After my spring break trip to the Smokies, I've fallen in love! The scenes are absolutely beautiful, the streams are teeming with trout, and there are tons of trails to hike (both on and off the water). This trip started in Cherokee and hit some road blocks (literally) along the way.
This trip thew multiple obstacles at me. As I was driving into the park, the road I was driving up was suddenly gated off. It was about 5 miles from my intended parking point. However, the road was only a half mile from the stream at this point and a small feeder creek was just in sight, but no trails in the area. So I made the decision to simply hit the feeder and hike down from there. Simple, right? WRONG! The grade was extremely steep, in two directions, and extremely over-grown. It took me almost an hour to hike the half mile. Needless to say I was exhausted before even getting a line wet!
After finally reaching the water, I decided today was a UKB kind of day, and the fish thought so too. This stream was a mix of freestone pools and short riffles. Tons of little pockets to sling cast the UKB with deadly precision. The first stretch of water produced all rainbows. At this point, I thought that it was going to be a repeat of N. GA, but after a while, it was all natives! The Southern Brook is, in my opinion, it much more colorful than its northern cousin and I've yet to see the southern strain in its fall breeding colors (key word is YET).
The journey back to the car proved more difficult than the trip down, obviously since it was an uphill battle. It took just shy of an hour and a half to hike up a mere half mile. I was sweating so much I thought it was going to start seeping though my waders! In the end, the rough hike was well worth it.
The trout were plentiful and eager to take a fly. Partially because this stretch of stream was so remote that no one fishes it, except the occasional trail blazer. The best part is that they are truly wild and very feisty! I will be revisiting this stream soon, but it will have to wait for me to explore more water in the park.
After finally reaching the water, I decided today was a UKB kind of day, and the fish thought so too. This stream was a mix of freestone pools and short riffles. Tons of little pockets to sling cast the UKB with deadly precision. The first stretch of water produced all rainbows. At this point, I thought that it was going to be a repeat of N. GA, but after a while, it was all natives! The Southern Brook is, in my opinion, it much more colorful than its northern cousin and I've yet to see the southern strain in its fall breeding colors (key word is YET).
The journey back to the car proved more difficult than the trip down, obviously since it was an uphill battle. It took just shy of an hour and a half to hike up a mere half mile. I was sweating so much I thought it was going to start seeping though my waders! In the end, the rough hike was well worth it.
The trout were plentiful and eager to take a fly. Partially because this stretch of stream was so remote that no one fishes it, except the occasional trail blazer. The best part is that they are truly wild and very feisty! I will be revisiting this stream soon, but it will have to wait for me to explore more water in the park.