen very few flies since October. The fish are fat from the flush of baitfish from the reservoir over the winter and eating flies well.
The hatches are beginning now. Blue wings, caddis, hendricksons and a few giant stoneflies. The big stoneflies should increase this month as they did last year. This makes the big foam dry dropper rigs work like a champ.
The next couple of months are going to be a great time to get out and fish our local southeastern waters. The Hiwassee is going to be excellent as described and others are going to come into shape soon.
We are open for business. Gas is cheap, no air travel involved for most, and clean, fresh air in an uncrowded environment. Additionally, we have adopted a USFS approved protocol for our Hiwassee river trips. Let a fishing trip with us be a part of your plans this spring. Give me a call and let's go fishing.
To all of our traveling anglers; just wanted to put a bug in your ear that we have 2 slots remaining for our hosted trip to San Martin De Los Andes to fish with Andes Drifters staying at Spring Creek Lodge for the week beginning on Saturday, January 4th, 2020. Cost for the trip is $7500, doorstep to doorstep including airfare, travel insurance, and Global Rescue. The airfare is still reasonable compared to other international destinations and our group will be departing Atlanta Hartsfield airport on Friday, January 3rd, 2020.
This trip is primarily float fishing medium and larger rivers for mostly brown trout. Other options are available. Early January is the best time to fish this venue with optimum water levels in the rivers and warm mild summer weather. It has taken us a while to secure this prime week in this area. Just give me a shout if you are interested and I can provide details. 
Fellow Southeastern Anglers - hello from Burkesville, Kentucky! Here are a few fresh photos from recent days on the Cumberland river. The river is fishing very well daily with good flows and good late summer weather. The streams around the southern Appalachians are resting now, but the Cumberland is fishing strong. Deep nymph fishing is a consistent producer. Fish are chasing streamers also. Some days better than others. Our hopper dropper rigs are becoming more important every day. Some very large rainbows have come on hoppers. As the hay and corn is harvested for the season, the grasshopper will become more important. This may be the place for trout fishing the next couple of months. We will be here with good available dates still. Call or email to schedule your trips.
Happy summer to all of the southeastern anglers out there. Dane here with a short note to let everyone know that we are opening up the 2019 Cumberland river season. Water levels and weather look very promising for the upcoming season. We have begun our first trips of the season here today and fishing is good. We are offering trips here for larger trout until the weather gets too cold or the river gets too high. Typically one or the other occurs in November but I have fished the river into December with mild fall weather in the past. We have two jet boats and drift boats available for this season. As always, I recommend 2-3 day jaunts here since every day is different. The Cumberland river holds the best population of trophy trout of any river in the southeast US. I suggest Dale Hollow state park for lodging. Dale Hollow has clean affordable lodge rooms and small cabanas, Internet, restaurant, and 24 hr cancellation if the fishing gets blown out. Give me a call or shoot an email anytime to book your Cumberland river adventure. Thanks.
It has been several months since a report from our local waters. The abundance of rain during fall and winter held us with a "wait and see" attitude. I am happy to say today that "all is well," and this may be quite the understatement. Starting at home base on the Hiwassee river, we are having very good flows to drift the upper river which is abnormal for pre-Memorial day. The river is fishing excellent with hatches more abundant than the last few years. The sulfurs are starting to crank up and we have a heavy mix of other bugs. 
The next 120 days are going to be some of the best dry fly fishing we have seen in quite some time. We have an outstanding fish population with lots of holdovers and older fish that were well fed through the winter on shad in the high flows.
Our other local favorite waters in the Knoxville area are just now starting to come alive for both trout and smallmouth as the tailwater flows from early spring are now moderating to fishable rates. 
Fishing is excellent, especially with some angler flexibility with the venue.
A huge thank you to all of our SEA friends and clients that have joined us on this special adventure down south over the past fifteen+ years. The trip to Chilean Patagonia has turned into an annual event. We will once again be hosting the lodge of Cinco Rios for the week of February 15-22, 2020. The upcoming season is going to be the year of the giant Cantaria beetle hatch in the local Paloma valley and the area around Coyhaique. If this isn’t reason enough to join us, here are a few more: highest standards for accommodations, guides, and fishing quality; extremely affordable compared to other world class fishing destinations; easy, safe travel; our winter is summertime in Patagonia; big brown trout on big dry flies; the camaraderie enjoyed by a fun loving group of individuals staying at the lodge.
If you would like to start thinking about joining our group for February 2020, just give me a shout and we can lay great plans.
We have the entire lodge booked for this prime week and currently have six open slots we will be filling this month.
If you havent done this trip, it needs to be on your list.
Dane
VIDEO LINK: http://vimeo.com/63275962
It sure does seem like a long time since we have been able to get out on our local tailwaters. It is finally spring launch time on the Hiwassee river. After one of the longest rainy seasons on record, we can see the light...sunlight. 
We began running the drift boats on the Hiwassee river a couple of weeks ago, still on high water, and the fishing has been good since the firstlaunch. Now the flow rates have been reduced to a low water schedule. Being one of the high mountain reservoirs with a relatively small watershed, the Hiwassee usually becomes fishable before many of the other larger, lower elevation tailwaters. We look for them to fall into play very soon. Currently on the warm days, we can have good hatches of both mayflies and caddis.
Our area trout have not seen any fishermen for months now and with moderate weather conditions ahead, this should be an excellent season. We are currently fishing the Hiwassee and Tellico rivers. I think the larger Knoxville area rivers will see reduced flows and become fishable within 2 weeks. As always, we are keeping our eye on the Cumberland for any spring windows of opportunity it may yield.
Here are a couple of photos from our recent Hiwassee adventures and the bottom pic is The Paloma River Valley in all its glory just outside of Coyhaique, Chile taken in February on our most recent Patagonia excursion. We have a couple of remaining slots for this trip on February 15th-22nd, 2020. 
As always, call or email. We are ready to go.
