Southern Appalachia Trip

[Devan S.]

I will be embarking on a southern Appalachia trout trip later this week. If someone has some excellent must hit/cant miss spots in KY, TN, NC, SC, or GA please let me know. Not just fishing spots but fly shops and/or points of interest are welcome. I will likely miss GSMP just purely to avoid chaos right before Christmas.

I have spots already but they are done up with minimal research. Goal is of course a "trout" in each state but would also like Brookies if I can force it reasonably. 

GA has a trout slam so I will have to catch each there as well. 

Will do swing through MS/AL going/coming. MS has not stocked yet but I am hopeful. 

[BilletHead]

45 minutes ago, Devan S. said:

I will be embarking on a southern Appalachia trout trip later this week. If someone has some excellent must hit/cant miss spots in KY, TN, NC, SC, or GA please let me know. Not just fishing spots but fly shops and/or points of interest are welcome. I will likely miss GSMP just purely to avoid chaos right before Christmas.

I have spots already but they are done up with minimal research. Goal is of course a "trout" in each state but would also like Brookies if I can force it reasonably. 

GA has a trout slam so I will have to catch each there as well. 

Will do swing through MS/AL going/coming. MS has not stocked yet but I am hopeful. 

  Good luck Devin,

      Goals are fun and sometimes painful to pursue as you know. Get it done while you can. 

[Quillback]

When I was stationed in GA, close to 50 years ago, I fished the Chattooga river a couple of times.  It has hike in access at some spots so you can get away from the competition.  It also has tributaries that are in SC and NC (I think), so you can target a few states in one spot.  Wild trout are there too.  

Chattooga River Trout Fishing

[Devan S.]

Chattooga is on the list but as a backup. I have a trib. of the Chattooga picked out for my SC brook. Probably going to be a bushwack hike but that's okay. 

TN. I may fish the Tellico but likely going to end up in a headwater tributary for a Brook vs. the main Tellico. However it does provide a bunch of fishing options and camping. I may use it for my NC trout in the upper reaches. 

Moccasin Creek in GA seems to be a nice single creek to get my GA slam. Again probably going to hike to the headwaters but that's okay. 

AL will be Sipsey Fork, MS will be lake Lamar Bruce if they stock in time. 

KY I have several options but really want to fish below Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland. Nice multiple species location with a chance at some new to me species as well. 

[Devan S.]

Well I got home today. I cut my trip short as I just was not having the success I expected to have. MS has not stocked. 

My first stop was Sipsey Fork, Alabama. I had no idea what to expect did very little research other than its a year round stocked trout fishery. It was raining off/on through Mississippi/Alabama but then it stopped. I am sure there is better access but the only one I found was about a 20 foot drop from the top of the walk way down to the water right below the power house. Unexpected....I'd have to pull them quite a ways on light line but I could see fish. 

Started with a jig. Bunch of short strikes, I could tell they were small....probably too small to get the jig good so switched to a smaller trout magnet. Hard to cast with all the fencing and light gear, mostly vertical jigging. My first fish came unhooked half way up. Off I go east.

I had prepared to car camp at one of the streamside campgrounds along the Tellico River east of Tellico Plains. My plan was to stick to this area for day 2. I just happened to check the radar and saw a pretty good line of storms headed my way in the next 3-4 hours before I bailed off into zero service. Decided to a hotel was a better idea for the night. Glad I did. The wind was bad, tornado warnings just to the south and lost power through the night. Next morning driving into fish and there was a bunch of freshly cleared trees that had fallen in the wind and lots of limbs and litter in the road. The Tellico was a little dingy but I was going higher up into a feeder stream so didn't expect any issues. I did have 2 options to get to my point: Option 1 was a rough forest service road coming in from the top side. About a 2 mile hike. The other was coming up from the bottom, about a 4 mile hike in but paved access. Due to all the trees down and limbs I chose to hike up vs. try the more remote forest service road. 

Sycamore creek is a fairly well known spot for Brook trout but you have to get to the upper section. The lower couple miles are mostly rainbows but there is a fish block just before it dumps into the Tellico so I presume these rainbows are wild. A very defined trail and moderate climb. No big deal. Once I got to where I wanted I dropped down to the creek. Here I had my first run in with what I think is Rhododendrons. These bushes are thick and their big leaves catch everything. Net, lines, fly rods, backpack straps, you name it they grab it. The leaves are also heavy compared to say our brush locally or out west. It cause problems at every stream I would fish from here on. You can see how thick it is here along just above the stream.

In spots it makes bank hoping impossible and right up the stream is the only option. Fighting through it completely blows any ability to be stealthy. Just tough. However every little pool here had multiple hungry fish. Just dipping. This was the biggest and prettiest. 

