Twenty Mile Creek

We werent sure of our next destination so we left it up to fate. A simple sweepstake drawing would determine were we would take our talents this time. We had 4 options: Noland Creek, Deep Creek, Forney Creek, and Twenty Mile Creek. I drew Twenty Mile and David did shortly after. It was our date with destiny, so we began planning our route. Twenty Mile Creek is hidden in the far southwest corner of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is isloated from much of the park and rarely visited, certainly not by fisherman. We headed out early and made the long drive to Twenty Mile Creek. Upon arrival we packed up and started heading up the trail. The trail was wide at the start of the river, but quickly grew narrower as we continued to climb. We passed numerous runs that likely held quality fish. We had our sights set on the parts of the river that are rarely touched. We quickly found that entering the river from the trail was quite a hassel. We decided to pick a spot and hike upstream or downstream from that point in the creek itself. Navigation through the creek was difficult to say the least. Trees and Rhodo lined the sides of the river making it quite difficult to cast and wade. We had good luck though, landing a number of rainbows but also having our fair share of misses. The fish were wild and their colors showed it. We ended the day hiking back down, and driving the long road back. We both liked the river alot, and David thought so highly as to put it in his top 2 rivers in the park. So as the dust settled on another trip we set or sights forward to what the future will bring at the next destination...til next time

-Dreamcatcher

Picture this

Cool overlook from the mountains of the Lake

Destination Twenty Mile Creek

Looks like an old logging road for the first mile or so of the trail

Larger runs started out at the bottom of the river

This image is stuck in mind, and I'm sure will continue to reoccur. But thats what Dreamcatchers is all about.

Gotcha

This is a couple miles up river from the Lake, there were plenty of pools and runs

Another rainbow, and yes I netted him

Bright colored little rainbow

Some spots made me wonder how we made it through this river. Navigation was tough but well worth it.

Healthy wild rainbow took the stimulator off the top

David working his way around the stream

Agreesive little rainbow nailed my fly in some swift pocket water

Back near the bottom of the creek here. It widened out quite a bit from above.