Just returned from Townsend, TN, where I attended the 2011 TroutFest and it was great! Jack Hise and Bryan (a friend of ours) was also there. I feel we all had a great time. Here are some pictures that I took:
A church steeple in the mountains:
Lefty Kreh doing his demo:
Rivertraditions.com was there selling their fly boxes. They engraved while you waited:
The only way to make ice cream:
A beautiful Ridgeback hound:
The Little River up in the Park:
Warren,
Very nice photos and really pretty water. Nice to see so much water and only one fisherman.
REE
Thanks Warren,
Looks like lots of water there, just like here.
Uh, where are the pics if the Fish?? 
pillcaster,
Last year at our “Gathering” I made reservations for the same room my wife and I had to attend the TroutFest. Deb, my wife, was going to come with me, but, things came up and she told me to go and make sure to have a good time fishing. We came up for the “Gathering” in her car so that she could have it to just go and visit antique stores, quilt stores and anywhere else she wanted to go. I told her I would either hitch a ride or walk to fish. So, I took my truck this time and left on Thursday morning. Jack was coming up on Friday and Bryan, a friend of ours, was to come with him and they would share a cabin. Bryan took an extra day off work and came with me on Thursday. My room only had one full bed, but, it did have a couch that opened up into a bed and I told him he could use it because he was NOT sleeping with me! LOL We arrived at Townsend around 9:30am our time and 10:30am Townsend time. We did fish a spot about 6 miles from Townsend that I found last year when we had left Townsend coming home. Found the water temperature at 67 degrees and we did catch some bluegill and crappie, but, no trout. After arriving and unloading our gear in the room at Dock’s Motel, we visited the Little River Outfitter fly shop. On Friday morning we fished a section of the Little River further down the river from Dock’s Motel and the water temperature was still at 67 degrees plus the water was down about 20 inches from where it was last year in May for the TroutFest. They have not received the rain we have here and the river showed it plus the river was extremly clear. You could see trout but they were very alert and hard to sneak up on. We returned to Dock’s Motel and met up with another good friend of mine from Nashville that was there with TU for a big 2 day meeting. The three of us fished the Little River there at Dock’s Motel and I ended up with 4 trout around 14 inches which were very healthy and fat and they put up a great fight. Roger, my friend from Nashville, had 3 plus we all caught many rock bass. With the water as warm as it was, I decided no pictures and just released the trout as quickly as possible. Before we got into the river, we watched several trout swimming and a couple would push the 3 to 4 pound class, but, we just could not get them to chase our flies. Roger had to leave us and go to one of the TU meetings and Jack had not arrived yet, so, Bryan and I traveled up into the Park and fished several holes and I caught another 14 inch healthy trout. After attending the TroutFest on Saturday, Roger and I traveled further up the road into the Park and fished the Elkmont area. Roger caught one rainbow and 2 very small brown trout. The water temperature that far up the river was 62 degrees. Just before dark there was a big Golden Stone hatch but hardly any rises to them.
Overall, I did not catch a bunch of trout, but, I did get to explore the Little River further up in the Park and found some areas to fish for my next trip to Townsend. I am a little concerned about the water temperature in the upper 60’s this early in the year and wonder what it will be when June and July get here. Hopefully, that area will receive more rain and bring the rivers up more and lower the temperatures.
I am ready for the next “Gathering” and am looking forward to seeing you and your wife again. I am not sure when I will be returning to Townsend, but, it will be soon because I just love that area of TN.
Warren,
I am glad to see you had a good time at Troutfest. Maybe I can get there next year.
I have been talking with Keven and we are trying to plan a little fishing in your area Memorial Day weekend. Hope to see you soon.
Bob
bobbymojo,
Good to hear from you and, yes, I had a good time. We did have daily rain storms which really needed to last longer than they did to help improve the rivers, but, they were short enough to not affect the TroutFest. I really enjoyed the exploring new areas and planning where I will fish on my next trip to Townsend.
I hope you make the trip here to fish and I hope the water release schedules allow fishing. I enjoyed your last trip and will look forward to showing you more of our rivers here.
Let me know how the trip planning goes so I can arrange my schedule to be able to spend time with you again.
Nice pics Warren. I’d love to have seen Lefty casting. I really enjoyed the “gathering” last year, I think Townshend became my favorite vacation spot of all time. I can’t wait to get back there.
hNt