Pond Fishing

People are telling me all the time that they don’t fly fish very often because they don’t have anyplace to go. I know as well as anyone that there are an endless number of things that keep us from fishing as often as we’d like, but not having a place to go should never be one. While you may not have a world-class trout stream in your backyard, or even in your state, there are plenty of other alternatives. You may just have to get a little creative.

bluegill
Bluegill

For instance, almost every city has some sort of park or green space with a pond. These can be productive little fisheries, typically containing bass, carp, catfish and some sort of variation(s) of sunfish. They are a lot of fun to fish and at the very least, they will keep your casting skills and fishing instincts sharp between fly fishing vacations.

If you’re really lucky, you’ll find a friend who has a farm pond. These provide all of the same benefits as those city ponds but without all of the people. I had access to one when I lived in Kentucky that I fished three or four times a week. Sunfish like bluegill will readily take a fly and fight as hard as any fish I know. And a big bass boiling on your surface bug at dusk is a tough thing to beat.

sneaky pete
Sneaky Pete

It helps to know what fish are in the pond when deciding what gear to use. You can effectively fish for bluegill with the same outfit you use for trout. A number of small to medium topwater terrestrials will work well. Small popping bugs are a good choice, too. They’ll eat trout flies but they’ll tear them up in a hurry. Therefore, I’d recommend more durable foam or hard-body flies.

As exciting as it is to catch those bluegill up top, I often catch the biggest ones below the surface. Wooly Buggers are productive, as are a large variety of rubber-leg nymphs. However, if you want to get a little more specific about imitating their food source, try crayfish patterns and damsel and dragonfly nymphs. They tend to be attracted to brighter colors. An old fashion Green Weenie has been one of my favorite subsurface flies for bluegill. As a matter of fact, fishing a Green Weenie as a dropper off a popping bug can be very productive.

whitlocks fruit cocktail
Whitlock’s Fruit Cocktail

Bass will eat many of the same flies as mentioned above, but big bass are often looking for a little more of a mouthful. A variety of streamer patterns can take bass in ponds and are always a good choice. But I love getting them on the surface when I can. Large hard-body poppers and sliders and spun deer hair bugs are a blast to fish with. However, these larger flies are very difficult to cast with a light trout outfit. If you do much of this type of fly fishing, I’d recommend picking up an 8-weight.

When fishing ponds, look for structure like rock piles and tree stumps. Also, these fish like the edges of things. Cast to shadow edges and the edges of shallow and deep water. In addition, during summer months, expect better fishing early and late in the day.

Poppers

Fly Fishing Popper
Hard Body Popper

A popper, or popping bug, is a type of topwater fly commonly used for warmwater species like bass and bream. Unlike the often delicate and diminutive dry flies used in trout fishing, poppers are typically bright and robust. While topwater trout flies are commonly designed to discreetly drift down a feeding lane, popping bugs are designed to make commotion.

Deer Hair Popper
Deer Hair Popper

Poppers are most often made with a hard, cork body but more and more frequently are being constructed of foam. Softer variations are also made by spinning deer hair on a hook. The hair is tightly packed and trimmed to shape. Using different colors of deer hair allows for some pretty cool color and design variations. However, color and design variations can also be achieved on cork and foam poppers with paint and markers.

What they all have in common is a flat or cupped “face” and a body that usually tapers slightly, getting smaller toward the rear of the hook. When fishing with them, the idea is to pull your line with a short, quick motion that jerks the fly abruptly. As a result, the flat or cupped face of the fly will make a “pop” on the water.  A popper could certainly resemble some sort of insect, but most often it is designed to suggest a struggling baitfish.

Sneaky Pete Slider
Hard Body Slider

A diver or slider is frequently lumped into the popper category. However, while made with similar materials, these have more of a bullet shaped face. The body tapers in the opposite direction of a popper. You use similar fishing methods with this style of fly but when the line is pulled toward you, the bullet head causes the fly to dive or erratically slide through the water.

