Road to the Smokies: The Little River Afternoon (Food for Thought)

After the Hazel Creek backpacking trip ended on Sunday (and yes, a lot of laundry was done), Monday appeared.

What to do?

Hey — Good guess! Ian and I fly fished the Little River (later, Charity joined us on the river), but the story begins elsewhere. Indeed, it begins where all great fly fishing stories begin:

Lunch.

A box of heaven; four Phillips 66 slaw dogs and a pair of MoonPies.

Yes, Undergrounders, we visited that most hallowed of food establishments — the Townsend Phillips 66 gas station, where they act as if there signature food wasn’t world famous. In the age of Paris Hilton and whiny, entitled media stars, that’s refreshing.

The original Phillips 66 slaw dog. Note the chopped slaw.

This time, Ian introduced me to the ideal dessert topper to any slaw dog feast — the MoonPie. How does it taste?

After you’ve downed a couple slaw dogs, it tastes as if God himself had descended from the heavens and pointed his right hand at the Moon Pie factory. It’s so good that pictures like what follows are rare indeed:

Look quick; a MoonPie in its last seconds of existence.

The MoonPie isn’t widely available out here, but yes, you can mail-order these little delicacies, and read about the history of this little gem (it dates to 1917).

Sure, other blogs might fill their pages with largely useless fly fishing information, but here, you learn about the things that really matter, including the history of the MoonPie:

Early in the 1900s, while servicing his territory of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, Mr. Mitchell was visiting a company store that catered to the coal miners. He asked them what they might enjoy as a snack. The miners said they wanted something for their lunch pails. It had to be solid and filling. “About how big?,!” Mr. Mitchell asked. Well about that time the moon was rising, so a miner held out his big hands, framing the moon and said, “About that big!” So, with that in mind, Mr. Mitchell headed back to the bakery with an idea. Upon his return he noticed some of the workers dipping graham cookies into marshmallow and laying them on the window sill to harden. So they added another cookie and a generous coating of chocolate and sent them back for the workers to try.

You can find Nutritional Information about the MoonPie at Wikipedia, though frankly, you don’t want to know. You just want to enjoy the taste…

The Fishing

Ian and I fished the Little River — probably the most-fished water in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

If I described it as a smaller Upper Sacramento, but greener, I’d be wrong, but I’d be close enough to offer you a picture of the place.

Ian Rutter chasing a nice Brown downriver. I didn’t have to do that.

Right away, we both hooked up with a pair of small rainbows, and things were looking good. Sadly, they continued to look good for only one of us; I struggled for the odd small fish while Ian did his best Purse Seiner imitation.

I won’t go into just how badly Ian outfished me (fly fishing’s not about numbers anyway, or at least that’s what I say when they aren’t in my favor), but then again, no day that involves slaw dogs and MoonPies could be wholly wasted.

Ian highsticking fast water, where yes, he caught fish.

Later, Charity Rutter brought their 22 month-old daughter Willow along (Willow already loves to play in the river and prefers the Trout Bum Diaries II to her Barney videos), and we took a break while Charity caught a couple.

Charity Rutter highsticking on the Little River.

Ian started turning over rocks — doing the kind of ongoing research that good guides always seem to do when they’re on the water — and we stumbled across some cool bugs:

A large brown stonefly nymph. (Take me to your leader)

A Golden Stone and the nymph imitation.

While I pretty much summed up the day by setting up on a good-sized Brown Trout on one of my last casts — and only turning him before the hook flew skyward — it was still a wonderful time on a gorgeous freestone river.

One day remained on my Tennessee trip. Where the hell was I going to fish? (How’s that for a TV-style teaser?) Tune in for the Final Installment.

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, tennessee, ian rutter, little river, stonefly, moonpie, slaw dog[/tags]