Dreamcatchers

Dreamcatchers

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Cataloochee and Greenbrier

Great Smoky Mountains National Park -10

Cataloochee and Greenbrier Rivers

We woke up early again to take the windy gravel road from gatlinburg to the futherest reaches of the park in North Carolina. We arrived in the Cataloochee Valley early in the morning and found a good spot to put in and fish. We waded downstream and upstream for while with no luck. Finally I caught a small little brown with brillant colors. We didnt stay long at the river because I was interrupted with unexpected calls from my new job. The river looked great though and I am certain there were some big browns waiting on us. We did see some elk in the valley feeding in the meadow. After heading back to Gatlinburg and settling my job situation, we decided to head up the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon (Greenbrier) River. We had very good luck there, pulling in a number of rainbows. I caught an above average rainbow in a deep run. I finally had found the run I was looking for, deep water that ran up against a rockface on the far side. I was certain there was a good fish in this run somewhere. Sure enough when I tossed the Royal Stimulator in the current the rainbow couldnt resist, rising to nail it off the surface. It fought like a beast, and after a wild goose chase I finally netted him. Turned out to be the best fish of the trip, colored beautifully, with brillant red patches on and behind the gills. After hiking upstream somemore we headed out and called it a day. A day well spent in the life of a dreamcatcher I would say...til next time

-Dreamcatchers
Entrance to the Cataloochee Valley

Caught my Brown in the riffles here

Cool looking small brown

Another run on the Cataloochee

Looking Downstream

Cataloochee Valley

Elk in the meadow

Entrance to Greenbrier

Looking down the river from a bridge

Nice rainbow from the river

Run where I caught the rainbow above

Here is the champ

Nice looking runs all the way down

Another small rainbow catch