Three beautiful creeks and a tired man

Gee Creek Rainbow



What a beautiful Saturday we had in the Knoxville area. I left town at 5 am and after much soul searching decided to visit Gee Creek. This is a stream in which I have had numerous 50 to 60 fish days on. Mind you most fish were in the six to seven inch range with the occasional 10 "lunker" I have always considered it a nice and relaxing place and it has always been a respite from the masses on other trout streams. I was somewhat discouraged today when I found plenty of litter to pick up. It seemed to be mostly from last years swimmers and picnickers. There were major hatches in the 56 degree water. I saw, Hendricksons, both the duns and later in the pm the spinners. There were Gray Foxes duns and some Slate Mahogany Duns in the pm. A small tannish and some green caddis showed up also. The problem: None of the fish were taking on top. I had to resort to a BH Prince Nymph, after one rainbow and several hours I managed to catch the above beauty on a tan EHC size 14.

I stoppedfor lunch and headed back up north to hike in to Bald River Gorge area. I fished the bald for a couple of hours and only caught one small brown and another rainbow right after that. No hatches to speak of. Hiked back out to finish up the evening at North River Campground are on North River. I once again saw Hendrickson duns and some caddis. Tied on my EHC tan size 14 and lost two good sized bows before I was able to catch one. I was exhausted by now but happy. Nothing beats a solitude day on three different and beautiful mountains streams. The air temps were in the low 70's and the water in the high 50's. I got home late and crashed in to bed, with tiredness in my body.

Bald River Gorge

Pete from Maryville and I decided to check out Big Snowbird Creek in NC at the Junction. We got there at about 8:15 am and rigged up to fish the immediate area. The water flow was great and the temp a cold 58. However, nothing seemed to stir. We fished for about an hour and then proceeded further down stream. The same thing there, no activity and a deserted feel to the whole place. We decided to come up with another plan. Plan B so to speak. After a long and slow climb back up on Stratton ridge along Big Santeetlah creek we came back to Tn. We stopped in Tellico Plains for lunch and made a decision to fish "Bald River Gorge". After a strenuous hike, for me anyway, we got to the river. Bald had a decent flow and the water temp was 64. I picked up three small bows on top and during the afternoon another three colorful bows on a nymph. Pete took a few on top. The fishing was not easy but the fish was strong and had decent weight to them. Bald river is definitely a quality stream to further investigate. I have only fished it in the nineties and then on very limited terms around Holly Flats area and just above the falls at the other end. I will be back on this one for sure.