Maggie Valley Fly Shop, Dry Fly Girl and the Maggie Valley Fly Festival

Welcome to Appalachian Tightlining. We are starting to see the first signs of spring with flowers starting to pop, leaves and flora starting to spread their greenery and thunderstorms starting to fill the rivers. Warming water temps means the trout are waking up, rising from the depths and spreading out .This brings the excitement of getting ready to start chasing not only wild trout but native brook trout and the bushwacking and adventures that comes with the chase.

On March 11th is the Tellico River clean up. Registration will begin at 8am at the Tellico River Ranger Station. Lunch will be provided by the Chattanooga Trout association and there will be prize drawings at noon.

April 1st is the Gatlinburg Tournament and River Clean Up. Check in with the Gatlinburg Trout Facility on Facebook or on Instagram for details.

In this weeks episode of Appalachian Tightlining I have special Guest Cody Fischer, Owner of Tellico Outfitters. Tellico Outfitters opened in 2018 in Tellico Plains, Tennessee and is home to the well known Tellico River which has stocked and wild trout as well as Small Mouth Bass in its lower reaches closer to town.

In addition, The Cherokee National Forest which the Tellico River Flows through is home to Citico Creek, which also has stocked and wild trout. What's more is the Cherokee National Forest is home to the Bald River, the North River and many tributaries of all these watersheds which hold wild rainbows, browns, and native brook trout. Cody and Tellico Outfitters specializes in Euro Nymphing, where they teach, guide, and offer the best gear and products for tightlining the Cherokee National Forest and beyond into North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains. Along with tightlining gear and specialization Tellico Outfitters offers traditional fly gear and understanding so don't feel excluded if your throwing a fly line, a Tenkara rod, even spin fish, Tellico Outfitters and Cody will get you on some fish. Cody's tactics have been proven in the areas watersheds where he has caught multiple large brown trout, wild and stocked rainbows and he loves to adventure and bushwhack for native brook trout. Recently Cody and his team partner Will Blevins won the Gatlinburg Trout Tournament further solidifying his tactics work.

When I met Cody for todays interview he had just gotten through with a fly tying demonstration at Little River Outfitters in Townsend, Tennessee, just a few miles from the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We bounce around a bit but dig into understanding fish behavior, a bit of Cody's time in the Dakotas and some of the fantastic fishing there. We get into the marked differences of some of the Dakotas streams higher PH waters and how that provides a better habitat for fish and particularly trout vs our lower PH waters in the Tennessee and North Carolina areas of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Then we get into some tactics including leader design which for some, can be the most confusing aspect of Euro Nymphing and tight lining but is easier then you think once you master a blood knot and a nail knot.

Listen back to Episode 44 of the SouthEastern Fly Podcast for more from Cody on fishing the Tellico area.

Music was brought to you by Artlist.IO and the Talbert Brothers American Dream.
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Thanks for listening and remember to chase the tightline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian M

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.