TR: The Tennessee side of the Smokies

Conan The Librarian wrote:

I'm back from my little jaunt to Tennessee, [snip]. But it was a lovely day, fish were rising to my offerings, and I was exploring new waters.

Thanks for the report glad you had a good time. I never had much luck
on that stretch of Abrams either, glad it wasn't me. We just need to do
something about your taste in fly rods and that you travel without
something small and light in your fly box

I plan on waking up Sat am in Townsend and going upstream on the
Little.

Wayne Knight wrote:

Thanks for the report glad you had a good time. I never had much luck
on that stretch of Abrams either, glad it wasn't me. We just need to do
something about your taste in fly rods and that you travel without
something small and light in your fly box

Hey, I *did* have something small and light in my flybox. I just
didn't happen to have that particular flybox in my vest. :-}

As for my taste in flyrods -- let's just say that my flyrod
gearwhoredom hasn't yet reached the level of my woodworking tools
gearwhoredom. :-) (But I'm betting I'd be a natural for a 'boo.)

I plan on waking up Sat am in Townsend and going upstream on the
Little.

Sweet. Maybe you'll be getting some nice temps for surface activity
by then. It was supposed to be in the 70's today.

So, without giving away any secrets, what areas of the Little do you
prefer?


Chuck Vance (who likes the area above Elkmont just fine, but was
also tempted by a lot of water bypassed on the way there)

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...

So, without giving away any secrets, what areas of the Little do you
prefer?

I've had good days just as it goes into the park but I prefer going
upstream, as far above the visitor's center as my fat ass can get. Since the
road follows it for a ways, it's not that hard to do. The East Prong is the
more *famous* stretch but the the other prongs can provide some decent
activity as well as a better workout and quicker thinning of the crowds. I
was fishing a great caddis hatch one day on one of them when I had my only
wild bear sighting. I never knew I could move so fast and so quiet in waders
on an Appalachian stream when those cubs decided they wanted to share the
pool with me.

Wayne

Wayne Knight wrote:

{Little River]

I've had good days just as it goes into the park but I prefer going
upstream, as far above the visitor's center as my fat ass can get. Since the
road follows it for a ways, it's not that hard to do. The East Prong is the
more *famous* stretch but the the other prongs can provide some decent
activity as well as a better workout and quicker thinning of the crowds.

I was real tempted by some of the areas around Meigs Falls and The
Sinks. There were some awfully pretty pools in there.

I
was fishing a great caddis hatch one day on one of them when I had my only
wild bear sighting. I never knew I could move so fast and so quiet in waders
on an Appalachian stream when those cubs decided they wanted to share the
pool with me.

Yikes. I haven't had the pleasure, but I expect I'd break my own
personal 100 yard dash time. :-o


Chuck Vance

Conan The Librarian wrote:

I was real tempted by some of the areas around Meigs Falls and The
Sinks. There were some awfully pretty pools in there.


Get above Meigs and you loose the browns and bows, fishing gets tougher
but the fishies get a whole lot prettier.

As luck would have it, something family wise has come up this weekend,
no TN for me

Wayne Knight wrote:

Get above Meigs and you loose the browns and bows, fishing gets tougher
but the fishies get a whole lot prettier.

I didn't realize brookies were in the Little in the park. Damn, if
I'd known, I would have made Carol stop to take some pictures there. :-)

As luck would have it, something family wise has come up this weekend,
no TN for me

Sorry to hear that. Maybe later this year?


Chuck Vance

Chuck: Thanks for the great trip report. I hope to fish the same area
in early June. It was good to see how you feel about the TFO Finesse
rod. Mine is the 3 weight rod of course. Mine takes a while to get used
to. It is quite a bit faster action than I expected. I like mine a lot.
I will be looking forward to the pictures. This area is a very special
place.

Big Dale

Big Dale wrote:

Chuck: Thanks for the great trip report. I hope to fish the same area
in early June. It was good to see how you feel about the TFO Finesse
rod. Mine is the 3 weight rod of course. Mine takes a while to get used
to. It is quite a bit faster action than I expected. I like mine a lot.
I will be looking forward to the pictures. This area is a very special
place.

I found the TFO Finesse to be pretty easy to adjust to. Maybe it's
because I learned to fish on an old Fenwick HMG, which was a pretty slow
rod. I would have gotten the 3-wt. as well, but I've already got a
couple of those, and I was lacking a 4-wt. :-) Anyhow, the rod loaded
well at short distances, but was still OK when I needed to get a bit
more line out.

BTW, I never did get around to going to the Little River Outfitters
like you suggested. Time was just too short on this trip, and all my
"spare time" was spent on the water.

Have fun in the Smokies.


Chuck Vance