I caught a half dozen, hooked and lost or missed another dozen then headed back. Right before getting back to my car I decided to check out the lower river for some rainbows. 

From here I expected to go another 4-6 miles up the road and cross into North Carolina and fish the upper Tellico for a North Carolina trout. From here on, things went haywire. Access in most of these spots are real bushwhacks. The rhododendrons really choke down on the smaller streams making them impossible to fish and almost every stream required you to go down steep access of 20-30 feet to get down to the creek and then through the brush. I fished another 3 or 4 spots on the upper Tellico and never saw a fish. I assume I either spooked them fighting getting down there or they just simply were not there. I moved on and used the night time to drive to Moccasin Creek State Park in Georgia. 

 

 

[Quillback]

Ornamental Rhododendrons are pretty common in the PAC NW.  Pretty when they bloom.  I knew they grew wild in that area, but never have seen wild ones. 

Hey you caught some fish, which is cool.  One thing about wild trout is that you usually have to work to get them, if it's easy they get fished out.  

[Devan S.]

Moccasin Creek State Park is bordered on one side by a hatchery. Search "Trout and Moccasin Creek State Park" and you get tons of hits. The section along the park is reserved for kids and handicap and it gets all the fan fair; stocked heavy with all 3 species. There is mention of trout farther up and brookies above the falls. A place where one could conceivable get a Georgia Slam.  

As I paid for my camping, I asked the park attendant how far up I need to go. He said its steep and dangerous and he would be surprised if I could get above the second falls. He also said fishing is slow right now. I was the only person there. 

Plan was to hike to Hemlock falls and fish the big pool below the falls. I did and never had a bite, never saw a fish either. Then I packed up and followed a faint trail around and over. There is another set of falls about 1 more mile in. I assume past that is Brookie heaven. At this point, I will never know. The trail disappears after about 100 yards, down trees all over, wet trails, steep inclines, lots of leaves on the ground making things slick. I bailed. It wasn't worth getting hurt. A slip would have likely had me going down 30-60 feet. Not worth a major injury. Most of the trail before Hemlock falls is 30 feet above the river. I hopped around a bit but never saw a fish and never re-strung my rod. I was deflated. 

When I left, I stopped back by the ranger and asked about an adjacent road that may access the headwaters. It has been closed and FS doesn't have plans to open it. The only real options were 6 miles coming in from the AT....not worth it so I bailed and headed to my backups for Georgia. 

Warwoman WMA has multiple creeks said to have all 3 species in it. Generally decent road system to get you close to fishable spots. I saw 1 fish and caught that 1 fish. Again a still from the video of the kind of stuff I was trying to get through. My assumption is that much of this debris is leftover from Helene. Or maybe its just always like this?

This is the last of the fish pictures....if that's what your here for you can skip the rest. 

I also managed to break my fly line here. Frustration with being tangled in everything on a line that was probably 8 years old and not been taken care of. I drove a lot of miles through forest service roads and stopped at 4-5 creeks. Bushwacked down.....looked around hit 2 or 4 holes and then head back to the car.

I bailed from here and headed to Walhalla SC. I found the cheapest motel in town, I was sore and wet, mentally beat. 

Next morning I headed to the Chattooga Fly shop. Interesting place. I highly recommend. I reloaded and headed to the upper Chattooga looking for anything. The section between Burrells Ford and Ellicot Rock has a decent trail, at least up until it crosses the East Fork of the Chattooga. Then it gets smaller but not terrible and started to get higher above the river.  I hiked beyond Ellicot Rock up into NC. 

Generally the stream is more open down by the river with more room to cast and far less bush wacking. However my fortunes did not change. 

On about the 5th or 6th run I fished, on my first cast I had a fish come up and slam my pink indicator. I did everything but bust out a seine to catch that fish but never saw it again. That would be the only fish I saw this day. Frustrated and with the weather looking good at home, I packed it in and drove home. 

[Johnsfolly]

Rhododendrons, mountain Laurel and highbush blueberries will be an issue throughout the Appalachians as you continue your quest northward. The MD wild brookie waters will be covered in a lot of spots. Same deal in Western and central PA.

I remember making a deer drive in PA thru a blueberry swamp. I tripped and fell forward and never hit the ground🙄.  

Where will you head next?

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Devin thanks for the report, even though it seems like it was  really tough trip.   The pictures look great and you details really paint a picture of a tremendously unique opportunity.   These are the things that memories will be made of.   Rarely will we remember the blue skies and easy bites.   

[Ham]

I mean you had some success right. I am also helped by the fact I only need one of any size as long as it can be confidently aided as the target species and I still have a big bunch of targets.