The Tellico area received a decent amount of rain this past week. While we didn't get the chance to fish the river ourselves since we were out of town, we've had several reports from those who have. The stocked trout that are currently in the Tellico have been there for several weeks now and have mostly wisened up to larger attractor nymphs such as eggs and squirmies. While they're not necessarily picky, we recommend scaling your flies down to attractor nymphs in the size 18 to 14 range.
Fish are spread out along the length of the Delayed Harvest and not evenly distributed. The best tactic for finding fish is to spot hop from one likely looking spot to the next, spending about 20-30mins in a spot and moving on to the next if no fish are caught or seen in that time frame. In other words, the name of the game is Covering Water. As long as your drifts are good and flies are heavy enough to be near the bottom, if the fish are there, they should be willing to eat. If not, it's time to move. Focus on pools and slower runs where the majority of fish will hold during the winter months.
Just a reminder that the Bald River Bridge project is still ongoing, so the Wildcat Rd and North River Rd detour routes are your ways to access the upper river and Delayed Harvest section at this time.