Heading to Tennessee.

[flyrod4steelhead]

Heading to Tennessee for the last week in April. I have heared and seen on TV show's that this state has some really nice trout down there. I called the cabin office that we will be staying at, and they told me that it will cost $30 for a 10day trip for all species, and $15 for a general license. I guess that isn't to bad, considering we pay $27 in our own state (all species), hehe. We will be staying on Sevierville,TN from 21st -(to i believe)28th. The crappy thing is, we are leaving the day after I get home from the Betsie which is the 20th. So going from reel screaming, log finding, leader breaking Steelhead, to just plain all out fun trout, I don't think that is to bad of a thing :p I am actually really excited, because I plan on taking my fly rod with me, and before leaving, spending some money on some flies that I don't have, or can't tie "yet."

When I did call them, they said most people just use worm's and corn, :) I thought to myself "WHAT?" Oh well. I was just thinking of going down there and having some fun on some un-familiar water. Maybe before we go down there, I will have a digi cam, and will have some pic's to post, if I can remember how, lol.

Happy fishing all.

[Shoeman]

Dale,
Don't be too sure about catching "just" trout. A buddy of mine fishing the tailwaters and reports many rainbows over 5 pounds. :) Mostly on Johnson's Sprites. I guess it's some type of spoon.

Chromium and I heading in his direction the beginning of July. Can't wait.

[flyrod4steelhead]

Thanks Ralf. That just made it worse. I want to leave NOW,,,lol. 5lb Rainbow? That's awesome. That would be a blast on my 5wt. Can't wait.

[HATCHBOMB]

Most of those fish down there are hatchery fish, so they aren't very smart. Thus, the locals use corn and worms a lot. I have a good friend that is working on his master's in fisheries at Tennessee Tech, and he's been trying to get me down there for a while now. There's some real bruisers in the tailwater sections down there, as Shoeman stated. That area offers many different types of water, from the tailwaters to small mountain creeks for brookies. Contact the TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) for their fishing guides. They sent me one when I was looking at heading down there, and it's very useful for planing. The TWRA is involved in the flow releases from the dams down there too, which is something you need to be aware of in certain places (if you hear a loud buzzing alarm, get out of the water!!)

Flies that work are normal woolly buggers (small sz, like 8-10), adams, griffiths gnats, etc. There is a prevalent shad forage fish down there, so tie some clousers too.

There's the info that I have accrued, even though I haven't made it down there yet. Here's the link to the TWRA site:

http://www.state.tn.us/twra/fishmain.html

HATCHBOMB

[Shoeman]

Here's another link to a few TN River Systems along with some fly info.

http://web.utk.edu/~ldecuir/etnsect.htm

The closest one is the French Broad, but I believe the best parts of that river are in NC.

I see a few streams nearby, but can't find any info on them.

[flyrod4steelhead]

Thanks Shoeman. I will check it out better later on. Look's like I will need quite a few different flie's. Thanks again.

[Steely-Head]

Yep, they sure have some piggies down there. I was watching In-fisherman one time and they were fishing out of some tailrace in Tennesee and were poppin' HUGE trout. The guide they were fishing with in the show also said that the WORLD record brown came out of one of those such tailraces somwhere in the south. I haven't been able to verify that though.

[knockoff64]

The world record Brown comes from the White river in Arkansas. And yes it was from the tailwater section.

[SALMONATOR]

Happen to be hitting the national park in the Smokies? I'm heading down that way late may or early june with a buddy of mine. We've never fished down there before. I think we're sticking to the NC side, but anything you find out would be helpfull. Keep us posted. Good luck!!

Al

[flyrod4steelhead]

SALMONATOR, I thought about doing some of my fishing in the Mountain's. I will know even better when I down there. But yeah, I will report when I get back. I can't keep a sectret to good anyway's.

Hatchbomb, Sorry about that, I didn't see the link that you posted, thank you as well.

[SALMONATOR]

Thanks. When are you heading down there?

Al