Bradley Fork- 3/31/07

[scflyfisher]

Hey Everybody,

I was able to make it out this weekend, but unfortunately I was not able to make it to the TN side. I'm not complaining about fishing on the NC side, but the TN side has just always been a personal preference. My wife went with me and we hit Bradley Fork at about 1:00 on saturday afternoon. We walked approx. 1 mile up the trail and began fishing. We fished for about 2 and a half hours. I don't have a lot of experience on Bradly Fork, but the water seemed very low to me. I didn't see any hatch activity or observe any fish rising. We fished a combination of tellicos, pheasant tails and red copper johns and had approx 9-10 strikes. Unfortunately we only landed 3 fish. A small 4" bow, then an 8" bow and I finished the day with a good looking 8" brown. I have a lot of learning to do on this stream. I also saw several other fisherman, so I think we may have been fishing behind people, which I will use as my excuse for only catching 3. Still it was a great day to be out on a stream that is becoming one of my favorites in the GSMNP.

Matt

[mtnman2888]

I have only fished that stream once, last thanksgiving, and although the conditions weren't great and we only caught a few i loved it. We saw some nice sized fish and the river was gorgeous, i hope to get up there soon sometime. I do think that it receives a good bit of pressure in part because of it's proximity to the campground as well as the publicity it gets. I have read several articles in magazines about it in the past couple of years. Glad to see you were able to get a few, though, i'm sure you'll be going back.

Craig

[flyman]

The water is a little low all over the park for this time of year. The Bradley Fork does get more pressure than some of the more remote streams. Fishing behind someone can make the fishing slow even on a good stream. I always look for wet foot prints on rocks, or fresh foot prints in the sand or gravel beside the stream. At that point you can either slow down and take a break, or start walking:cool: