My NEW Personal Best Park Brown

[Streamhound]

Chase
That fish deserves its own background music like something out of jaws.

That for sharing, that is a great photo of an astounding fish

[Robinryder2]

Now that's a nice trout, especially for LR. 👌🏻

[Grampus]

Now that's a nice trout, especially for LR. 👌🏻

Several years ago, there was a brown above Metcalf Bottoms that we nicknamed "Teflon". He was in the 30" range and lay very motionless on a flat rock in a deep pool that had trees hanging over it and was very hard to approach. We nicknamed it Teflon because no hook would stick in it's jaw! I was also stalking one that I nicknamed "Torpedo" because of its length. The best shot I had at it was when it was lying in a shallow side eddy at the head of a pool. I was working my way into my 1st cast when the opportunity disappeared when a tourist walked up the roadside and asked, "Are you catching anything?". Such is life in the Smokies.

There's plenty of large trout in Little River. As I tell everyone, "they don't get big by eating flies".

Jim Parks

[Chase Turner]

Jim, you are the man! Congratulations on an incredible fish. Love reading your posts and stories.

[Grampus]

Thanks Chase. I got lucky to be there when she was feeding in the tailout. But, to my credit I didn't make any mistakes by wearing bright clothing, or stepping before looking into the creek, rushing thru making noise, or casting without a cause. I think back to last year when I met a fisherman on the trail who said he was new to the area and asked for 1 tip to help him catch trout in the Smokies. I didn't get into what flies to use or where to fish, instead my response was, "toss the white hat". Bright clothing is a major giveaway. Nothing matters if you don't get the approach right.

This is the 2nd consecutive year that I've caught a 20+ inch brown in early May with the guinea fly.

Glad you liked the story. It's part of a book that I've written about fishing in the Smokies called, "Tails of the Smokies". My goal is to someday publish it with the proceeds going to the Park Service's Fisheries Biology Department. Without the trout programs in the Park, none of this conversation would be relevant and I want to give something back.

Jim Parks

[Chase Turner]

Jim, our fish are alike in many ways. Both have very similar spotting (the 1st pic of mine) and both are females. Mine had some serious chompers on it, and yours looks like it’s not lacking in that department either haha. Congrats again sir!

[waterwolf]

That's a **** of a fish. Normally the internet adds inches to them, but I swear that looks bigger than 22". Truly a magnificent fish. Congrats

[Chase Turner]

I’ve had a few people say the same, but I’m typically conservative in regards to length. She was a definite solid 22” for sure. Thanks for the kind words bro!