Current Streamflow- 245cfs
Water temps- mid 50s to low 60s
Hatches:
Sulphurs
Yellow Sallies
Salmonflies
Eastern green drakes
Tan caddis
Terrestrials (beetles, ants, etc.)
Hot Flies:
Parachute sulphur 16
Reversing caddis 16-14
Yellow stimulator 12-16
Klinkhammer 16-12
Pat's rubber legs 12-10
Blowtorches 16-12
Batman nymph 16-14
Walt's worms 18-12
Leeches & buggers 10-6
With local streams moving at a trickle and air temps creeping into the 90s, late Spring fishing conditions on the Tellico were looking bleak until last week's storms and showers brought the comeback story we'd been waiting for. The Tellico area, like much of the drought-stricken Southeast has received several inches of rain over the past week, saturating bone dry soil, recharging mountains springs and seeps, and bringing a brighter shade of green back to the mountainsides. After months of below average flows, the Tellico River is now back to normal streamflow. With the rain came cooler temps, with most days being in the mid 70s to low 80s and overnight temps in the 60s at low elevations, 50s in the mountains. Cool water temps and good streamflow now have trout feeding aggressively.
We are seeing some of the best sulphur hatches we have seen in years on the Tellico and tributaries leading to some fantastic dry fly fishing. You can find sulphurs hatching all day long with the peak hatch happening late in the evening. A variety of dry flies will produce all day long on tributaries and the sections of Tellico where wild trout are present. You may find a few stocked fish willing to take dries during the day on the Tellico, but nymphs and streamers will produce the best numbers until the evening sulphur hatch persuades stocked trout to look up.
Now is also a great time to target a variety of warmwater species from bass to panfish to gar in both rivers and streams.