Smoky Mountain Vacation

[Justin Spencer]

Took the family to Gatlinburg last week for a Spring break vacation. First time to the Smokies and Gatlinburg and it was a great time to go. Still quite a few people but nothing like what they say happens in the summertime. The Smokies have been plagued by high water as of late and while we were their this was unfortunately the case. We arrived on Sunday with water pretty high and muddy, by Tuesday it was down somewhat and easily fishable by NFoW standards, still cranking pretty good however. This day was my window for fishing as heavy rain was again forecasted for the next 2 days. Leaving the family behind to spend the day at the water park, I headed up toward Newfound Gap stopping at any good looking spots along the way. This was higher up in the mountains and I was fishing small pools(about the size of a car hood or two) for any rainbows or brookies that may be hidden here. Fished many spots without seeing or feeling a fish and finally at 3:00 decided to head down to the Little Pigeon(?) around Elkmont Campground. Water looked great, but to my disapointment their were fishermen everywhere. Elkmont road was closed due to some culverts being washed out so I just drove along the highway until I found some pulloffs without fishermen. Talked to one local gentlemen who said earlier in the day there were some pretty good hatches and the fish were biting some, but the action had slowed and he had gone for an hour without any action. He pointed me to a good looking run that he said held fish and I made cast after cast with no takers. River was very fishable but with high water the spots were limited and I'm afraid most good spots had been hit several times throughout the day (at least that's my excuse). I was skunked in the Smokies, and the next two days brought floods that made fishing the rest of the week only a dream. Crawling over boulders and down ravines was a ton of fun, and this was one of the best days of fishing I've had in a long time, hopefully next time I can catch a fish.

By the way, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies was great, really good for kids and adults alike.

[Outside Bend]

Shame the weather wasn't nicer for you, but still a great trip! I've been looking hard at heading down that way sometime this season.

[Justin Spencer]

It was a ball, I think to really catch fish you need to hike in a little further than I did on the smaller streams. I'm sure the holes I hit near the main trails get hit by every schmo like me that doesn't want to work too hard to try and catch fish. Should be pretty easy to at least catch a few fish on the bigger lower streams, not that I did.

[Stoneroller]

we went there last year in the middle of the summer, amazing place! the mt streams were trout heaven! tellico river is the most beautiful trout water i've ever seen. kicked myself HARD for not bringing my gear, but from what the guys at the local fly shop were saying it's all very highly regulated and in season only a certain number of permits are issued each day and they aren't cheap. I've been wanting to go back ever since we left.

Ripley's aquarium is awesome, loved it. after we left gatlinburg we went to chattanooga and the aquarium there, which is awesome too.

[Justin Spencer]

Amy and I hit the aquarium in Chattanooga last fall when we picked up the drift boat and telling the kids about it is what got us going to Gatlinburg so we could visit a cool aquarium with them. They felt they might die if they didn't go see sharks and jellyfish.

[Stoneroller]

lol we were there and some woman, who obviously didn't have very good reading skills looks at the tag on a tank and says, "LOOK! it's a BANDAID PIPERFISH!" the tag read "Banded Pipefish" =)

[eric1978]

Next time you venture out there, stop in Nashville for a night on the way home and go to Layla's Bluegrass Inn for cheap beer, greasy burgers and great music. Perfect end to the trip.

[ness]

Thanks for sharing, Justin. It's a great place and I want to get back there someday soon too. We passed through there a couple summers ago, and stayed in Townsend. Fished one day and a couple hours another day. First day was high water and lots of heavy showers. Did ok -- caught a nice brown, but we spent more time driving around trying to dodge the rain. The morning we were leaving I went up high toward Newfound looking to get a brookie, but got skunked.

[Justin Spencer]

I heard there was a good flyshop in Townsend but didn't make it over there.

Eric, wanted to spend a night in Nashville, but having the kids make it less fun out on the town. Know any good babysitters there?