The Smoky Mountain National Park is truly a unique and special place. It is one of those wonderful regions where catching fish almost becomes an afterthought once you immerse yourself into its icy, gin clear waters. High gradients and the slickest, house size boulders your boots will ever touch, will humble the most sure footed anglers. Casting can be challenging at best, the rhododendron will assuredly snatch your fly from flight if you loose focus for even a second. The trout are small…very small. Fish over fifteen inches are not common and when one is brought to hand, it should be a proud moment. If you have paid your dues and are lucky enough to entice a native brookie to take your fly, you will realize the beauty that only a native possesses. A beauty that provides emotions that a twelve pound stocker could never duplicate. The Little River is one of the many gems in the Smokies, in fact, it was one of the first streams I explored over a decade ago.

The Smoky Mountain National Park is pocket water at its finest


Little light penetrates the dense canopy allowing ferns and rhododendrons to dominate the ground below. Grass is rare but can be found at the occasional spot where the stream creates an opening in the canopy.

Because of the high gradients cascades are common. Deep pools below the cascades provide some of the best angling opportunities. The pool below this cascade was over ten feet deep during mid-August, one of the deepest areas I found on the Little River.

The Smoky Mountain National Park receives more rain than any other area in the contiguous United States. The fog after a summer rain bring the park to an almost total white out making even driving difficult.


Rays of light after a downpour barely penetrating the dense canopy above