April Showers Bring….
April Showers bring May Flowers...Has certainly held true for Spring 2015! We have been on a pattern for most of April where showers would be scattered during the week, not affecting fishing, and clear out on the weekends. Well, this last weekend it rained, rained, and rained on into Monday morning. We have been receiving many emails and calls about the waters up here and what fishing looks like for the coming weekend.
Most of the low elevation valley rivers are flowing well into the thousands CFS. It will most likelybe middle to end of the week for these waters to return to wadable fishing conditions. The National Park (GSMNP) waters have been fishing great before the rain and will return to normal faster than the Tuck or Little T. Long story short...the weekend should be ok, even with rain in the forecast.
On the positive side of large rain events like we encountered; If the rivers are not blowing fish out downstream, they at least give the fish a break from the pressure. The DH fish in the Swain/Macon and Jackson areas have been beat down! I would like to know how many times a day the same fish gets netted on area DH's. The high water at least gives the fishery a breather and chance to heal fsome sore gums and ripped lips. Always a "Silverlining"!
I floated the lower Nantahala with one of our guides, Ben Bergen (photo above). Ben has tons of experience rowing the Lower Nantahala, and I was excited to eperience this fishery in bad weather. It was amazing to see how much rain was coming down and how little affect it had on the waters. Of course the water clarity changed, which is why we were there searching for the big browns that get carniverous on days like we have had. Despite the rain and cloudy water we still put fish in the net. If you are here and the weather is suspect, call us and we will talk about a lower Nanatahala or Tuckaseegee Float trip targeting big browns.
Email or call the shop for any updates on conditions or check the Real Time Stream flows under the "Fishing Reports" tab.