July Fishing Forecast

Smoky Mountain Trail
Highcountry Trail

Smoky Mountains

The Smokies fished great through most of June. As a matter of fact, we had an amazing four or five days with highs in the low 70’s and almost no humidity. It felt like fall! There were some significant rain systems but most only skirted the mountains, keeping water levels full but very manageable. So we’re heading into July with a surplus of water but, as you would expect this time of year, water temperatures are starting to climb.

On lower elevation rivers and streams, you’ll really want to focus on early morning and late evening when things are cooler. The best bet this time of year is getting to mid and high elevation streams where water temps can be significantly lower. In general, smaller backcountry streams will be better because they have more tree canopy and see less sunlight.

We should continue to see sporadic hatches of Little Yellow Sallies, Light Cahills, Sulphurs and tan caddis. Larger golden stones are still hatching at night but fish are sometimes still looking for them in the early morning. Isonychia nymphs are active, making a Prince Nymph or George Nymph a great choice. But terrestrials are the main course from now until fall with trout looking for beetles, ants, inchworms and the like.

Clinch River

It’s been a tough year on the Clinch with water flows. June started out great but those rain systems that skirted the Smokies hit the Norris Lake area pretty hard. They have been constantly releasing water from the dam for the last few weeks.

I’m expecting those water releases to relax pretty soon. We should soon see the standard summer release schedules of low water in the morning and increased generation in the afternoons when power demand is at its highest.

When water releases do relax, you may still see some Sulphurs hatching in the late morning and afternoon, but we’ve mostly missed that hatch this year. Of course, midges are abundant 365 days a year and will be the fly choice most of the time in July. There are many patterns that will work, but it’s tough to beat a standard black Zebra Midge.

Jakes Creek

Location: GSMNP East Tennessee                                                              

Nearest Town: Townsend, TN / Gatlinburg, TN

Species: Rainbow trout (occasional brown)                                                             

Average Size: 6”

Stream Size: Tight                                                              

Pressure: Light

Type of Water: Freestone, Mountain                                                          

Boat Access: None

Best Times: Spring through late fall, after a good rain                                                         

Favorite Flies: Attractor dries

Nearest Fly Shop:    Little River Outfitters – Townsend                           

Camping:       Elkmont Campground

                        Backcountry Campsite #27

Directions:

From Townsend, travel southeast on 73 to GSMNP entrance.  At the “Y” in the road, turn left toward Gatlinburg on Little River Road.  Follow approximately twelve and a half miles and turn right toward Elkmont Campground.  Or, from Townsend, turn on Wears Valley road at the only traffic light in town.  At about six and a half miles, turn right on Lyon Springs Road.  This road will eventually end at Little River Road at Metcalf Bottoms picnic area.  Turn left and follow for about four and a half miles and turn right toward Elkmont Campground.  Upon reaching the campground entrance, turn left toward Little River Trailhead and follow past the Little River Trailhead. You’ll enter a short, one lane loop that will take you to the parking area for the Elkmont Historic District. You can access the lower part of the creek here, or walk up the gated gravel road that leads to the Jakes Creek Trailhead. This small piece of road will provide access to another portion of Jakes Creek and the trail will provide access to another three miles of stream, as well as Backcountry Campsite # 27.  Be aware, however, that much of this trail is high above the streambed with only a few locations allowing reasonable access to the stream.  The best bet is to identify these locations and fish from access point to access point.

From Gatlinburg, travel southwest on 73/321 and merge south onto 441/71 toward Cherokee, NC.  Just past the Sugarlands Visitor Center, turn right toward Townsend on Little River Road and follow approximately four and a half miles.  Soon after passing Laurel Falls trailhead, turn left toward Elkmont Campground. Upon reaching the campground entrance, turn left toward Little River Trailhead and follow past the Little River Trailhead. You’ll enter a short, one lane loop that will take you to the parking area for the Elkmont Historic District. You can access the lower part of the creek here, or walk up the gated gravel road that leads to the Jakes Creek Trailhead. This small piece of road will provide access to another portion of Jakes Creek and the trail will provide access to another three miles of stream, as well as Backcountry Campsite # 27.  Be aware, however, that much of this trail is high above the streambed with only a few locations allowing reasonable access to the stream.  The best bet is to identify these locations and fish from access point to access point.

