Greenbriar 5-10

[pineman19]

Hello all,

I hadn't been fishing for over two weeks so I decided to head to the Smokies in spite of the rain we received Friday night. On the way I passed through Sevierville, the Little Pigeon was high and muddy in town so I figured water levels would be pretty high on the WPLP and Roaring Fork which was my orginal destination. I decided to head towards Greenbriar since Fridays storms seemed to impact the center Park more than the eastern portion. Water levels were higher on Greenbriar as well, but I decided to give it a try to ease my flyfishing JONES. I headed up the Ramsey Creek trailhead several miles to one of my favorite Brookie spots. The water was still flowing pretty good up high as well, but I managed to cross the stream and work my upstream along the streams edge. After about ten minutes of fishing I caught my first brookie of the season.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii103/whiteoak78/IMGP0040.jpg

After I few more casts I caught a spunky 7-8 bow. Both fish were caught on a size 14 Stimulator, which was the only fly I could get to float with a good deal of success in the high water.I focused on fishing the slacker water out of the main stream flows, but it was still tougher fishing than a few weeks ago when I fished near Sugarlands on the West Prong. I fished the upper Greenbriar for around two hrs, but didn't catch anything else of any size after the first two fish. I finally decided to turn around and head back since the water levels weren't getting any better and I was fishing alone without any trail by the stream.

I headed back towards the Ramsey Creek trailhead and picked a spot where I often start to fish the Gorge portion of Greenbriar. Again, my best success came after a few casts. I hooked and landed my best wild bow of the season. As the Old Man said on A River Runs Through It; I am pleased!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii103/whiteoak78/IMGP0060.jpg


I fished for another 1 1/2 hrs. without any success and was ready to call it quits due to hunger and a lack of action. One more cast and I landed my second nice brookie of the day.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii103/whiteoak78/IMGP0063.jpg

All in all, it was pretty tough fishing due to the higher water levels and the hatches weren't as heavy as my last Smokies trip. Water temp. was good, 54-55 degrees, but the fish activity was relatively low. I had a great time anyway with the fabulous scenery and a few nice fish to hand. One more pretty pic of some serious Greenbriar whitewater.

Enjoy,

Neal

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii103/whiteoak78/IMGP0059.jpg

[buckeyetrouter]

oh man.....if that don't make you wanna start driving south, I don't know what will.....

thanks for the report and pics Neal.......awsome....

bob

[tennswede]

The camera setting on the last shot is awesome, well knowing the quality camera you own, no wonder.

[pineman19]

Thanks for the positive feedback Buckeyetrouter and Hans. I can't take too much credit, Greenbriar is one of the most awesome places I have been in my 47 yrs.


Neal

[steelnuttz]

Awesome Pictures and Reports! Can't wait to try that area in afew weeks.

Thanks for sharing!

Nutt

[golfballs03]

oh man.....if that don't make you wanna start driving south, I don't know what will.....

thanks for the report and pics Neal.......awsome....

bob

I've driven down from Columbus the past three weekends to fish the smokies and it is absolutely worth it!

[ijsouth]

Great pics...I find high water to be particularly frustrating; you see so many good looking spots, but they are either unfishable due to heavy water, or you can't reach them due to heavy water. It shrinks the available water dramatically, and it forces you to be on guard at all times - you don't want to make that one bad step.

[pineman19]

I've driven down from Columbus the past three weekends to fish the smokies and it is absolutely worth it!


Columbus huh, graduated from OSU ten years ago. Go BUCKS!

[g8rb8phisher92]

High water blues....can be as frustrating a low water some times....one of the best hour of fishing I had was right after one of those late season hurricanes blew thru the mountains....I found the fish holding up against the bank in pocket water no bigger than a kitchen sink....the fish don't want to fight that high hard water any more than we do....look for pockets where they can catch their breath.

[jwebb541]

Nice Report!! Thanks for sharing your trip

[tire guy]

Thanks guys after seeing the excellant fishing gauge I was frustrated with the high water also. I did learn I will need to use my bigger rod during high water. The 2wt. has a hared time with strong water.

[BlueRaiderFan]

Wow, nice fish!

[pineman19]

Another thing to consider when fishing during higher water levels is that if a river forks, fish the smaller of the two forks. It helped me to catch my largest fish of the day and provided more fishable water. I agree with Tireguy on the longer rod on high water. I had a 7'9" 3 weight with me, but decided to use my 8' 4 weight St. Croix Avid and my 8 1/2 ' 4 weight would have been even better. I am kinda getting away from using shorter rods in the Park. I got into short rods 5-6 yrs ago, and still have a 6 1/2' foot 4 weight Avid that I really like fishing on really tight streams, but on most of the waters I fish the longer rods really help with mending whether I am using nymphs or dries.

Neal