dcopas78
Well-known member
I just got back from a week in the Smoky Mountains and trying out my new Tenkara outfit. I must say that this is a really, really fun way to catch fish. It is incredibly lightweight and compact. The whole outfit, including a small case for flies, tippet, and the hard case weighs around 14 ounces. If you just take the rod in the soft case, it would be reduced by around 5 ounces. It is a great back country option for someone looking. It is also easier to use than traditional fly gear if someone doesn't like fly fishing gear.
Anyways, back to the fishing. It was very slow compared to how I would normally do this time of year. The hatch was good, mostly little yellow sally stonefly, but the water was so low due to low rainfall totals that the fish were extremely spooky. I ended up spending most of my time up in the higher elevations chasing brook trout, mostly above 5000'. A big brook is 8 inches here and a big rainbow rarely exceeds 14 in the mountains, but they are wild trout. At a few of the lower elevation areas, I took the wife and boy with me. He enjoyed the water and all the rocks, sticks and dirt that went along with it. You give that boy a stick and he is entertained for hours.
Anyways, back to the fishing. It was very slow compared to how I would normally do this time of year. The hatch was good, mostly little yellow sally stonefly, but the water was so low due to low rainfall totals that the fish were extremely spooky. I ended up spending most of my time up in the higher elevations chasing brook trout, mostly above 5000'. A big brook is 8 inches here and a big rainbow rarely exceeds 14 in the mountains, but they are wild trout. At a few of the lower elevation areas, I took the wife and boy with me. He enjoyed the water and all the rocks, sticks and dirt that went along with it. You give that boy a stick and he is entertained for hours.