Appalachian Tightlining

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Appalachian Tightlining

Adventures in tightline fly fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains and the Southern Appalachians.
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09/05/2024

The importance of water temperature is more critical then ever right now. Most
of the Southern Appalachian Mountain streams are flowing much lower then normal but if you must fish, look for water temperatures under 65 F. The fish will bite better and more importantly especially to the catch and release fisherman, the fish will be less stressed and be able to survive a fight and be released safely to grow bigger.

This past weekend I hiked in nearly 3 miles to find water temperatures below 65 F and then on the drive home I saw several fisherman in waters where the water temperature was over 68-70F. That would be great if it was smallmouth waters but all of the water I was passing was mountain trout streams that can be good fishing if the water temperature was low enough.

Bring a digital thermometer for accuracy, seek out water temps below 65 F and fish deeper holes with flowing water and you’ll find success.

08/09/2024

Fishing a dry fly like a wet fly, the side arm cast and notice how I’m keeping the fly line off the water while giving it enough slack to not influence the drift. Sorry for the umms and anyways. I often feel I’m a better writer then I am a speaker. Tight lines!!

08/07/2024

Does a tree fall in the woods when it’s a beautiful morning? Why yes it does! As I was packing up Sunday around noon at campsite 30 at the end of the Little River Trail, a thunderclap of sound split the air and a moaning followed with leaves and limbs quavering in the distance heights of the forest gave way and flew as a massive tree fell with a boom and a slight shake to the ground.

I hiked in the Saturday morning before with a sore upper back as I woke with a pulled muscle just below my neck. Some yoga and a TENS unit that I decided to bring along for the trip revitalized my back enough for the trip in though it put me in a sour mood for a few hours so it was good this was a solo trip.

Just beyond the Rough Creek Trail I came across a father and young son from Charlotte, camping at Elkmont who were confused by where to go as the trail seemed to end at the river. I pointed to the left of the same bank we were on and told them, “ it continues on just past that tree”.
I think at this point it was easier to hop down into the edge of the river and follow it for 15-20 yards then it is to try to negotiate the user created trail especially with a 30 plus lb pack on ( fly fishing gear, food and water add some weight). I was glad to have my trekking poles here and it appeared these two were as well even with considerable less weight in their packs for their day hike.

On the far side the trail narrows considerably and the Dad asked if I minded if they followed me to the end of the trail at the backcountry campsite. My mood had lightened considerably at this point and I was happy to show them the way telling them about how the Little River Trail was an old logging railroad bed that ended where the backcountry campsite is now and how a train had crashed at Rough Creek near an outpost there.

We reached the campsite without any issues where I quickly set up my hammock and tarp and they explored the 3 seperate areas of the campsite telling me they were preparing for their 1st backpacking trip into the backcountry. They thanked me for showing them the way and I was alone again for the rest of the weekend. I quickly put my day pack and fly rod together and set about exploring the tributaries that form the Little River far above the campsite on the slopes of Clingmans Dome.

I’m generally careful of saying where I’ve found Brook Trout but at nearly 7 miles in and the country being rough and wild beyond the backcountry campsite I’ll be surprised if more then a few would venture this far. Though I did find 2 rock cairns about a mile above camp, where there are no trails. I couldn’t figure out if these cairns were directing someone , somewhere or just letting them know they were getting close on the way back down.

I went another 2 miles or so up. Climbing rocks and small falls on the way, making my way past a few more tributaries that split left and right on the way up. The Little River at this point a narrow stream in most places barely 6 inches to a foot deep with a few plunge pools and holes here and there. Brook trout and the occasional rainbow trout dominate this water with salamanders darting everywhere on the way up including a 10 to 12” beast that was not a hellbender as best as I could tell being slender like a snake but legs dancing furiously to get away from me.

As evening approached I decided to head back down to camp, make Tikka Masala for dinner and I laid down around 8:30 pm, the honey bees finally dissapearing as darkness fell. Around 10 pm a storm hit that forced me to get up and tighten the tarp up as wind forced some rain underneath but luckily my tarp has doors( well worth the few extra ounces and I was snug as a bug as wind whipped and rain fell.

