We had a great day fishing Saturday, August 15th, in the Smoky Mountains. The video shown below covers the day's activities, including some of the fish we tangled with.
We began the day collecting live helgrammites in the Tuckaseegee River near Bryson City, NC. We fished the bottom portion of Deep Creek and in the Tuckaseegee River using the helgrammites, hooking three smallmouth bass around the confluence of Deep Creek and the Tuckaseegee River. While we occasionally find trout in the Tuckaseegee around Bryson City, we haven't caught any around there in recent trips.
Then, we headed over to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do some cane pole fishing with dry flies for brook trout in a couple of the small streams in the park. It takes stealth and determination to fish these tiny streams, often overcrowded with tree limbs etc. However, these streams offer a fun, usually overlooked opportunity to catch some fiesty brook trout.
We wrapped up the day's fishing by spinner fishing the Oconaluftee River in the park, hooking a scrappy brown trout that was hiding underneath a large rock out of the main current. I found a buzz bait lying in the last pool I fished on the Oconaluftee, leaving me to wonder if it was used by a novice that had no idea what he was doing, or by a genius who fishes big lures for big trout.
We ended the day by spotting some elk in a field by the main road through the park. This is the first time I have seen the elk in the park, and it was a tremendous ending to a great day of fishing with my Dad!