Fishing report from my trip NC side Mar 27 Mar 30

[JohnH0802]

We had a great trip up to the Smokies for the last three days. We arrived Sunday afternoon and left Wednesday afternoon. We did get some rain, and the camp was a little soggy, but a great trip none the less.

We fished the Straight Fork and the Bradley Fork for the most part. With all of the rain we decided not to fish the Luftee.

I did manage to get a park slam on my first trip of 2011, and they were all on dries! I was using a quill gordon:

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3270039.jpg
11 Inch Brown

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3290044.jpg
11 inch Rainbow

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3290050.jpg
9 inch brookie

When the sun would come out, the insects would start hatching and the trout rising. I didn't get enough dry fly action to suit me, but we had some pretty good days. My friend Larry caught a nice 18 inch rainbow that was really dark:

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3280042.jpg

I was suprised by how many fish we were catching in the 10-12 inch range, both rainbows and browns. Larry also caught another rainbow that was a solid 14 inches.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3270041.jpg

When the fish were not taking dries they were partial to bead head pheasant tails.

Here are a couple more pictures:

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3270037.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3290048.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3290047.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/2011%20Trout%20Fishing/P3290046.jpg

[pineman19]

Great looking fish John. A couple of my favorite streams in the Park. Usually, don't get quite as much pressure as many of the TN side streams and fishing is still very good IMO.

Neal

[whitefeather]

Nice fish John! And pictures! Glad you were into the fish on the Bradley and Straight Forks.

I suspect that a lot of the bigger fish are coming up the Luftee from the tribal waters. A trend that is sure to continue with the stocking of the Ravens Fork trophy waters.

The browns are getting more and more plentiful in the Bradley. But what the heck, trout that size are just plain fun to catch whether they are stocked or wild, and to me that's what it's all about. Everything but the southern strain of specks are "stocked" fish from way back.

Thanks for the report!