With Cindy off to Key West with her girlfriends on their annual spring break get away Bill and I finally go to take a fishing trip that we have been trying to do for several years now. We loaded up Shifty Sunday morning with our hiking packs loaded with camping and fishing gear then headed off to Townsend Tennessee to hike, camp, and fish for wild trout in the streams. We had been talking about and preparing for this trip for months and were really excited that the stars all aligned and we got to go.
Were going fishing!!!
We left bill's house at 4:30 am and after a quick stop for breakfast at a local Waffle House were on our way. Our first stop was going to be Little River Outfitters in Townsend TN to pickup our fishing licenses and some new flies. We rolled into there about 10 am and were met at the door by these two sweeties.
Gotta love shop doggies! Little River Outfitters is a really really nice fly fishing shop with great service. We picked up our flies, license, and very cool combination fly threader and knot tying tool. Bill might be able to fish without me being there to tie his flies on for him now but we will have to see LOL!
After a quick sandwich at Subway it was time to head to Elkmont and get started on the hike in. We finished getting our gear all rigged up and then loaded up. Here we are all smiles before we headed up the trail.
I don't know how are packs got so darn heavy but we were both hauling 45 pounds plus of gear. Granted it was still cold weather so we had more stuff to stay warm with, and our fishing gear, plus our hip waders. Ounces turn into pounds very quickly.
We saw one fisherman on the hike in pretty close to the trail head but that was it. Not a good sign but too late now as we were committed. Here is Bill on one of the bridges on the way in.
It was a very pretty hike and the temps were such that we did not get too hot. As we got closer to campsite 24 the trail narrowed down a bit and got a bit more adventurous. First there was the rock garden we had to rock hop across.
Then there was the water stepping stones.
One more crossing to go and it was a log crossing. I hopped up on it and trotted across like a squirrel but Bill thought better of it with the way his waders we hopping around so I dropped my pack and went back across to carry his across. My legs did not realize I had dropped my pack and I nearly shot over the log when I went to hop up on it. that must have been what walking on the moon felt like as I felt like I could jump 10 feet straight up. Bill followed me across after I got his pack.
We got to back country site 24 which some refer to as 3 forks due to three streams that come together. Neither of us had gotten wet so far so that was good. We picked a campsite and got the tents set up.
That is my little one man tent in the rear. Not only was it lighter than my two man tent but I thought I might be able to keep it half a degree warmer at night. It has plenty of room for one very limber person. Once camp was and the beer was in the natural cooler
it was time to get to fishing! But first Bill had to tie one on
If you look above Bill's right shoulder you can see my pack hanging on the bear cable system they provide for you to hang your pack and food with. Much easier than throwing bags full of rocks over tree limbs to hand your pack with.
Once Bill was all setup we headed off for a couple of hours on the water in hopes of catching dinner. The scenery was very beautiful with the water cascading down the rocks
and we just knew there was a fish hiding behind each rock. Well, there should have been, and maybe there was but with the water temp barely above the 40 degree mark they were just not very interested in eating. I did manage to catch this small Brook Trout
Sadly that would be the only one to grace the lenses of our cameras! Bill did catch one as well but his pic did not turn out due to the phone case. I guess it was a good thing i pack other food just in case we did not catch enough to eat.
After fishing for a while it was time to start the fire and get supper cooking. We decided on Alfredo pasta with grilled chunk chicken breast. There was a couple of nice rocks that made great cook tables.
Dinner was pretty darn tasty even if the noodles were not quite as soft as I would have liked for them to be. It was cooling off pretty quick since the sky had cleared off and we both knew it was going to get pretty chilly that night.
Our only neighbors came by for a visit apologizing for bugging us but they wanted to ask us a question. Seems they were 6 college students from Chicago and they were curious how to get a fire to burn. First thing we asked was if they had dry wood. They responded, "What is that?". After a quick lesson on the best type of wood to find they went off in search of better fuel. It must have helped as we saw flames dancing over their fire pit soon there after.
