You might say the last paragraph of this story on the Townsend, TN Troutfest (right outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) caught our eye:
“I live in Maryland and a fellow asked me where he should go out west to go fly fishing last year,” said Lefty Kreh, professional fly fisherman. “I told him not to go out west and said he should go to Tennessee. There’s better fly fishing down there for trout than there is out west now.”
So, Undergrounders. Which is it?
Was Lefty offering up a hearty endorsement of Eastern Tennessee’s fly fishing potential (GSMNP and the nearby tailwaters)?
Or was he just recognizing who bought the groceries that weekend?
Weigh in, Undergrounders. Is eastern Tennessee the new West?
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{democracy:13}
I live in the south. I fish in the south. And I’m glad there is some decent trout flyfishing so close by. And some of it can be rather good. But, every year I squirrel enough money away to take one trip out west. Tennessee is not the new west. Tennessee is a good place to fish until you can go out west.
Craig(Quote)
I have not fished Tennessee, but I have fished some other Southern tailwaters and (like Western tailwaters) they hold a lot of good sized fish and a lot of bug life. For me they lack any sort of wilderness experience, which is a huge part of why I fish. The whole thing can seem a bit artificial.
I also don’t know much about Lefty–other than he is an older, portly guy who is down with Donny Beaver. Maybe he doesn’t fish for the same reasons a lot of us do. The Beav connection makes me think he might be more fish-counter than nature enthusiast. Maybe the good western waters just involve too much hiking/walking for him?
JB(Quote)
Every year, I try to take a trip out west. Ironically, upon arriving back in Tennessee after the trip, I end up wondering why I bother with the effort to travel so far. Each year has produced great results for me back in Tennessee. The reason I go out west is for the change in scenery. In my opinion, fishing is just as good here in Tennessee. I think the pull of the west has more to do with the “grass is always greener” than anything else… Did Lefty exaggerate slightly? Probably, but in all honesty, not that much…
David Knapp(Quote)
“Out west” is a LOT of water… epic water… how many states is that? How many rivers? Sounds like something you tell the locals when you don’t think anyone will be writing it down.
TN may fish great, but it certainly doesn’t compare to a whole region of the country with hundreds of rivers and tens of thousands of river-miles.
Bjorn(Quote)
“Out West” the rivers are pretty far apart. East Tennessee and Western North Carolina both feature many rivers within a short distance. We’ve got the tailwaters for the folks with the big fish bug and the mountain streams for the wilderness experience. We lack grizzlies, but there are a couple of thousand miles of streams in the Smokies and surrounding national forests that provide more of a wilderness experience than many better known in the West. Don’t look for an abundance of big fish in these creeks, but wild fish abound and love dry flies.
East Tennessee can also provide multiple alternatives in the face of droughts or floods. The variety of waters always keeps anglers in the game, and that’s before we even talk about rivers with smallmouth bass.
I’m with Knapp, Lefty probably overstated it, but the region has far more to offer than most fly fishers realize.
Ian(Quote)
I would like to say I have no dog in the fight, but that’d be seen through pretty quickly…;)….So I will just say that thought I live in the west and fish in the west I wouldn’t surprise me a bit that the Fishing is better than expected in TN.. I always had a good time fishing back east and there sure was a lot more WATER… I humbly refuse to vote!…
Brett From Utah(Quote)
Lefty is an icon of our sport and what he says is Gospel, so it must be true.
Don(Quote)
He’s left handed …how could he possibly know anything about anything?
samistopdog(Quote)
Lefty is ambidextrous….So he is RIGHT halt the time!
Troutmad(Quote)
I had spent my entire life of 32 years in Tennessee, fishing actively about 22 of those, and eventually everywhere in the state, and some of NC too. I then moved to Montana two years ago.
TN has a lot of good fishing, period. But if we restrict this discussion to flyfishing for trout, then it is crazy to think that TN compares with even Montana, much less the rest of the West. What TN *does* have is really great tailwater fishing for stockers, and a lot of nice fishing for small trout in the low-fertility mountain streams. And NC is even better in that regard.
If tailwater stockers are your thing, then Lefty is on firm ground. Sometimes you can catch a lot of fish that way, some of them very large. But there is nothing in TN that can compare with the Madison, or the Yellowstone, or Slough Creek, or the Firehole, or Henry’s Fork, or the Flathead forks, or a whole bunch of other western rivers. And unlike TN and NC, in MT you can still easily find small mountain streams that seem as though they haven’t been fished in months. And maybe they haven’t! What TN and NC have in small mountain trout streams exists in the West times ten.
You just can’t catch 18-inch wild trout one after the other in TN like you can in Montana. I don’t even know where you would begin to find a wild rainbow in TN over 18 inches. If you disagree, please share, so that I may fish for them next time I visit my folks! I think the biggest wild rainbow I ever even saw with my own eyes in TN was about 16 inches.
