Tremont Yesterday

Yesterday, I left work around 11:30 to meet a co-worker and fishing buddy to do some small stream fishing. Dave, who is also a ChemE and frequents the Clinch with me, had only fished the Smokies once before. So, we figured that with high water on all the tailwaters, we may as well give the mountains a chance. We took our time getting to Townsend and chatted with Byron in Little River Outfitters for awhile. While there we picked up Jim Casada's new book, which I will offer a review on at a later date due to the 400+ pages of information.

We arrived at our fishing destination above Tremont around 2:30, and surprisingly we only saw one other fisherman on the way in.

Dave Gearing Up

Middle Prong was not my first choice for a destination, but I figured it would provide much more opportunity in the event that the mountains were crowded on this holiday weekend. We got into the water, and I hooked up with a small bow on the first pocket I fished. This is one thing you don't see on the tailwaters, the very bright colors of these wild trout. Sorry for the lack of picture quality, but I left the DSLR at home and took along my el cheap-o Olympus 740.

First Fish

Dave was working a nice looking run across from me, but he was experiencing the same type results that I would for about the next hour or so. Dave was using a foam hopper pattern and I was using a yellow stimulator. We both were getting lots of strikes on the dry, but none were large enough to take it. Finally towards the end of the day, I managed to hook a little bow on the stimulator.

Green Weenie Bow

Fishing was a little slower today than I expected, but the green weenie did perform well for us. There were what appeared to be Tricos everywhere, but I did not have anything small enough to pass for one. I usually have that stuff in my tailwater box, and didn't take it with me yesterday. It is quite obvious that I need to work on my small stream skills.

Dave Fishing a Run

On the drive out, we saw three other fishermen. That is significantly lower than what I expected. The last time Amy and I drove up to the trailhead we counted around 13 fishermen from the Institute up, and that is way too crowded for my comfort. I do need to take advantage of this wonderful resource that we have so close to home. Not just the fishing, but the scenery, history, wildlife, and flora. It truly is a very relaxing experience, and I hope to take advantage of this resource more often.