TR: The Tennessee side of the Smokies

Howdy ROFFians and ROFFiettes,

I'm back from my little jaunt to Tennessee, and thought I'd share.
Short version: Spent a couple of days in Nashville for a show opening
that featured two photos of SWMBO's. After that we headed to Townsend
on the Tennessee side of the GSMNP. Stayed in a little cabin there and
went to the park for photo-taking and fishing. Caught some fish on the
Little River near Elkmont and got skunked on Abrams Creek in Cades Cove.
Came home happy.

Long version: SWMBO had two photos featured in the Dangenart
Gallery's newest show. The gallery is in Nashville in the old arcade
building downtown. I grew up in Nashville, and I remember The Arcade as
being the original "shopping center" in Nashville. It's a two-story
covered building with a high vaulted ceiling and open walkway through
the center. This area of downtown had pretty much gone to the dogs, but
it's in the center of what is now being revitalized as the "loft
district", a bohemian/artist community that's springing up in the old
warehouse/stores/office buildings downtown. As such, The Arcade is now
home to a couple of galleries, some restaurants, hair stylists, and a
number of architects' offices.

The opening went well, and SWMBO did the schmoozing thang, making
new contacts, as well as getting numerous requests for the mini
portfolio that she had printed up to display some of her other works.
After the glad-handing and wine and cheese-fest was over, we drove
around town and visited some of my old haunts.

The next day (Sunday) we were off to Townsend. We arrived at the
cabin in the early afternoon, dropped off our stuff and headed off to
Cade's Cove to scope it out. I had figured it would be a good place for
SWMBO to take pictures, and it also has Abrams Creek running through it,
so I'd have a place to do a bit of fishing. Even though it was the
off-season, the road was packed. We drove the whole loop just to see
what it had to offer, and it was decided we would return on Monday or
Tuesday and spend most of the day there.

We awoke Monday to a clear sky and temps around freezing. The clear
sky didn't bode well for the types of photos SWMBO wanted to take in
Cade's Cove (digital infrared), so instead I decided she should see
Newfound Gap and then we could hit the area of the Little River around
Elkmont. This area was formerly the outpost of the Little River Lumber
Company, and later the site for a lodge and some vacation homes, so it
would give her some of her favorite photo-ops (old buildings in various
states of disrepair). It would also give me a chance to wet a line in
the river directly behind some of the old buildings.

The drive to the gap was basically a mistake. The traffic resembled
rush-hour at 4:00 in Austin (thankfully with less honking of horns and
drivers cutting each other off), and the parking lot at Newfound was
ridiculous. But we managed to find a place to park and elbow our way to
the front to get a couple of shots looking down at the NC side of the
park.

The positive things: The sky was beyond blue, the air was so crisp,
and the snow and icicles in that setting almost made it possible to look
past the fact that we were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with half of
the population from the rest of the U.S.

We decided against heading on into NC, as signs warned us about road
work ahead, and if traffic was this bad wihout it, we could only imagine
what we'd encounter if we continued on.

So we headed back down to Elkmont. I rigged up and fished right
behind the cabins at the beginning of the Little River trail, while
SWMBO started shooting the old houses there.

FISHING CONTENT (bet you thought I'd never get around to it): I
tied on my standard #16 para Adams with a chartreuse post. The outfit I
was fishing was the TFO "Finesse" 4-wt. that I had gotten for xmas, and
I had a Cortland "sylk" line on the Redington CT 3/4 reel. I packed my
waders, but didn't feel like going to the trouble of suiting up, so I
donned my little neoprene wading booties instead. (From my experience
last year, the Little in that area doesn't require much wading, it's
mostly just stepping in the water to go between runs.)

I picked a nice-looking pool at the base of a mini-fall just above
the bridge, and on my second cast I had a feisty 8" 'bow. Things didn't
continue quite that well, but in the space of about two hours, I landed
3 fish between 6-8" and missed about three times that many, including
one with what appeared to be pretty broad shoulders. I fished the Adams
the whole time, which was nice. I had wondered about getting dry fly
action this time of year, but I guess the water had warmed up just
enough so that the fish were active.

Back to the cabin for grilled steaks and a nightcap and the day was
complete.

Tuesday dawned overcast but slightly warmer, and we were in
agreement that Cade's Cove was the place to go. We had decided to hike
to Abrams Falls first, and then spend the rest of the day
fishing/photographing in the area. The hike to the falls was about 70
minutes of up and down over a good trail and several foot-bridges. The
river looked wonderful along the way, but I managed to show some
self-control by reminding myself that we were going to the falls, and
I'd have the rest of the day to fish.

The falls were just as impressive as I had expected, and I even
tossed a couple of flies while Carol took some photos. (You may have
noticed that I have no links to photos. Well, that's because when Carol
and I travel, I figure it's pointless for me to bother taking pictures.
Besides, I spent all my spare time casting flies.) The pool at the
base of the falls is definitely home to fish, and I'd guess there are
some big ones. But, I'd have needed a full-sinking line (or dynamite)
to get down to them. Still, I can say that I wet a line at Abrams Falls.

After we hiked back out, we split up, Carol to take photos of the
various structures in the cove, and me to fish the creek. I'd read in
another forum about the "spring creek" section of Abrams that runs
through part of the cove, and I was interested to see what that was all
about. I figured it would be the warmest stretch of water there, so it
might be my best hope for dry fly fishing. It is also supposed to be a
stretch that has some decent hatches.

So I started out with my trusty para Adams. My second cast was
"rewarded" with a fish of about 12" who rose, looked the fly over and
returned to his station. (I'm not sure, but I think he also smirked on
the way back down.) Eternal optimist that I am, I took this as a *good*
sign.

Over the course of the next three hours, I stalked, crawled,
crouched, stumbled, flipped, side-armed, roll-cast and spooked,
terrorized and ultimately missed over a dozen fish through less than a
half-mile of that creek.

It's skinny water, and the fish are very spooky. There are also not
a lot of features on the water, unlike every other stream I'd fished in
the GSMNP. The fish were holding in the likely-looking spots, but on
this water that was a small rock or just a different look to the
streambed composition, rather than plunge pools, riffles, pocket water,
etc. And there was very little cover for the fisherman.

While I was fishing, there was a small hatch of what appeared to be
a Light Cahill, and I even spotted a fish working the mini-hatch.
Unfortunately, no one had told me to expect Cahills at this time of
year, and the only ones I had were in my other flybox which was in the
rental car somewhere in another part of the cove. :-}

But if truth be told, I'm pretty sure I could have managed to miss
them fishing Cahills just as well as I did with my other flies. :-)

So I got skunked on Abrams, and I never even made it back to the
trail above the bridge. But it was a lovely day, fish were rising to my
offerings, and I was exploring new waters. (Plus, that TFO rod worked
like a charm for those waters.)

And maybe best of all, SWMBO now understands why I love that area of
the country so much. So we'll definitely be back.


Chuck Vance (I'll provide some links to Carol's pics when she
gets them all downloaded and gussied up)