Cooler days have led to better fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP)!
On the Tennessee side, we had excellent luck nymphing on the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River. With fewer folks around and less pressure on the water, the rainbows swarmed the lower reaches while the brook trout gave us plenty of action on top. One brookie measured ten inches! Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails, and Squirmy Worms held the interests of these fish, and we found strike indicators useful, too.
In North Carolina’s Deep Creek, our Golden Stone Flies and Squirmy Worms caught us a dozen rainbows and a mammoth brown trout over twenty inches long! On the Little Tennessee River, rains from last weekend had us floating at 1000 cubic feet per second (CFS), and although the water had a slight tinge, the smallmouth bass didn’t seem to mind. On the stretch between Rose Creek and Tellico, we landed several smallies on fly rods using streamers. If you haven’t fought a bass on a fly rod, now’s the time to try!
This weekend looks promising with highs in the low-eighties and no rain in the forecast. For trout, we’d stick with Royal Wulffs, Thunderheads, Pheasant Tails, and olive Midges. If you’ve got a taste for smallmouths, pick up your fly rod and bounce a streamer along the bottom. Smallies are strong fish, so prepare yourself for a good fight!
Attention, young deer hunters—Saturday, September 24 is Youth Deer Hunting Day! If you’re 17 years old or younger, you can use guns or any other legal equipment to hunt deer of either sex.
Have a wonderful weekend!
