JoeFreds New Maps and Stream Species

[icSpecs]

Joe, glad I seen this post today. Wish I had known about these maps before my last trip; I would have had a better game plan and not wasted so much time driving. Which is especially important to those of us who only have a few precious days a year to fish these streams. LRO should have these on the checkout counter, I may have seen them that way.

Kim Razor

[JoeFred]

Thanks Kim. A key motivator for developing the maps is how precious all of our tiime (and money) is. Before I did the Greenbrier maps, I took my son, grandson and son-in-law up Porters Creek Trail since it appeared at first glance to provide lots of access. Well, they did get about 1/2 hour of fishing in, but we hiked what seemed like another 2 1/2 well above the stream. Knowing what I do now, we would have fished lower PC and lower Middle Prong instead.

I was at LRO yesterday. Daniel has the maps in an almost direct line of sight as you enter their fine building. They now have maps of the Little River, Upper Deep Creek, Forney Creek and three streams in Greenbrier. Since they know each other and work together for the good of the flyfishing sport, I'm pretty certain Byron would not mind my sharing the names of the other area retailers who carrry certain of the maps:

The Smoky Mountain Angler and NOC Great Outpost in Gatlinburg, Orvis in Sevierville and Rivers Edge Outfitters in Cherokee. Harold, Nancy, Doug, Bill, Kris, Brad, Steve and Joe... Just really great people.

JF

[Crockett]

Well glad you got to see it. Even though it isn't much of a hike it has a really remote feel to the place for some reason. I think it is because the trail gets a bit overgrown after the last thunderhead crossing.

[JoeFred]

Adam, I felt the remoteness also. A tree has recently fallen across the manway just before the stream. Fortunately previous hikers/anglers had trampled down its leaves and branches enough to where I wasn't too concerned about snakes.


This steel foot bridge over Thunderhead Prong is one of my favorites. I plan to take a shovel next time to transport the dirt/mud that has washed on to the end of it back to from whence it came. This and the fallen tree resting on the cable on the south end is to be expected since the manway, once Defeat Ridge Trail, is no longer on the maintained list.

[Jim Casada]

Fred--One small correction. Rivers Edge is on 441 just outside of the town of Cherokee, not in Whittier (which 441 doesn't touch at all). They are good folks and have been helpful to me with book sales. For folks on the N. C. side, they are friendly, like Byron, Paula, Daniel, and staff, and they carry and excellent stock. I also happen to know that Byron invited them to Troutfest and they came--that tells you a whole lot about Byron's outlook and his realization that good will works best for all in the business in the long run.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

[JoeFred]

Thanks, Jim.

[JoeFred]

Originally Posted by JoeFred

I am in the process of notifying all those who have already purchased the Little River map about the successful Sams Creek brook trout restoration. I am having some weatherproof labels printed to go on the rest. ...
JF

Labels are being applied as shown to all Little River maps available for purchase.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend reading the NPS Technical Report on the Sams Creek Restoration and an Assessment of Brook Trout Restoration Methods. Extremely informative.

JF

2/15 Update: Deleted map image previously posted.

[JoeFred]

Originally Posted by JoeFred

NDuncan, I appreciate your kind words. Regarding downloads: Now that I have learned how to create the more detailed 11x17 maps and produce them fairly quickly, I do not plan to do add any more content to the downloadable 'basic' versions. Instead, I may even "dumb them down" some (omit trails, for example) and make them a free download. ....
JF

The FREE BASIC MAP DOWNLOADS are back. This change is not likely to create any new jobs, but hopefully will "stimulate" more fishing... thereby helping take our minds off the economy occasionally.

Here's hoping readers find the info useful.
JF