We’ve battled our way through another winter season. We’ve endured some extreme cold, A 9 inch snow event, a few weeks of trade shows, a bunch of flies tide and some cold weather fly fishing. Now we’ve got spring firmly in our sights and we’re very excited about getting busy on the rivers again soon.

The weather is becoming more cooperative and our lakes are in fine shape. We should be set up for another great year across our southern tailwaters. My books are filling quickly and open days are limited between now and July.

Current conditions still call for being flexible. Flows have been great, then they become erratic, then they’re great again. So keep flexible and be ready to fish whatever levels TVA throws at you.

Low water will require long leaders. Nymphing and midging are the top producers, although we have seen a weird sulphur hatch in the afternoons. In fact, today we found a pod of risers late in the day and managed to get one to eat a #16 sulphur comparadun. Nice to get that first dry fly fish in the boat this season. That said, midges are the main bugs on the menu right now, pupa patterns #20 - #26 will be your best bet. Fish them near the bottom on 6x fluorocarbon. Zebra midges in black, red and brown have worked well for us. It’s also hard to beat the traditional Clinch River Pheasant Tails in sizes between #16 and #20.

High water calls for more extreme tactics. If your nymphing, make sure you’re deep enough and have plenty of shot on your leader. You’ve got to get it on the bottom. The same patterns are working fine, but you’ve got to work to get them down. Streamer fishing has put some fish in the boat. We’re fishing 300 to 400 grain sinking lines and a variety of streamers. White patterns are working well as our olive.

Now this is how you start the year off right. Lighting struck Mark’s line one morning and he was ready to ride the lightning. Ten minutes later we landed this beautiful brown trout. This hen measured 28 inches and weighed in just over 12lbs. Way to go Mark!