A happy New Year to all of the southeastern anglers out there! Thank you for making 2022 one of our best years ever. Just thought I would take a moment to usher in 2023 in a big way and present a little photo recap of some of 2022's best catches.
First - The crystal ball says: Go ahead and book early season 2023 fishing trips and take them too. The 90 day weather forecast is for average precipitation and slightly above average temps for our area. It has been years since NWS has forecast anything near normal weather for the Southeast. TVA and USACE have the major reservoirs we fish below at perfect levels. This spells excellent fishing opportunities for the first six months of 2023. The Hiwassee and Cumberland rivers should perform as well as or better than last year during this period. The Clinch and Holston rivers, which have been finicky during the last few wet years, should come much more back into focus for us as a spring fishing destination.
We added boats and equipment in 2022. The big items were a new center console jet and new 14ft Aire rafts set up for fly fishing. These new rigs give us multiple boats for all conditions and situations. I am especially excited about the fleet of rafts we have available for the variable flow conditions the Hiwassee will offer us for the first five months of the year. This opens up float and wade options and the gorge section during spring hatches and lower flows.
We continue to explore and host fly fishing trips to many areas of Patagonia. In 2022 we were able to spend over 30 days from norte to sur in both Argentina and Chile. Most of it was almost unbelievable fishing. Some of it was not. One week in Coyhaique I was able to land over 50 brown trout, 20 inches or better on large foam attractors. Another day found us lake fishing from the shore in southern Argentina for very willing 15lb rainbows on streamers. The first trip down in January 2022 was still plagued with covid travel restrictions and we probably should have postponed this trip. As adventurous traveling anglers, we faced the storm and marched on. Some fished daily for two weeks, some did not. We all came home the wiser for it. This particular trip goes under the column with volcano eruptions, earthquakes, and civil disputes. Our early season 2023 Patagonia trips are full. We are in the process now of kicking around early December 2023 venues which will be early spring time in Patagonia, with easy travel, reduced airfares, and pleasant weather in the north. We are also starting plans for our January/ February 2024 summer Patagonia trips.
Give us a call. Thanks.
Dane (770) 655-9210
