The Trout Zone: 2024 Year in Review

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

2024 Year in Review

This was a great year of fishing for me. I got out on the water less than ever for myself, but ran a ton of guided trips of course. This trend towards less personal fishing has made me focus on quality over quantity. That might involve unusual adventures or even something closer to home but on new to me water or sections of water. For example, on my annual fall camping trip, I fished some new to me water on Noland Creek. I've been slowly working on fishing my way up that drainage, so each trip extends further and further into the backcountry.

Something else that I've started doing is setting myself fishing goals. This helps me stay accountable to put in the time to make good things happen. These goals are usually for the cold season. This past winter I had two goals. I accomplished one. The big brown trout on the Clinch on a streamer didn't happen. The other challenge was because I hadn't personally caught a musky in a good long while, and decided it was time to make it happen again.

The musky just happened to be my personal best (time to break 40" now) at 39" as well and came on a rather unusual technique. Verifying that the technique worked meant as much to me as landing the fish in general, but I was glad to get it done either way. Read more about that musky HERE.

The next grand adventure was the White River in Arkansas. After all these years, I finally made it out to the White River to fly fish. It was an epic trip on so many levels, including some great brown trout. You can read more about that trip HERE. In addition to catching big brown trout on streamers, we also enjoyed the solar eclipse. This event in early April was one of several big celestial events this year that we enjoyed.

The next big event was the cicadas of brood XIX. My favorite thing about these period cicadas by far is fishing for carp with big dry flies and this year's emergence didn't disappoint. I guided them for about a month straight and occasionally caught a few for myself as well. Here is an article I did about the joys of fishing the cicada hatch. If you haven't done it before, there is another brood in 2025 that should produce some good action. Here is one of many I caught even in the limited time I got to fish for myself.

While my fishing escapades started to drop off after the cicadas, I still had some good moments. The real treat of the year happened coincident with the great carp cicada fishing, however. It wasn't even fishing related. The northern lights, aurora borealis, descended much further south than usual and blessed us with an epic viewing opportunity here in Tennessee not once, but twice. The first time was the best. You can read more and see pictures from that HERE. While I have a hard time picking my favorite picture from that magical night, here is one of several.

After the epic spring and summer, the second half of 2024 was more mundane for me with one big exception. We had our second little one in July and it has been a grand adventure ever since. This is the real reason I haven't headed off on any more big adventures out west without the family. I want to be around to enjoy everything there is associated with having a little one in the house. I did end up with a little more time than usual, and finally got around to blogging about my Wyoming fly fishing adventure from 2023. Better late than never! Read about each of them using the links below.

I already shared a link in the beginning of this post to my fall camping trip. Other than that, it has been a routine fall and early winter. The big thing recently has been a tangible annual leap forward in my guiding skills and angling knowledge. I'm encouraged that I am still learning a ton every single year. When I quit learning and improving, then I'll get bored with what I'm doing. In the meantime, I'm still out there trying to crack all the codes I can. If you want to get on the water with me and learn some of my newest tricks, feel free to reach out about booking a guided trip. You can find all trip pricing at www.troutzoneanglers.com/rates/ or let me know if you have any questions.

Now, I'm working on fishing goals for 2025. First and foremost, I want to finish the goal that I set for myself last winter: a giant brown trout on the Clinch River on a streamer. I also want to catch more musky, that's always a given, but more importantly, I have a couple of friends that I want to get on a musky as well. Some will be their first time, others have done it but it has been a while. I'm also working on how to possibly get back to the White River in Arkansas again as well as another trip out west. Those trips may or may not happen for the same reason(s) that I haven't gotten out much in the second half of 2024. Time will tell. I also want to hit another epic cicada hatch and this upcoming year looks like a good bet. We should have them in good numbers in east Tennessee. I plan to work on being in better shape/conditioning as well. That will involve more hiking and jogging/running. I've been working on that lately already. See my picture below from a recent hike. Either way, I'm excited to see what the New Year has in store!