Poll Results

I know I'm running a little behind but I wanted to go over the poll results and give you my thoughts. The topic was which side of the Smokies did you prefer to fish and NC won out over Tennessee 7 votes to 4.

I was actually a little surprised that it wasn't at least a bit closer. To me it boils down to what type of fishing you like better. TN has much better roadside and easy access fishing than NC, but NC has an enormous amount of quality water to fish, most of it backcountry fishing. Personally, I enjoy the NC side better because of the abundance of water to fish in the backcountry. My two favorite streams are located on that side of the park, Deep Creek and Ravens Fork. There are also a couple of real gems that fish better than what has been said.

Tennessee is definitely more "family friendly" which is ideal considering it's proximity to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, the family vacation hot spot of the mountains. There is a bunch of high quality roadside water like the East and Middle Prong of the Little River and even convenient brook trout fishing with Walker Camp Prong, Road Prong, and Lynn Camp Prong when they get finished with the restoration project they are about to start.

You really can't go wrong with either side of the park as they both offer something that is hard to find these days: a little foresight into what Heaven might actually be like. So go out and enjoy the Smoky Mountains, and while you're at it, do your part to help conserve and protect this wonderful park by becoming a Friend of the Smokies.