The Best Times To Go The Smokies’ biggest problem is crowds of tourists, which can clog the roads and trails, especially during summer vacation season. Avoid peak times at all costs. The park is open to fishing year-round. For the best shot at big browns, book a guide out of Townsend in late October, during the week (the leaf watchers choke the highways on weekends). Townsend and Gatlinburg both offer accommodations. For brook trout, fishing is fantastic from April through June, but shuts down all winter. Brookie fishing doesn’t require a guide, just a 2- or 3-weight rod and some time. For the most complete experience, through-hike the AT, sleeping in the camp shelters along the trail (be sure to book in advance through the Backcountry Reservation Office). Although you can bag brookies and big browns in the same vacation, cold weather in fall in the high areas tends to make brookies sluggish, and they feed actively only on the warmest days.
Zach Matthews is a freelance writer and the editor of The Itinerant Angler, www.itinerantangler.com. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of Fly Fisherman.
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