I would like to know if there is a Smokies Fish-In planned for 2006? I would like to attend/help or maybe even organize one. I live in Waynesville (about 25 miles West of Asheville) and we have some very good fishing in the area, in addition to great lodging, food, etc.
How close to the fishing do most attendees like to stay?
How many options of lodging are needed?
If a Fish-In is already in the works I would definitely want to be included.
Bryan
There was one in '05 - you might contact Dave and see if he is considering doing it again. [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc355.html:463b3]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc355.html[/url:463b3]
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
I would be very interested in this as well. I am being relocated (once again) to work in Norfolk, VA and I will be living in North Carolina (Currituck County) In January. I have fished the National Park and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Have Rod(s), will travel!
I live in Alabama, and I have also fished the Great Smokies National Park (Townsend). Depending on the specifics, I am also interested.
AC01
I would be interested. I live about 65 miles East of Ashville and fish the rivers in that area. I’ll follow this thread to see how plans are coming along. Any idea where you might be wanting to fish?
Regards,
GQualls
I’m in Knoxville, so I’m pretty sure I could make it.
I know that there is another get together on the Hiwassee, called the Drake Bake, for folks wanting to meet and fly fish. You could check it out at [url=http://drakemag.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000141:9b876]http://drakemag.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000141[/url:9b876]
would be interested as well - live in Charleston SC as a Yankee transplant.
I was hoping it could be held in the Haywood County area. We have the eastern side of the National Park, Pigeon River, Davidson River, North and South Mills River,and the Tuckaseegee all within an hours drive of the Waynesville area.
I would like to know how important the campground option is for lodging. I have a place in mind for Fish-In HQ, but there only a primitive campground about 3 miles away with only about 20 sites. I cannot commit the place I would like to hold the Fish-in for any camping area on site, but I will talk to the director to see if that is an option.
LF, I will contact Dave to see if he has any plans pending.
Bryan
Some of the folks from the Classic Cane Forum are having a Gathering in Townsend, TN May 11-14. If you are interested in bamboo rods then come on over. Additionally, Joe Humphries will be at Little River Outfitters (our headquarters) that weekend as well.
Beautiful area to visit and fish. This is typically an annual event.
Ralph Shuey
czkid at knology dot net
The cane fish-in sounds nice. Plus, I love fishing that area that time of the year!! I may have to get a cane rod.
What dates are you all looking at for the other Smokey’s Fish-In (non–cane).
I was thinking of June 16-18 for a possible date for a Fish-In. Would this be too late, as the others have been held in May? I know that this a prime time on other waters as well, but would really work for me.
Bryan
I believe Dave was planning the 2006 Fish-In a week earlier than this year. The folks that attended this year bought NC annual license, good for one year from the date of purchase.
Dave’s original plan was to use the same license for both our 2005 and our 2006 Smokies Fish-In.
It was a great time! If you haven’t already done so, read Dave’s write up from this year.
Planned for 2006, we talked about a SERIOUS hike - not any of those little 12-14 mile trips. But who knows, Dave and Chuck do an excellent job of scouting ahead.
Chris
[This message has been edited by NA (edited 23 December 2005).]
Any time from April through June is fine. I like the warmer weather!!! If there is enough participation maybe we could have some T-shirts made!?!?! Or perhaps Little River Outfitters could throw in a raffle, or sponsor a casting lesson or something!?? But, if we fish the North Carolina side as opposed to the Tennessee side that might not be doable.
I could not find Daves e-mail on the board. I hope he will see this thread and respond. Is there another way to contact him from this board that I don’t know about?
Bryan
Greetings, everyone;
Glad to see we have an early interest in having a Smokies Fish-In for 2006. Bryan - thanks for getting the thread going!
I think that most everyone who either attended, or expressed interest, in last year’s Fish-In would say that flexibility is the rule! In other words, just about anything would be acceptable as far as date and location, as long as there are places to camp, as well as motels, and that the fishing includes a mix of stocked and wild trout.
We stayed away from the Waynesville area last year because early scouting, starting in late March, showed that the rivers in the swath of country that Bryan has mentioned above were severely damaged by the hurricanes of fall '04., In fact, the bridges over the Pigeon River SE of Waynesville had yet to be repaired by late June! So, with the prospect of having mainly recently stocked trout to fish for there, we decided on far western NC as the venue, and it turned out just fine.
Many of the '05 guys bought yearly NC fishing licenses, and we talked about trying to schedule the '06 Fish-In so as to take advantage of that unexpired portion of the license. That would mean that the Fish-In should happen sometime before the 15th of May, with the week of May 6 (Saturday) through May 14 (Sunday) being ideal. The fishing will be super then, a lot of the early hatches just tapering off, and a lot of the later hatches just beginning. Of course, EVERYTHING depends on the progress of the weather during the early spring months!
As to activities, the hike into the headwaters of Big Snowbird Creek to fish for wild trout was a huge success in '05, and we talked about a hike-in to Slickrock Creek to camp for a few days of fishing as being on the '06 list of things to do. In fact, Ben Webb and I (two old guys!) hiked down the Fat Gap Trail to Slickrock and camped for four days in June, and we had a ball!!! Not only caught wild browns up to 16", but got into the headwaters and caught some wild specks as well!! I highly recommend this as being a part of the '06 agenda, for those interested.
The campground we had as headquarters last year is a super place - tumblingwaters.com - run by a nice family, and this year they will have more inside accommodations (cabins, camping trailers) as well. I was going to suggest that we use this place again this year, but as I stated earlier, flexibility is the key to a successful Fish-In. The one inviolate rule, however, is that there have to be fish to catch, and I don’t mean following the hatchery truck to catch(?) colorless, odorless hatchery fish (I don’t mean to degrade stocked fish - I fish the Nantahala at least twice every spring and once in the fall, and there are a lot of hold-over hatchery fish in there that have grown to huge sizes that are a lot of fun to catch. And, if nothing is happening anywhere else, the Nan is a great resource to have available. It’s also a great place to start a Fish-In, so that those attendees who don’t have a lot of experience can have some initial success).
Just my thoughts, and a short compilation of the discussions we had last year. I’d be happy to help out in any fashion this year, and if someone wants to honcho up the time, place and action, I’ll be there.
Dave Cassens
FlyintheSalt
uc35ip@yahoo.com
PS - any interest in Islamorada in April? The tides look to be favorable the first and third weeks - Chuck and I intend to head down there with our boats, and I can get something together if anyone’s interested.
Dave,
Thanks for the quick reply!
Early May ould be a fine time to fish any of the streams mentioned in this threa so far. The flood damage from '04 has mostly been taken care of in my area by both man and nature. Early May would not be as good for me as I only could devote a couple of days to attendance/helping out. I would want the anglers who bought annual licenses to be able to get the most out of them.
The Nantahala area would be fine by me,(the drive is about an hour). Is there anything I can do to help?
Bryan
how is this coming along - any help needed?
Dave had already made some tentative plans with last years attendees that had purchased annual licenses, so that they could use them at both Fish-Ins. May 6-14 would be fine by me, although I cannot attend but a couple of days. I would be glad to have a group over my way for one of the days if anyone was interested.
Bryan