No fish for you

The drought in western North Carolina has been pretty severe. This is bad, but what really stinks is that it has affected the fishing. I like fishing up in the GSMNP, but the freestone streams are really just too low and the fish are hanging on for dear life. We went fishing on our favorite stream there Friday afternoon and got about 2 bites between us. The odd thing is that I actually saw more fish than normal - which I guess was the problem. The water was clear and low and the fish showed no interest in my dry flies. You know it's bad when a fly shop just outside the park suggests you go bass fishing somewhere else. Little River Outfitters (a great shop in Townsend, TN) did just that today.

My theory today was that the tailwaters would be better and I resolved to find out after work on the Tuck. And here came the dilemma: We had a huge thunderstorm which dumped tons of water and muddied the stream enough to ruin any dry fly fishing. So, do I rejoice in the rain that made a small dent in the drought, or do I pout the evening away? Thankfully we ran into some good friend in town and decided to have dinner at our house. That kept my mind off of it. Until now.