Visiting The Smokies Summer 2020
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Little River, park streams offer unforgettable fishing
Welcome to the Smokies, fishing aficionados. Here in the breathtaking Southern Appalachian Mountains, beautiful mountain streams spawn unforgettable fishing opportunities. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to perhaps the largest wild trout habitat in the eastern United States. Nearly 600 miles of its 2,900 miles of streams are inhabited by trout: brook, rainbow and brown. All three species reproduce in the park’s streams, but the brook trout is the only one that is native to the Southern Appalachians. It is prized among fly anglers, but it has lost nearly 75% of its original habitat due to logging in the early 20th century and to the introduction of rainbow trout. Prospects for the 2020-fishing season: All streams within the park are open to fishing and harvest, a statement that could not be made from 1934 to 2015. Matt Kulp, the park’s supervisory fishery biologist, said the fishing prospects should be average to above average for the entire park. “Although the drought of 2016 resulted in reduced reproductive success of brown and rainbow trout in 2017, survival and recruitment of adult fish that did survive and successfully reproduced was very
good,” Kulp said. “The condition of brown and rainbow trout has been above average, and anglers are reporting good angling success across the park. “Surveys of brook trout populations indicate densities are above average in most park waters, especially in North Carolina streams where the drought affects appeared to be minimal,” he added.
Finding the fish
Brookies can be found in about 160 miles of streams in the park. The West, Middle and East prongs of Little River are fine habitat for rainbow, brown and brook trout, with the native brookies preferring elevations above 2,500 feet. Since 1987 the park has restored 31 miles of the higher streams that have natural barriers like waterfalls to have exclusively brook trout populations. Brown trout in Little River are found between the 2,500- and 3,000-foot elevations. On the Elkmont branch, they will be in the Fish Camp Prong; on the Tremont side, they are a half-mile up on the Lynn Camp Prong to the end of the gravel road. Continue to page 14