As the sun got lower in the sky the fire felt better and better. Here we are warming/drying our socks out over the fire.
Too bad we could not take that nice toasty feeling into our tents with us. Before long it was dark and with the fire dying down it was time to turn in. I always thought it would be very relaxing to sleep next to a babbling brook. It might be, but sleeping next to a thousand waterfalls was just down right annoying!!! I tossed and turned from 9 till probably 11 as I felt like I had two white noise machines strapped to my ears. I finally dozed off only to wake up needing to go #1. Darn beer.
By now it was pretty darn chilly out and my upper body was cold. As I got out of my bag I realized my sleeping bag liner was not up all the way so I made sure to get it up further when I got back in. It made a huge difference and I am very glad I spent the money on the liner or I would have froze. A little while later my left should was cold and I discovered I did not have my my mummy bag zipped all the way up. After a few tries I was able to get it. I have to say my bag is none to long or wide as I fit nice and snugly in it. Once everything was pulled up and sealed up I was able to stay warm enough till about three when I woke up with cold feet. I put on a second pair of socks and tried to go back to sleep. By 6 am I had to pottie again and as I laid there trying to convince my self to get up I decided to just get up and go collect some more firewood and get the fire going again in hopes of getting warmed back up. The moon was only about 1/2 out but it was plenty bright to see and soon I had a nice stockpile of limbs for wood. By the time Bill finally crawled out of his castle I had a nice fire going. He wasted no time getting over by it to warm up. Seems someone forgot to pack their sleeping bag liner and he wound up putting on all the clothes he had to stay warm.
Since we were not slaying the fish it was spam and eggs for breakfast cooked on the granite counter top.
I bought that light weight alloy skillet to cook fish in, not spam. But seeing how we were hungry and we did not catch any fish spam it was!
Our original plan was to break camp and hike to site 23 but the last weather forecast was for strong storms that night so between that and the lack of fish we decided to fish till noon then head back down the trail and get a room in town and afterwards fish the lower levels of the river in hopes of finding warmer water and some fish. After cleaning up our breakfast dishes we hung out bags back up and headed down the trail to the intersection of the Goshen trail. Fish Camp Prong hits the little river there so we gave fishing that area a go. Still no fish but plenty of beautiful views.
This one was from the bridge on the Goshen trail looking up the Little River.
This is looking across the Little River at Fish camp Prong where the two intersect. Not every where was rushing white water like that but pools we could fish were few and far between due to the elevated water levels.
After a couple of hours of fruitlessly whipping the air with our fly rods we headed back to camp to pack up and head down. We ran into the college kids as they were heading out and wished them a safe trip as they thanked us for the fire tips. Why does breaking camp always go quicker than setting up?
Here is Bill taking down his tent on the way out. Notice mine is already gone and hanging on the back of my pack LOL! While Bill worked on getting everything stuffed back in his pack I figured the load would be lighter if I had another refreshing adult beverage
Behind my left should you can see out packs hanging on the tree. Not sure where I read that tip but I would like to shout out a thank you to whoever suggested a simple loop of cord tied in a not then looped around the tree with a carabiner hooked to your pack. Much nicer than sitting it on the ground when it come times to start digging through it to find something.
With Bill all packed up it was time to head down the trail.
I think I must have slept on my hat as the brim looks a little worse for wear but it still works. I will have to see if I can flatten it back out. You can see my waders strapped down on top of my pack. That was 4 lbs of weight right there. But poor Bill's hip waders are twice that weight. We hooked them to his tent on the bottom of his pack to keep the weight as low as possible.
Shortly after crossing back over the log crossing and the rock garden I saw a bright read bag laying in the trail. Once I got to it I saw the letters ENO and knew right way one of the college kids had dropped their hammock system off their pack. I picked it up and hoped that we ran into them on the way down but with an hour's head start on us that was probably unlikely. If we did not see them I was going to turn it at the ranger's station in hopes they might stop there looking for it. If nothing else the ranger could contact them and let them know he had it. As luck turned out we actually caught up with them a little past half way. They were stopped at a trail intersection just getting ready to head off to another campsite. The boy who lost it did not even realize it had fallen off. Needless to say he was very happy to get it back!
