Fly Fishing in the Smoky Mountains

 

Nick and I stopped at the Smoky Mountain Visitor’s Center to see when the Park would be opening since this was at the time all the National parks were closed due to the government shut down.  Fortunately the Park opened that day due to all the nearby towns pitching in to open it up, at least through Sunday if needed.  Perfect timing!  After securing hotel arrangements in Gatlinburg at the hotel nearest the park entrance Nick gave me a tour around the west end of the park.  The sites were amazing.

The following morning we went fishing on the Little Pigeon River.  This was fun dry fly fishing for small rainbow trout in a beautiful setting.  We parked by the ranger’s station where the river turned away from the road a bit where we could fish in solitude away from the gravel road.  We immediately started catching lots of trout eager to take whatever we would offer, mostly an Adams or small caddis. 

 

The biggest fish was about 10 inches long.  It darted out from under an overhanging rock out of one of the deeper holes.

The morning that we fished the Little Pigeon River the Park seemed like a rain forest, very beautiful.  Everything was so green and wet.  The rocks were especially slippery.  When it started drizzling I hid under an overhanging rock, but not Nick. 

 

He just kept right on fishing in the rain.  We noticed a group of kids wading and playing around the rocks in the river and we wondered what they were doing.  Come to find out, they were catching crawdads.  Looking in their big bucket we saw that it was quite full of large crawdads.  This will make a tasty meal for the family.  Nick and I did catch one crawfish earlier by placing a rod tip near its claws.  It grabbed the rod tip and hung on.

The park was so beautiful with outstanding vistas that it was hard to break away to fish when there were still so may gorgeous sights to see.  This is one thing I admit I am guilty of, being so intent on fishing that I don’t appreciate the scenery and gorgeous settings that most trout streams are part of.  I am glad I was able to see this part of the country and especially the wonderful Smoky Mountain National Park.