buzzmcmanus
05-06-2008, 03:45 PM
Went fishing for a little while on Sunday. The wife wanted to go to Gatlinburg to shop at the Spinnery and buy some knitting stuff, so I suggested we take the fly rods and get in some fishing while we are there. I typically avoid Gatlinburg if at all possible and don’t ever go there to fish, but since we were going to be there anyways, why not make the most of it.
On the way to Gatlinburg we stopped by LRO to pick-up a few flies and to get my wife a fishing license. Every time I’m in there, Paula looks at me like she knows me, but can’t quite place a name with the face. One of these days, I’ll introduce myself again. I’m just always in a hurry to get to the river when I’m there.
The Spinnery is located in a craft center in Gatlinburg. We pull into the parking lot and I couldn’t believe it. You have to walk through (another fly shop) to get to the Spinnery. Gatlinburg ain’t so bad after all. After she shopped for her stuff and I rummaged around the flies for an hour, we were off to do some fishing.
I thought about fishing Greenbrier, but settled on going to Roaring Fork. To get to Roaring Fork, you have to drive the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. This alone is worth the trip. It’s a one way loop through the mountains, 10 MPH the whole way. We enjoyed the sights and especially the wildflowers in bloom. Eventually I found a good place to pull over and we started fishing. Right away, I knew I was going to like this place. One plunge pool after another. Each pool was about eye level from the one before it, so you would fish a pool, climb a boulder then fish the next.
My wife doesn’t exactly enjoy this kind of fishing. She was also having problems getting her fly to float, because every time I looked back at her, she was letting it dry by hanging it from a rhododendron tree. At least she was smart enough to cast it high enough into the tree that it would take a while to retrieve and it would be plenty dry by the time we would get it down.
We ended up only fishing for about 30 minutes. I know when to call it a day when the wife is along. However in that 30 minutes I managed to catch 6 like the one in the picture. They were all extremely fat, probably from all the mayflies coming off the water.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u51/buzzmcmanus/DSCN6355.jpg
On the way out, we stopped at the Sugarland Visitor Center. I’ve driven by the place a hundred times and never thought to stop. It was pretty cool. They had all the typical tourist stuff in it; however they also had a Smoky Mountain Museum. In it were all the things you might find in the smoky mountains. I’d also recommend stopping there anytime you’re in the area.
Next weekend’s report will be better. I plan on fishing solo Saturday and I’ll be sure to take a few more pictures. Now I just need to figure out where to go. I’m thinking “brook trout”, maybe a long hike up Lynn Camp Prong, or possibly head south into Cherokee.
On the way to Gatlinburg we stopped by LRO to pick-up a few flies and to get my wife a fishing license. Every time I’m in there, Paula looks at me like she knows me, but can’t quite place a name with the face. One of these days, I’ll introduce myself again. I’m just always in a hurry to get to the river when I’m there.
The Spinnery is located in a craft center in Gatlinburg. We pull into the parking lot and I couldn’t believe it. You have to walk through (another fly shop) to get to the Spinnery. Gatlinburg ain’t so bad after all. After she shopped for her stuff and I rummaged around the flies for an hour, we were off to do some fishing.
I thought about fishing Greenbrier, but settled on going to Roaring Fork. To get to Roaring Fork, you have to drive the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. This alone is worth the trip. It’s a one way loop through the mountains, 10 MPH the whole way. We enjoyed the sights and especially the wildflowers in bloom. Eventually I found a good place to pull over and we started fishing. Right away, I knew I was going to like this place. One plunge pool after another. Each pool was about eye level from the one before it, so you would fish a pool, climb a boulder then fish the next.
My wife doesn’t exactly enjoy this kind of fishing. She was also having problems getting her fly to float, because every time I looked back at her, she was letting it dry by hanging it from a rhododendron tree. At least she was smart enough to cast it high enough into the tree that it would take a while to retrieve and it would be plenty dry by the time we would get it down.
We ended up only fishing for about 30 minutes. I know when to call it a day when the wife is along. However in that 30 minutes I managed to catch 6 like the one in the picture. They were all extremely fat, probably from all the mayflies coming off the water.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u51/buzzmcmanus/DSCN6355.jpg
On the way out, we stopped at the Sugarland Visitor Center. I’ve driven by the place a hundred times and never thought to stop. It was pretty cool. They had all the typical tourist stuff in it; however they also had a Smoky Mountain Museum. In it were all the things you might find in the smoky mountains. I’d also recommend stopping there anytime you’re in the area.
Next weekend’s report will be better. I plan on fishing solo Saturday and I’ll be sure to take a few more pictures. Now I just need to figure out where to go. I’m thinking “brook trout”, maybe a long hike up Lynn Camp Prong, or possibly head south into Cherokee.