Oconaluftee and Such

Oconaluftee and Such


Stayed the weekend up at Smokemont in the Great Smoky Mountians National Park for a brief but productive Fall fishing trip. The leafs are just starting to turn color and the temps are chilly at night. The days are comfortable and the tourists are everywhere, most of which probably aren't even aware that there are trout in the park waters. I arrived late on Friday afternoon and set camp. With about 45 minutes of daylight left, I geared up and hit Bradley Fork next to the camp ground. I tied on an orange Doc's Cork and went to work. The day had been warm and the fish were eager to get that last meal in for the day. Within ten minutes I had several rises and one fish hooked, but didn't manage to get him to hand. Little does he know I was going to let him go anyway. Getting that little fish on line got the adrenaline pumping and I moved on. About 10 minutes later I got my first fish to hand of the trip. A nice fat little bow:

My wife and I went the next day to visit the Oconaluftee farmstead.  I got three fish on and two to hand, one of which was the nice little brown at the bottom:

We also took a trip to Cherokee, NC and saw some great crafts at one place.  Most places just had junk though.  I can't remember the name of the place, but it's on the right if you go straight instead of turning left toward town when coming from the GSMNP.