Dreamcatchers: Forney and Noland Creeks

Over Memorial Day weekend Phil and I decided we would go on a backpacking/Fishing trip up in the Smokies. After debating for a while about where to go either Hazel or Forney creek we chose Forney, thinking we might not be able to make it across Fontana Lake before dark on Friday to get to Hazel. We fished Noland creek for about 20 minutes on Friday but really did not have much luck pulling the fish in when they would bite. On Sunday we headed over to Forney Creek and after a 6 mile hike we settled at campsite 71 and began our quest upriver for some nice trout. We did not have much luck at the beginning but after eating lunch on a big rock in the stream, I caught a nice rainbow right above it. With new-found-confidence we began to fish upstream and caught a few nice rainbows with beautiful colors and a sharp red stripe. After a while we began to wonder if we would find the trail again, considering we did not study the map much, but after fishing about a mile upstream we came out on the trail and hiked our way back down to camp each having caught about 4 or 5 fish. It was a successful day. On Monday, we decided we would head downstream and fish that section as we hiked out. We saw another fisherman so we wonder if the spots were already fished but we tried anyways. I caught 3 right around the same area and Phil caught some upstream from me. As we headed downstream I came across a hornets nest, not knowing, and got stung twice, on the head and on the leg. After that I was pretty much out of commission. We caught a couple more before taking a swim in the cold water and hiking out. Once we hiked out we took one more stop at Noland Creek and tried our luck there. We caught a couple there before we decided our time was done and we needed to eat. With a backpacking trip like this there was only one choice of food the trifecta of captain d's, zaxbys, and bojangles(which we craved the entire trip). It was a successful trip and two more smokey mountain streams down. We definitely found out quick we were out of shape. Til Next Time

-Dreamcatchers

Fontana Lake Overlook from the Road to Nowhere