Smokies Report

[David Knapp]

I was able to fish in the Smokies the last few days and had a good time as usual. *I arrived last Wednesday and after setting up camp at Elkmont, I drove back down the river and caught a couple rainbows before it got dark and I called it a day. *Thursday I drove over the hill to NC to fish this stream.

I hooked a couple nice browns but both slipped off before I could land them. *I finally landed this little guy.

It was followed shortly by this one
. *
I continued up the stream hoping for a brookie and caught a nicer rainbow.

After about an hour of fishing and only catching more rainbows, I drove back over the hill to catch one of these.

That evening, a couple of friends came to join me with the hope of trying out fly fishing and catching some fish on Friday. *We fished for a couple of hours but despite their best efforts, the fish were uncooperative. They learned some basic casting and also how to read the water and are looking forward to trying again. *
My cousin came up for the weekend and decided he wanted to try fly fishing out as well. *This went much better. *We hiked up above Elkmont a little ways and started fishing. *I hooked a small rainbow on the second cast of demonstrating the technique we would be using and figured it would be a good day. *My cousin has done quite a bit of fishing before just not fly fishing. *He caught on quickly and soon caught his first Smokies fish on the fly!
*
I don't know who was more excited, him or me. He caught a few more and wants to go again.
Today, we took down camp and stopped to catch a few more on LR and the Middle Prong.
.
The fish weren't too picky most of the time I was there. *Fish were caught on a variety of nymphs including Tellicos and GRHEs. *There were a LOT of fish looking up, particularly yesterday and today. *They were sitting just a few inches under the surface taking emergers and dries. *

[mtnman2888]

Great pictures. It's good to see that you turned someone else on to fly fishing. There's something special about fishing in the smokies that's different than anywhere else.

[doghaircaddis]

It looks like you had a great few days of fishing. I wasn't able to make it up this weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, and I'll be able to go this weekend. Thanks for posting the pics....some beautiful fish there!

[DryFly1]

Thanks for the eye candy PA,

I always love these shots of mountain trout. Kudos to your cousin and may he wade these waters for many years to come! Other than my children, FF is the best gift that I have ever received. Looks like a great couple days of FF..

DryFly1