Southern Appalachian Fly Fishing Museum

[whitefeather]

Last Friday I had the opportunity to be in Bryson City, NC and visit the Southern Appalachian Fly Fishing Museum. It is located on Main Street (Highway 19) across the street from the public parking area before the intersection with Everett Street. It is in the building with the Chamber of Commerce, in front of the police station and has a sign out front.

It is well worth a visit by anyone interested in fly fishing and covers both fresh water and salt water aspects of the sport. It is very well laid out and I found that I was overwhelmed by the amount information and displays that a single visit could not adequately take in.

One of my favorite displays was on the art of bamboo fly rod making and how it was done. Truly amazing artizans who crafted their own flyrods back in the day. Too numerous to mention everything but I discovered I have many old reel models that were on display there.

The Chamber of Commerce folks that run the museum are also friendly and quite helpful. I understand that the folks in the Bryson City area are also instituting a trout stocking program on the Tukaseegee river in the area.

If you are ever going to fish the Deep Creek area you should check it out. You'll be glad you did.

[JayR]

I am glad to see it in Bryson City. I went to it when it was in Cherokee. The building it was in was quite small and most importantly it was difficult to find as it was not marked well at all.

When I went, it appeared not many were visiting either.

[whitefeather]

The principle chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Joseph Lambert, who has been impeached by the tribal council, actually told the chamber he didn't want them there, in a building that they had been promised by the previous administration, because they were not charging for admission and therefore not making any money for the tribe. He also did some other dubious things like purging the membership roles of people who had long since been accepted into tribe membership. This was told to me by a long standing member of the Cherokee business community who I have known for decades. So much for shortsightedness. The folks from Bryson City who welcomed the museum into their community should be commended for not letting a good idea go down the drain for whatever reason.

At any rate, its my opinion that the museum is now at home where it should be and will be a valuable attraction to the town of Bryson City.

[JayR]

I went there about 2 years or so ago. I was fishing inside the park and decided to go see it. I looked and looked for it via a sign or something. Finally I pulled out my ipad and discovered I was sitting in the parking lot right dead in front of it and never knew it. I did end up going in, it was okay but very small and looked to be still in a state of setting up a bit. It was pretty obvious then that the tribe didn't much care for it being there.

[JHS]

Now that it has moved to Bryson City I definitely want to revisit the museum. I was somewhat disappointed when I made the trip to Cherokee to see it after it first opened.