My personal experience provides the unstartling conclusion that the most important pieces of gear are your boots. To prevent blisters, select a pair of waterproof hiking boots or wading shoes that fit snugly. Wading shoes have the advantage of felt, but hiking boots support you better on the trail. I use perforated neoprene socks, which squish, to avoid a lot of blistering.

Before you go, buy a National Geographic/Trails Illustrated map of the Smokies and look at the area you plan to fish (nationalgeographic.com/maps). The closer together the topographic lines are, the steeper the climb. Climbing is a part of Smokies fishing, but try to start out where the lines don’t bleed together.

The Smokies are one of the last uninterrupted green spaces left in the East. The best way to experience their grandeur is on foot, high in the mountains, when unexpected bends or steep falls create surprising--and sometimes breathtaking--portals out of the forest. While blue-lining will never supplant tailwater or freestone fishing for most anglers, it is an undertaking that repays you for your efforts. It’s about more than the fishing, but the fishing is pretty darn good too. Whether you’re salivating over the idea of monster browns lurking unobserved next to millions of marching feet a year, or you just want to experience the thrill of holding a brook trout in its own millennia-old home water, your best bet is to strap on a pack, grab a map, and start walking.

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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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