Report on the Waters of the Pisgah National Forest, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and waters along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Updated Thursdays

Brookie with Waterfall

Water Conditions:

Temp – 54-62 and cooling

CFS – healthy, normal water levels

http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&w=map&r=nc

Hatches:

Mayflies:

Light Cahills, Chocolate Duns, Slate Drakes, Blue Winged Olives

Caddisflies:

Tan, Yellow

Stoneflies:

Little Yellow Sallies, Little Green Sallies, Golden Stones

Midges:

Assorted

Terrestrials:

Ants, Beetles, Crickets, Hoppers, Inchworms

Fly Suggestions:

Chocolate Dun

Dry Flies:

Light Cahill Emerger, Light Cahill, Light Cahill Spinner, Hazel Creek, Pink Lady, Ausable Wulff, Irresistable Wulff, Rusty Spinner, Yellow Palmer, Yellow Humpy, Chartreuse Humpy, Slate Drake Dun, Slate Drake Spinner, Tan Headlight Caddis, Green Headlight Caddis, Yellow Elk Hair Caddis, Little Yellow Sally, Tennessee Wulff, Yellow Para Madam X, Lime Para Madam X, Yellow Stimulator, Foam Fall Caddis, Ants, Beetles, Crickets, Hoppers, Inchworms

Nymphs and Pupa:

Copper John, Copper Blondie, Slate Drake Nymph, Mayfly Wiggle Nymph, Tellico Nymph, Yallarhammer, Crow Fly, Tan Braid Pupa, Tan Grand Poopah, Boss Hog Light, Yellow Tungsten Copper Stone, Fall Caddis Pupa, Tungsten Fall Caddis Pupa

Streamers:

Muddler Minnow, Matuka, Hornberg, Black Ghost and various wooly buggers in large size range.

General Information:

Polarized Sunglasses and accessories

Polarized sunglasses are a must-have for sight fishing, watching the drift of your dry fly through glare on the water and wading safely by easily seeing the rocks of the riverbottom.

The technology works simply by creating a filter in the lens that is 90 degrees out of alignment of your subject matter which blocks out the vertical light leaving the horizontal light to pass through without glare.

Smith/Action Optics and Costa Del Mar are two companies that make excellent polarized sunglasses especially with anglers in mind.

It is important as a trout angler in the mountains of western North Carolina that your sunglasses are not too dark as it will be difficult to see due to the low light on the tree covered streams.

I carry two pair of glasses with me.

Rainbow Trout – Polarized

One pair with Brown/Copper colored lenses and one pair with Amber/Yellow colored lenses.

I wear the brown lensed glasses under normal light conditions and the yellow lensed glasses under low light conditions.

Smith recently came out with a polarchromic lens that gets darker when the sun is brighter and gets lighter when there are overcast skies or if you are under a thick, dark canopy of trees.

If you want to get a pair of prescription polarized sunglasses but don’t want to pay the price for them, consider trying a pair of Cocoon sunglasses which are designed to comfortably fit over your regular prescription glasses.

Other helpful visual accessories include Clip-On or Snap-On magnifiers for folks who have difficulty seeing up close and Croakies or CablZ to secure your glasses so that you won’t lose your “secret weapon” Oh, by the way, the polarized sunglasses make every fish look at least 12” bigger! 

Projected Conditions:

It looks as though Hurricane Isaac will pass to the west then north of us amounting to about 1 to 2 inches of rain locally at the maximum. It will probably be just enough water to keep the rivers at healthy levels. Due to the continued cool off which began early in August, the average stream temperatures have come down dramatically (some as low as 54 degrees) and will possibly hasten the arrival of some of the fall insect hatches, namely the Fall or October Caddis. Night time average temps have dropped to the low 50’s in higher elevations. The weather for the upcoming week will begin with the rains from Hurricane Issac and begin to clear the middle of next week. Watch for the Fall Caddis pupa hatching along the edges of the streams and on the boulders as well!

Planning a fly fishing trip on the waters Western North Carolina?

Let the professional fly fishing guides from Curtis Wright Outfitters take you!