Sunday morning I woke up and hiked a 1/2 mile down the trail and went up another tributary of the Little River. I had read about Brook Trout up there but right now it is rainbow after rainbow with an occasional brook trout up to 3500’ at least. On my way back down I spotted a Long Tailed Weasel who spotted me at the same time and darted for the trees.

I made my way back to the Little River where I had seen a waterfall from the trail and bushwhacked to see it. I fished a bit and was surprised with a small brown trout getting me a grand slam for the weekend of all the species of trout in the park. I made my way back to camp to pack up and the tree fell as told at the beginning of my story.

The return trip was a pleasant walk down with the sound of the river beside me. I spotted a Red Shoulder Hawk just below Rough Creek and as I neared the Cucumber Gap Trail I started to come upon human activity again , knowing I wasn’t far from my truck now.

07/29/2024

I may be wrong but it seems this year I am seeing and hearing about more and more larger larger then average brook trout being caught in the the GSMNP, NC and TN. According to the National Park Service only 4% of Southern Appalachian Brook Trout reach 7 inches. This year I’ve caught several exceeding 8 inches , a few just over 9 inches and this beauty that measured 9 and 3/4 inches. Then I look at my social media pages from Facebook to Instagram and I am seeing more of the same from other anglers. If this is a trend for the Southern Appalachian Brook Trout I am excited to see it continue not only from a catch, awe, and release moment with them but the success of a species that was almost wiped out to extinction from the poor logging practices, pollution and human expansion. We still have a long ways to go with biologists, the National Park, the National Forest, and so many more people and groups do what they can to restore and maintain habitat for these amazing fish that have been here since the ice age but this is highly encouraging!

07/16/2024

Early 1950’s era 1494 Pflueger Medalist . Cork added to the arbor to increase the size a bit from 28 to 46mm. Left Hand Wind converted with a ClassicFlyfisherman.com drag plate and foot, medallion and drag k**b on the way. Taking my Tightlining line holder back to a simpler way.

http://www.classicflyfisherman.com
Pflueger Medalist upgrades

07/12/2024

Low water plus high temperatures means to remember that thermometer ( as refrigeration tech I always have a digital thermometer on me. More accurate and easier to read then an analog) and keep going higher if the water temperature is above 68 F and honestly I like to keep it below 65 F. Yesterday evening in a stream in the GSMNP that meant hiking in 2.5 miles and getting to an elevation of 2600 ft to find water temperatures at 64 F.

06/19/2024

Last week I hiked and bushwhacked Into the headwaters of a blue line and found many native southern Appalachian Brook Trout over 7 inches with one mighty specimen at 9 inches. Fantastic day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the bamboo rod, and big Chubby Chernobyls with a dropper underneath.

05/22/2024

The last weather report on mountain-forecast.com for the base of Clingmans Dome I looked at Saturday morning before leaving was an inch and a half of rain for the next two days with just over an inch of that falling Saturday into Saturday night.

I almost called my backpacking buddy D Dub and called it but with work being as stressful as it’s been I said Fugg it , let’s make Saturday a lazy day of reading a book laying under the tarp and it was just a 5 mile hike in. I packed extra clothes planning on being wet and chilly over the next few days and driving over Newfound Gap where I was socked in the clouds with thick fog and rain falling hard at times to our Meeting Spot on “The Road to Nowhere” just outside Bryson City, NC.

Bryson City though was beautiful with blue sky’s touched with white fluffs of cloud and though humid, perfect conditions to hike in.

We reached our camp around 1pm and quickly set up with honey bees swarming our backpacks and clothing. Unless layed upon on or smacked though, these bees were super friendly and let us shoo them off as we got one item or another that they seemed to like.

We quickly hit the stream and found the trout were super eager to eat and we easily caught over a dozen each that first afternoon.