East Prong Little River – Backcountry

Little River Backcountry GSMNP Tennessee
Little River Backcountry

Location: GSMNP East Tennessee                          

Nearest Town: Townsend, TN / Gatlinburg, TN

Species: Rainbow & brown trout                             

Average Size: 8-10”

Stream Size: Open to moderate                              

Pressure: Moderate to light

Type of Water: Freestone, Mountain

Boat Access: None

Best Times: Late spring through late fall

Favorite Flies: Attractor dries, beadhead nymphs, stonefly nymphs

Nearest Fly Shop:    Little River Outfitters – Townsend

Lodging:         Talley Ho

                        Docks                                                 

Camping:       Elkmont Campground

                        Little River Campground

                        Backcountry Campsites #24 & #30

Directions: 

From Townsend, travel southeast on 73 to GSMNP entrance.  At the “Y” in the road, turn left toward Gatlinburg on Little River Road.  Follow approximately twelve and a half miles and turn right toward Elkmont Campground.  Or, from Townsend, turn on Wears Valley road at the only traffic light in town.  At about six and a half miles, turn right on Lyon Springs Road.  This road will eventually end at Little River Road at Metcalf Bottoms picnic area.  Turn left and follow for about four and a half miles and turn right toward Elkmont Campground.  Upon reaching the campground entrance, turn left toward Little River Trailhead and follow to the parking area at the end of the road.

From Gatlinburg, travel southwest on 73/321 and merge south onto 441/71 toward Cherokee, NC.  Just past the Sugarlands Visitor Center, turn right toward Townsend on Little River Road and follow approximately four and a half miles.  Soon after passing Laurel Falls trailhead, turn left toward Elkmont Campground.  Upon reaching the campground entrance, turn left toward Little River Trailhead and follow to the parking area at the end of the road.

The trail follows Little River for about six miles providing frequent river access along the way.  The further up the trail you go, the smaller the stream will become and the fewer people you will see.  Backcountry Campsite #24 is about four miles up the trail, and Backcountry Campsite #30 is located near the trail’s end at six miles.  A visit to Backcountry Campsite will also put you in close proximity to Rough Creek and Fish Camp Prong.

June Fishing Forecast

Little River GSMNP Tennessee
Little River

Smoky Mountains

The Smokies have been fishing great and that should continue into June. The biggest concern right now is water levels. After a wet and wild spring, we haven’t seen rain in the mountains for over two weeks and the streams are starting to show it. However, the weather forecast for the first week of June shows a little better chance for precipitation so hopefully we can get back on track.

Lower elevations will likely fish pretty well through the first half of the month, but as water temperatures continue to warm, expect the best fishing conditions in the mid to higher elevations, particularly by the latter part of the month.

We should continue to see sporadic hatches of Little Yellow Sallies, Light Cahills, Sulphurs and tan caddis. Larger golden stones are still hatching at night but fish are sometimes still looking for them in the early morning. Also start looking for Isonychia nymphs to start moving around toward the end of the month. But terrestrials will be the main course from now until fall with trout looking for beetles, ants, inchworms and the like.

Clinch River

May is often my favorite month on the Clinch but heavy water releases left it largely unfishable for most of the month. Water releases have started to relax now and it’s looking like June could be a good month.

We’ll hopefully still see some Sulphurs hatching in the late morning and afternoon through most of the month. Of course, midges are abundant 365 days a year and will be the fly choice most of the time in June. There are many patterns that will work, but it’s tough to beat a standard black Zebra Midge.