We made really good time getting back to Shifty, being downhill really helped.
Were still able to smile so that was good. Time to get a room and try fishing another location! It took a bit to find a place open as it is still early in the season but we finally got a room then headed back into the park to fish the lower levels of the Little River. Sadly there was not much difference as we still were unable to convince, trick, or beg a fish into taking out flies.
Luckily we were still able to have fish for dinner, all be it at the Steak and Trout house down the street from our hotel. Even though we did not catch it personally ourselves it was still very tasty!
Blackened trout with a good old baked potato. Just pretty darn hard to beat. Cap that off with a cold beer and bourbon pecan pie and that can only equal one thing, going to bed stuffed to the gills!
Over dinner we discussed our options for Tuesday which would be out last day there. We decided to roll the dice and drive the hour and half across the ridge to the North Carolina side in hopes of finding warmer water and hungrier trout. I did not make it very long once we got back to the room and crawled into bed. I remember the TV was on but I have no idea what was on as I was out like a light.
We headed out about 6:30 the next morning headed to Gatlinburg then down 441 to the Cherokee area. We stopped for breakfast on the south side of Gatlinburg at Crocketts Breakfast Camp restaurant. OH WHAT A FIND!!!! I ordered a breakfast skillet meal thinking I got to choose a couple of items from a long list of sides but turns out I got it all! It took two frames to get a pic of all my breakfast!
They brought out this 14" cast iron skillet full of country fried steak, fried taters, two eggs, bacon, cone pone, and grave. Then on another plate I had a biscuit and the thickest pan cake I have ever seen. I managed to clean my skillet but there just was not room for very much of the pan cake even thought it was really tasty!
Bill got the ham and eggs and said the ham was delicious but those fried potatoes were just nothing short of incredible!!!! We both said we could have just gotten a big plate of them covered with gravy! Somehow we managed to walk out of there and made it to the car once we finished stuffing our faces. I was just glad my chest waders are kind of stretchy LOL!
On the way over the mountain we discussed fishing on the tribal section of the Raven's fork as they stock it twice a week. I was not opposed to catching stocked fish at this point. Turns out that the catch and keep area of the river was closed till the end of March but the "trophy fish" section which is catch and release only was open. Only problem was that they wanted 85 dollars each to fish that section. Call us cheap, but we said no way. Actually it was probably more like "Oh hell no!".
Giving up on that idea we went back up to the Smokemount campground to fish the Bradly fork prong. Along the way up 441 I saw a large deer standing in the Oconaluftee river so I pulled off. I quickly realized it was not a deer but a elk and he had friends with him. A lot of friends, as there may have been two dozen in the woods. That was pretty neat to see as I don't think I had ever seen elk in the wild before.
We got to the campgrounds and got all decked out to go fish again. I was first to hit the water and on maybe my 5th cast I hooked a nice brown trout and managed to get him turned before he spit the hook out. I was bummed I lost him but pumped up that maybe we found a place that would finally produce some fish. That hope was short lived as that was the last strike either of us would get. I made the best of it and had a good time exploring my way up the stream along the edge of the rocks. I worked my way up to this pool and tried my luck one more time.
Then just kept working my way up through water like this.
Hard to believe that was about 4 feet deep as you can see the bottom everywhere in the streams. I could not get any further up stream without getting in water deeper than my waders and there were other people fishing up stream so I went back and got a action shot of Bill.
No one ever said fishing was easy or a sure thing. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. Sure we would have loved to caught a lot of fish but we still had a great time and laughed almost constantly at one thing or another. I am just glad we finally got to go give it a try. Next time we will hopefully have better conditions.
Ironically, the temp was 83 as we headed back north. The sun was out and the waters had just started to warm. Like it so often seems, the fish started biting the day after we were there...
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