OhioOutdoorsman
Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2006
- Messages
- 624
Just wanted to give a report on GSMNP in case anyone is headed down. Most of the park streams are at recorded history lows. (Looks like Allegheny streams during a average year now. :-D )
Fished a few hours each day. Was on a family vaction so I didn't get to pull my normal Jeramiah Johnson routine and fished fairly close to access points all week.
Oct 7: West Prong of Little Pigeon. Hatch of blue quills followed by midges, but all they wanted was a small caddis. Caught a few small rainbows. Water temp 62 in early am, cloudy. HOT. Near 90 air temp.
Oct 8: Bradley Fork and Deep Creek. Both looked OK. The Luftee (Ocanaluftee) looked low and was warm - 66. Bradley - saw several fish, but no takers. Only place I saw other fisherman all week, No hatches. Deep creek...water 63. Caught several nice sized rainbows and smaller browns in riffles on a softhackle. HOT, near 90 again.
Oct 9: Cosby Creek, water temp 62. "Guided" wife fishing a EHC and caught several very small brookies. No hatches. Saw a bear that looked skinny.
Oct 10: West Prong of Little Pigeon. Caught several nice rainbows near a popular picnic area on an orange caddis. Water temp 61. The high gradient sections of the west prong looked good even in very low water. Still cold temps and lots of holding water.
Oct 11: Middle prong of Little River. Stopped at Metcalf Bottoms on main (east prong) of the Little River along the way. Water looked heartbreakingly low and water temps were 65-68 at several measurments during the week so we left it alone. On middle prong, had a brief early afternoon caddis hatch. Water 58-60. Caught a few small rainbows all on PT droppers and spooked a lot of decent sized fish. Water low and clear.
Oct 12: Fished a high elevation section of the West Prong. Caught a lot of small ones on a orange bodied EHC. Water temp 56-58. Very eager risers.
In short, the higher gradient, high elevation streams fished best. As usual, a lot of small fish with a few "big" 9-12 inchers. A lot of the lower elevation streams looked very, very low, stangnant, had very little holding water, were warm (>65 midday), and in my opinion, unfishable. Despite seeing a few blue quill and lots of midge hatches, the only consistent fly was a size 14-18 orange bodied caddis. Tried yallarhammers, PT nymphs, softhackles, quills, BWOs, tricos, small adams mostly without success.
If you are able to walk in away from the parking lots, the fishing would probably be better.
Fished a few hours each day. Was on a family vaction so I didn't get to pull my normal Jeramiah Johnson routine and fished fairly close to access points all week.
Oct 7: West Prong of Little Pigeon. Hatch of blue quills followed by midges, but all they wanted was a small caddis. Caught a few small rainbows. Water temp 62 in early am, cloudy. HOT. Near 90 air temp.
Oct 8: Bradley Fork and Deep Creek. Both looked OK. The Luftee (Ocanaluftee) looked low and was warm - 66. Bradley - saw several fish, but no takers. Only place I saw other fisherman all week, No hatches. Deep creek...water 63. Caught several nice sized rainbows and smaller browns in riffles on a softhackle. HOT, near 90 again.
Oct 9: Cosby Creek, water temp 62. "Guided" wife fishing a EHC and caught several very small brookies. No hatches. Saw a bear that looked skinny.
Oct 10: West Prong of Little Pigeon. Caught several nice rainbows near a popular picnic area on an orange caddis. Water temp 61. The high gradient sections of the west prong looked good even in very low water. Still cold temps and lots of holding water.
Oct 11: Middle prong of Little River. Stopped at Metcalf Bottoms on main (east prong) of the Little River along the way. Water looked heartbreakingly low and water temps were 65-68 at several measurments during the week so we left it alone. On middle prong, had a brief early afternoon caddis hatch. Water 58-60. Caught a few small rainbows all on PT droppers and spooked a lot of decent sized fish. Water low and clear.
Oct 12: Fished a high elevation section of the West Prong. Caught a lot of small ones on a orange bodied EHC. Water temp 56-58. Very eager risers.
In short, the higher gradient, high elevation streams fished best. As usual, a lot of small fish with a few "big" 9-12 inchers. A lot of the lower elevation streams looked very, very low, stangnant, had very little holding water, were warm (>65 midday), and in my opinion, unfishable. Despite seeing a few blue quill and lots of midge hatches, the only consistent fly was a size 14-18 orange bodied caddis. Tried yallarhammers, PT nymphs, softhackles, quills, BWOs, tricos, small adams mostly without success.
If you are able to walk in away from the parking lots, the fishing would probably be better.
