Daniel-San wrote:

"Conan The Librarian" wrote ...

Inside the
park you have easy access to the Little River all along the road, as well
as at the Elkmont campground parking lot which is a good place to begin
exploring.

Sure sounds like it...

My only experience there has been that I spent a day on that section
of the Little River last year and a few hours on it earlier this year,
but it's beautiful water, and it also has some willing fish. One thing
I'd advise is to hike for a good distance before you settle in to cover
the water.

I thought I had hiked far enough last year, but came to find out
that I had been following another fisherman upstream all day. I still
caught fish, but I also had some outright refusals, which I never
encountered in the rest of my trip.

That stretch is also relatively open water for the Smokies, meaning
you don't have to crouch and flip/bow-and-arrow/rollcast around
overhanging branches the whole time. You'll actually be able to make
some longer casts if the situation calls for it.

Just to whet your appetite, here's a couple of shots I took last year:

http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/little01.jpg

http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/little02.jpg

Also, you'll be close to Cades Cove and Abrams Creek. I fished the
"spring creek" section (above the footbridge in the Abram Falls parking
lot) earlier this year, and it was tough fishing (very wary fish and not
much in the way of cover compared to other Smokies streams I've fished).
But, Abrams further along the Falls trail is supposed to be some of the
best fishing in the park. The trail itself is absolutely gorgeous,
whether you fish or not. It's worth it to make the hike to the falls as
well. IIRC, the hike was about 1.5 hours round-trip.

I'm following you around now on my old Smokys map. This looks G-R-E-A-T.

Oh yeah ... if you don't have it, you might want to look into the
National Geographic trails map of the Smokies
(http://makeashorterlink.com/?D2EF3285D). It's printed on a coated
paper that's waterproof. I carried mine with me all the time.

You can also go to the National Park Service GSMNP page to get a pdf
map of the park that's handy for playing around with. I used it to zoom
in on some areas and get a feel for where the trails ran. I then
printed out some of these and put them in a ziplock to carry in my vest.
See here for the file: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/pphtml/maps.html

Unfortunately, the Cades Cove loop is a circus; cars were almost bumper
to bumper after about 10:00 a.m. on a *weekday* when we were there in late
March.

Yeah, the price of the most popular park, I guess. I was there a few years
ago in early March for a BP trip, and Clingman's was insane.

SWMBO and I made the mistake of going up to Newfound Gap during our
trip in March. There was also some construction work going on in the
parking lot, and it was absolutely ridiculous. You could barely find a
place to park, and you were standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the overlook.

Strangely, when I went in late June last year, there were folks
there, but nothing like this year's crwod.

So, if I were in the Townsend area for two days, I'd definitely take
one full day for hiking and fishing the Little River above Elkmont. The
other day might be for exploring further into the park. Maybe check out
the Little Pigeon in the Greenbriar area or the Chimneys area, or drive
over Newfound Gap to Bradley Fork on the NC side. Just get a feel for
areas you'll want to return to.

{{{seeing my future}}} "...you will be spending time with a book.... a
gazeteer..."

Er, if you're like me, it will be several books, the Delorme for NC,
plus a few topo maps. :-}

But some people think I overdo my prep for these trips. :-)

Thanks for the info, Chuck. Assuming all goes according to the as yet very
vague plans, I'll post pics somewhere.

My pleasure. Just keep in mind that last year's trip was my first
flyfishing trip to that area (though I used to go to the park as a kid).
So I am definitely not an expert. I just did some reading, asked a
bunch of ROFFians, and did some exploring. (And I actually was staying
in Robbinsville all the time. I took a couple of days to explore Big
Snowbird and drove to the park other days.)

And yes, pics would be appreciated. I'm living vicariously right
now through the rest of youse, as it will be next year before I get back
there. Until then I just have to live through these:

The Bradley Fork of the Oconaluftee (this is my wallpaper, and it's
also where I caught the second biggest fish of my trip:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/bradley01.jpg

Newfound Gap looking back into NC:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/newfound.jpg

The view from the Cherohala Skyway near Robbinsville:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/cherohala02.jpg

Just above the lower falls on Big Snowbird:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/snowbirdfalls01.jpg


Chuck Vance (oh, and take a 3-wt. rod if you've got one; about a
7'6" one will do nicely)