Conan The Librarian wrote:
... In Townsend you can find cheap lodging, a liquor store, a
well-stocked grocery store and you'll be on ...

a good start in most places...

Also, you'll be close to Cades Cove and Abrams Creek.

if you go to cades cove...you'll need the whisky.

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.

....supposed to be? hmmm.... well, were i a truly selfish person, i'd
direct every person to the tennessee side of the smokies and tell them
to fish abrams. esp. if i knew i'd probably never meet or share a stream
with them. if in fact the best fishing in the eastern u.s. was along the
cades cove loop, i'd not seek it out or direct a friend there. there are
prettier, less frustrating places to go. the traffic just isn't worth it
to me. and it is reported to always have a surfeit of traffic. my
suggestion would be...find a flyshop in townsend, buy some flies (tan
ehc, parachute adams, stimulators) and tippet, tell them your plight and
the kind of fishing you'd like to find. ...

jeff