Your First Time Fishing in GSMNP

[AKSkim]

I have been taking a spring and fall fishing trips to different parts of the country for a good time now.
In 2005 one of my employees was visiting his inlaws in NC and saw the streams and purchased The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains Nation Park by H. Lea Lawrence.

Well after reading that book I began my research into fishing the Smokies. I purchased both of Kirk's books. The I discovered Ian Rutter's books and DVD's. That was it, I was heading to the Smokies.

My fishing buddy and I first came to the GSMNP in 2007 and I have been back ever since.

Day before yesterday we were on the phone talking about the trip, maybe checking out the RV campsites over in Townsend this year. The previous 3 years I have stayed at Camping in the Smokies Campground. I've never had a problem there and the people were outstanding, but this year looking to shake it up a little and try some place different.

So if anyone has any suggests for a campground with full hook up ( water, elect, sewer for an 18 ft travel trailer) in the Townsend area I would be grateful.

I have been out with Ian Rutter and his wife Charity 4 times, and I highly recomment them as a guide service.

Last year we spent two full weeks fishing the GSMNP, this year we arrive on May 16th and depart 22nd. So much going on this year it has to be a short one.

[Speck Lover]

My first fly fishing trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was in May of 1995 on Hazel Creek. I was invited by a friend to a group outing that was using the Proctor Backcountry Campsite as a base camp. I had been accustomed to fly fishing streams in northwest North Carolina and southwest Virginia and thought that I would have an upper hand on Hazel Creek. Wrong! I became humble pretty quickly. The group that I was fishing with consisted of some veteran anglers of the Smokies, so I decided that my observation of their skills would be in my best interest, and man was I right. The first things that I noticed from them were stealth, presentation, and if you don't absolutely have to be in the stream, stay out of it! So, with that knowledge in hand, I gave it another shot by myself the following day and began having some success. Some of those old guys that I watched and learned from on that trip are gone now, but the memory of them and this trip is forever etched in my mind.

[Ky Tim]

I had been fly fishing for a couple of years before my first GSMNP fly fishing trip. I was in the area in April of 1999 to interview for a job with the Mountain Press newspaper in Seveierville. I managed to fish Abrams Creek in Cades Cove and was hooked. Been back 3 or 4 times a year ever since.