Short Excursion Into the Smokies: Brownfest

[NCHillbilly]

I haven't been trout fishing in a few weeks. That won't do.

I was also lazy this morning. I got up about an hour before daylight, and it was raining. My wife started baking cinnamon rolls. I didn't go anywhere for awhile.

I finally got motivated (after getting a belly full of cinnamon rolls,) and headed across the ridge into the park. It was an ideal morning for fishing. Foggy, cloudy, drizzly. I rigged up my 10' 3 wt nymph rod and hit the creek. I spent the morning on the lower reaches of this watershed, fairly big water for a Smokies stream.









I was high-sticking a pair of heavily-weighted nymphs. I caught about a million of these:







But, bows weren't the flavor of the day.

To be continued...

 

[NCHillbilly]

With the cloudy weather, and the approach of fall, the browns were on the prod. I caught them right and left, from little ones, to big ones.

















The biggest one I got netted was just at 18". I hooked one well over 20" that hit the fast water and snapped my 4x tippet like thread. Those guys put up a heckuva fight on a 3 wt.

To be continued more:

 

[cramer]

Bring it !
I haven't been trout fishing in about 8 years .
I need to get in the creek

 

[Nicodemus]

Those browns are a purty fish to me.

 

[cramer]

I hope one or three end up in the cafe

 

[NCHillbilly]

Early afternoon, I headed upstream with the dry fly rod.


I caught a few of these, interspersed with more browns and bows:





I also hit a slick rock and went head over heels into the creek, twisting my knee and my back, and screwing up my right hand.

On the way out, I ran into this guy running through the woods. He was bugling about every fifth breath, and growling the other four. He had strings of snot and foam hanging from his mouth and nose. He looked at me like I owed him money. I gave him a wide berth:



All in all it was a good day! I will be sore tomorrow from the fall, but I also kept me a limit of nice 7"-9" trout to fry for supper. Life is good.

Fin. ​

 

[cramer]

What a day

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Look like a great day other than the fall. Thanks for sharing

 

[trad bow]

I need to head up there. Just got a 10’ 3wt Orvis Clearwater set up for a nymphing rig. Those are some beautiful fish in a beautiful setting. The elk sure look like they belong there.

 

[whitetailfreak]

Great day Steve and hopefully you'll mend up quickly. I spent the afternoon chasing bear and around 7p when I had a nice un' at 50 yards I let him walk. I just about refuse to shoot a bear in the afternoon these days. I guess I should have went fishing.

 

[XIronheadX]

Alright! You just can't beat a good NCHillbilly trout fishing story. Get healed up. Hope you had a pocket full of change for the fella, because he was looking like he wanted paid today.

 

[Buck70]

I always enjoy your posts about the mountains, I miss them so.

 

[35 Whelen]

Man I hate that for you, been there and done that slipping on a rock and twisting the knee and back. Takes awhile to recover now that I am over 66.

 

[ddavis1120]

My kind of therapy session.

 

[Bream Pole]

beautiful, beautiful stream and fish. thanks for taking the time to post. is that something around the elks neck?

 

[NCHillbilly]

beautiful, beautiful stream and fish. thanks for taking the time to post. is that something around the elks neck?

They have telemetry collars on some of them to study their movements, wanderings, and where they like to hang out.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Man I hate that for you, been there and done that slipping on a rock and twisting the knee and back. Takes awhile to recover now that I am over 66.

I feel a lot better today. No permanent damage, thankfully.

 

[almoore]

I caught them right and left, from little ones, to big ones.

They all look like big ones to me.

 

[dwhee87]

Pretty fish NCH. Nice bonus to run across the bull elk.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

That’s a good day right there! And props for keeping this fly fishing forum pro fish eating!