Blue Lining the Smokies

Where to Go

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a big place, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Fortunately, rainbow trout are abundant in almost every stream. Larger waters such as Abrams Creek, Little River, and Middle Prong are widely known and accessible. You won’t find much solitude, but these rivers can take the pressure of more than a few anglers, and are dependable spots for rainbows.

Each region of the park has its own character. From Knoxville, the most accessible areas are on the northwest side, known locally as the Townsend area (for the little border town); the Gatlinburg area (for the bloated tourist trap); and the Interstate 40 corridor. The Townsend region offers the best chance for big browns in the northern part of the park, primarily in the deeper water found near the main roads around the northwest entrance. Lower gradients and elevations create surging pools in this region, and the roads tend to parallel the riverbeds.

Cades Cove, a tourist area in danger of being loved to death, provides access to the park’s southwest drainages, in which smallmouth and trout mix. Abrams Creek, probably the most popular fishing destination due to its larger-than-average rainbows, drains this region.

Though Abrams is slick and overrun with tourists, the Abrams Falls Trail is a pleasant day hike. Lynn Camp Prong Trail at the headwaters of Middle Prong above the Tremont Institute offers an elegant waterfall, abundant rainbows, and the possibility of brookies in the headwaters of all adjacent watersheds. (Some are still closed to fishing.)

The south side of the park has the interesting distinction of draining into Fontana Lake, a major impoundment. The AT crosses Fontana Dam, and it is at the dam where most anglers pick up the trail. Three major drainages and a myriad of smaller trickles flow down this face of the Smokies. Eagle Creek Trail, Hazel Creek Trail, and Forney Creek Trail offer access to the entire southern face of the park from Fontana Lake.

A shuttle from the marina takes you to the start of a day hike, or you can explore Noland Creek Trail from the Road to Nowhere out of Bryson City. (Officially Lakeview Drive, this highway dead-ends at a small tunnel; it has never been completed.)

Experimental stockings (long since discontinued) of lake trout, steelhead-strain rainbows, and browns in Fontana Lake result in spotty, somewhat unpredictable fall runs of fish in these areas, which tend to be even more hit or miss than the big browns up in the mountains.

Lakeshore Trail, which runs along the north edge of Fontana, is particularly well suited for a multiday blue-lining camp and fish, and at higher elevations this region gets some of the lightest pressure in the park.

The southeast and east portions of the park are accessible from Waynesville, North Carolina, or by driving across Highway 441 from Gatlinburg into the little town of Cherokee. The Oconaluftee and Smokemont regions along this road are popular tourist destinations that receive somewhat less pressure than Cades Cove.

At Oconaluftee Visitor Center, you can pick up the new Mountains-to-Sea Trail and fish one of the most starkly mountainous areas in the park. Highway 441 goes right over the crest of the park, near Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the region. On the North Carolina side, you can fish right by the road at elevations high enough to hold brook trout, if you don’t mind the traffic. For a purer experience, set off on the AT or its side trails, like Road Prong Trail from Clingman’s Dome Road. This challenging hiking provides some of the closest brook trout access in the park.

The northeast and east-central portions of the park are the farthest from any major jumping-off point, although you can view much of the area from I-40. A multiday hike on the AT provides the best access to this area. This region also includes the Cataloochee area, the site of an ongoing elk relocation and preservation program.

You can reach the entire Cataloochee Creek watershed from the Cataloochee Valley historic area. Two anglers from Knoxville reported nearly stumbling over a sleeping elk while momentarily lost here, so use caution—and bring your camera.