Later that night I stepped outside my hammock tarp to p*e and the ground was lit up in displays of hundreds pulsing lights chasing and flowing with each other . These lights hung close to the ground, seemingly hovering 2-4 inches above the ground flowing in a rhythmic dance. I was confused for a moment and realized I am seeing the blue ghost fireflies . What a dazzling display.

The rest of the weekend we explored two more campsites, trails and half a dozen streams catching mostly rainbows with D Dub catching at least four browns. I explored another campsite in a couple of hour hike and fish, looking for brook trout under the shadows of Clingmans Dome and met a rat snake while some thunder quietly threatened above with a few sprinkles but nothing of the deluge we had been expecting.

Monday we hit a Lakeside campsite and my very 1st cast in the lake I caught a good sized rainbow who quickly swam under a log and snapped my line. We fished the mouth of the stream to the lake for a bit catching some blue gill and 10-12” rainbows and went back to camp to watch deer wander through, velvet still covering their young horns.

Tuesday morning we explored one final tributary with some steep bushwhacking to reach its waters and I quickly realized I should of brought my 7’ 1/2”rod as my 10’ rod was to unwieldy in such tight waters. Being as small as they are though, I just chocked up on my rod, gripping high up the butt above the grip and made it work to catch some small brook trout.

We made it back to camp around one and hiked out. Marveling at the weather over the past four days that should of been wet and dreary but Mother Nature looked after us and gave us a perfect trip. Back at the truck and van I cooked up some brats with peppers and onions, we toasted our weekend and bid each other goodbye till the next one. Thanks for the good times, “D Dub” Dwight Wyatt.

05/02/2024

This past year I’ve made it a goal to backpack once a month..most of these trips with a flyfishing focus. About two weeks ago that trip was to be on a stream that emptied into Fontana Lake but as the date got closer weather was reporting Thunderstorms during the nights and spread out through the days. I still thought about going but ultimately I looked around and found the Red River Gorge was going to be in the low 70’s and I’ve been wanting to see that area for a while. So I headed north and explored some geological features, wild flower hunted and fished for some Smallmouth and even some Kentucky brook trout( to be fair, the stream I fished in the Red River Gorge is stocked with brook trout) although the Red River holds some beautiful Smallmouth.

04/16/2024

Appreciating the simplicity of Tenkara. When I think of Tenkara I think back to our Appalachian ancestors who often fished with birch sticks with some mono attached. Research deep enough and you’ll find tales of American Indians using long sticks with a thin cord attached.

Tenkara came to us from Japan with some flyfisherman often scoffing at the thought of, ”a fixed line pole fishing”, but for our small mountain streams, it’s one of the simplist and easiest forms of fly fishing available to us.

You can use traditional Tenkara flies such Kebari, but I tend to just use the flies I would on my normal fly rod, more often choosing nymphs but sometimes, and especially in brook trout waters going for the dry dropper method or even a small streamer.

A Tenkara rod can teach you how to fight a fish. Most of our Southern Appalachian wild fish are smaller and easily caught on a Tenkara rod but do to that fixed length line, a larger fish is gonna make you dance. Much like Muhammad Ali was marveled at for his footwork, often fly fisherman want to stand in one spot and bring the fish to them. Sometimes though, you gotta learn to dance. Show those fish a little footwork as they try to run, to let the current grab them and take them below you where it’s easier to slip a hook, easier to let the current break the line. Fish are wise, be wiser. Use those feet to stay below the fish, especially bigger fish. Tenkara can be frustrating to the dead foot angler because they want to be lazy. I like being active. Tenkara keeps you active like an angler should be.

The biggest reason I choose the Tenkara is simplicity, no reel, just a collapsing rod that I can quickly pack away or quickly deploy when hiking. I tend to just wrap the line around the handle when the rod is collapsed and although this does cause some curling , a quick stretch of the line and it’s ready to fish in a few seconds.

04/15/2024

Trilliums, Trout Lillies, a Trout Trifecta, Charlie’s Bunion, the Jump Off and Sweet Heifer Cascades.