There are a few exceptions to what I said above, but I feel comfortable in my beliefs. I know of only one tailwater in TN that has significant reproduction (which happen to be browns, and the majority of browns in that river are still stocked as far as I know).
What I miss most about TN fishing is the excellent smallmouth bass streams, which can be found over much of the eastern 2/3 of the state. The state is a wonderful fishing destination for certain anglers, and I surely enjoyed fishing my youth there. But I just don’t personally care about fishing for stockers in the extremely artificial tailwater environments that represent much of the TN trout fishery. I’m not the kind of angler than enjoys elbowing for a spot in the Caney Fork swinging nymphs all day for a stocked trout. Well, at least not as much as other ways of fishing in TN, and certainly not as much as plopping a 2-inch hopper imitation on the nose of a 23-inch wild fish like I can here in MT.
I think Lefty is just talking his paycheck. I say this as a person who owns two of his books and two of his TFO rods. He is a better fisherman than I will ever be, but that doesn’t mean that he’s more honest. ;)
strategery(Quote)
I live in Tennessee, so permit me to embellish this topic a bit more. When Lefty was attending one of my casting clinics (cough, cough), I asked him why he thought trout fishing was better in Rocky Top country as opposed to the storied west. He replied, ” Simple my boy, seminars, seminars.”
Turnip Truck Driver(Quote)
Tennessee- definitely.
Unless you can afford the airfare even farther east to Korea
Sully(Quote)
There are no trout to speak of in TN. I don’t know where these rumors and out of state guys all come from…….The fishing on all the tailwaters is terrible… the trout in the mountains and tailwaters are all small and never take dries….the few good spots have lots of snakes, bears, and rabid hillbillies no need to come here…. ..we have plenty of trash fish like bass (and the basspro tournament idiots that go with them) if you’re the sort of person that likes that stuff enjoy…….tell all your friends take your plastic rods, stupid large arbor disc-drag reels…. and go someplace sexier…… Montana, Idaho, New Zealand, Patagonia, Northern California, Oregon, Arkansas Just don’t come here!!!!!
Marty(Quote)
By a (so far) 80 to 26 vote, the Undergrounders are dishing out the love for the American west – and suggesting Lefty Kreh is good at reading the signatures on his checks.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Maybe when Lefty said “There’s better fly fishing down there for trout than there is out west now.â€, he literally meant now…the first week of May.
Mark(Quote)
Yeah, but the quote above it said someting about “last year.”
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I’ve fished in both places. TN was surprisingly good but, as has been mentioned by several people already, the tailwaters are pretty artificial feeling. The river I fished a year ago, the Clinch, has over 1 million trout stuck in it every year. That’s almost as many as the whole state of Wisconsin stocks in all its inland streams. But that being said, it was fun. The mountain streams are pretty and its always good to fish for trout. But to again compare states, Wisconsin’s small trout streams fish better.
The West is the West. Incredible numbers and varieties of fishing venues. Fantastic scenery. Good beer. No contest.
I hope Lefty got a nice check out of this.
fishskicanoe(Quote)
I hope Lefty is wrong. I came to California forty years ago, because I’d fished the trout streams of the Great Smokey Mountains, and wanted to experience the mountain streams of the Sierra. If I was wrong, I’ve wasted all this time in this state, when I could have just stayed home, and gone to Tennessee four or five times a year…
Kentucky Jim(Quote)
Lefty who? Wasn’t he a character in that Compleat Angler book?
Whoever he is I agree, anglers should head to Tennessee, avoid western rivers at all cost.
Pay special attention by avoiding the following rivers not in my local area: Sacramento, McCloud, Pit, Fall, Hat, Rogue, Klamath, North Umpqua, Wood, Williamson, Smith, Chetco and Applegate.
Andy
Andy
andy marx(Quote)
Even if there are fish in those rivers (and we strongly suspect there isn’t), they also fall under the umbrella of Potential Flaming Rivers of Doom Due to Dangerous Volcanic Activity Any Minute Now.
I’d book a flight to TN immediately.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
NO FISH IN TN EITHER try Arkansas …FL claims to have trout too but they’re some sort of deviant salt water things
Marty(Quote)
Lemme guess – you don’t work for the Tennessee Visitors Bureau…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
“The West is the best; get here and we’ll do the rest”. – Jim Morrison
Seriously, I have fished eastern Tennessee and neighboring Georgia and North Carolina for 20 years. I’ve also fished the West (Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Washington) for most of those 20 years. There is really no comparison. Tennessee is good, but not that good.
John Graham(Quote)
Man, this is really upsetting. I mean, if you can’t trust a fisherman, who can you trust?
MHH(Quote)
No kidding. It’s almost causing me to doubt the length of all those 20″ trout the guides keep saying I’m catching…
Tom Chandler(Quote)