A lovely southern tailwater, with prolific sulfur hatches and lots of healthy, wild brown trout. The river has the character of a spring creek, with slow moving, gin clear water and big educated fish. A week before I got there, a fisherman and his guide landed an 8 lb. brown on a size 26 midge, using 7x fluorocarbon tippet matterial. I didn't manage anything approaching 8 lbs. but did manage to hook several nice browns on dry flys (using mono) in a nice setting.
The river is nestled in the Smoky Mountains, and the day I fished they were capped by low hanging clouds and mist, creating a magical atmosphere that transported me in my mind to more familiar western trout rivers, like the Green on a rainy fall day. And rain it did, but like the blue wings back home, the sulfurs seemed to be encouraged by the blustry weather. The trout didn't seem to mind either, as they greedily fed on emergers and duns for 2 hrs as the rain came down. In between the gusts of wind, I was able to hook several fish on size 16-18 comparaduns and size 22 befus emergers. It was a really nice day on the water, for Everett and myself.