I’ve been eyeing Charlie’s Bunion for a while now but I knew I didn’t want to take the traditional AT route. I’m usually planning a bit of fishing when I’m hiking regardless and it was funny to be on the Appalachian Trail with several other hikers asking me,”what’s with the net?”
“Trail Goblins”, I sometimes would reply especially to the hiker asking in passing without slowing down.

I started my day at Kephart Prong and quickly made my way to the Kephart Shelter and up Grassy Branch. Flowers lined the hillside especially trilliums and Trout Lillies with violets and several other species popped up here and there. Dry Sluice started as a lesson in aggravation as the trail surface eroded a good 18” below the hillside but a turkey goobling in the nearby distance kept me entertained and laughing. To the Appalachian Trail where I entertained for a moment of heading towards the Sawteeth that I would save for another day and started towards Charlie’s Bunion. I’m pretty sure the real Charlie’s Bunion is a faint trail at Dry Sluice Gap and I’ll save that for another day to as I continued onto the signed but I believe false Charlie’s Bunion. Still the view here was spectacular and aww inspiring. I had my photo taken and took a few others photos for them and continued on to the Ice water Spring shelter where I talked with some thru hikers and clued them into the, “Jump Off” and the incredible views there and a perfect place to sit for a sunset. I hurried on to the jump off myself, it was 2pm and I still intended to fish my way out as I reintersected Kephart Prong.

Later turning down Sweet Heifer I kept up a pace and came upon Sweet Heifer Cascades. An impressive slide that had me dreaming of sliding it and fishing the waters below. I kept moving though and came back to the Kwphart Prong Shelter. I switched my soles from rubber to felt, collapsed and packed away my trekking poles and pulled out my Tenkara Rod, a fixed line Japanese still of fly fishing.

My legs were feeling of lead at this point but the cool water felt fantastic to my feet and within a few moments I caught a brown trout followed by a few rainbows with one being a darkened color that’s fairly rare to see. Continuing down I took to a small tributary that I knew held some Brookies and hooked one within minutes again , ending my day with a GSMNP Trout grand Slam. 17 miles, and nearly 5,000 ft of elevation gained later.

04/08/2024

Hiking, hammocking, flyfishing and being an unexpected guest presenter for 25 5th graders from the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. This morning I hiked into GSMNP campsite 18 on the West Prong of the Little River with the plan to hike there and fish for a little bit, test out a hammock ridgeline phone holder Cynthia Spillane made me on her 3D printer, and then hike to Spruce Flats Falls. All with the thought I would be home for lunch.

I got to the campsite around 9 am and saw the perfect spot for my hammock , over the “river”. A small stream at this point and quickly hung it and got some shots. I broke out the Tenkara rod and fished upstream for a bit missing a few strikes and then my rod collapsed like a reed that lost its spine. At 8 years old this rod has seen a hard life. Almost thinking fishing was done I realized this was a dual length rod and collapsed the broken section in the butt section reducing it from 10.6 ft to 9 ft and kept on fishing, the butt section completely supported the cracked section.

I fished another mile upstream with no luck and decided to go completely traditional with 2 flashback pheasant tails and immediately started taking hits. Sometimes traditional wins over my favorite flies that are usually winners 90% of the time.

I worked down below the campsite and started back up when a group of kids walked up, not noticing me yet, as I worked upstream, catching yet another rainbow. I worked up to just to the right of them and one little boy waved and as I waved back another small rainbow struck and I set the hook.

I called the group over, probably 25 total and showed them the rainbow trout and they ooo’d and awe’d and one said, “ it’s still alive.”.

“Oh yes, we don’t catch these little guys to kill but to marvel at” I told her and let the trout go. “Sometimes I catch a larger one and may eat it but most of these I let go.” I told them.

Their group leaders thanked me for showing the kids the trout and we talked a few minutes about a few trails in the area. I then packed up as I was already late for lunch at home with the family.

04/07/2024

Brook trout Virmiculations

03/26/2024

“You realize it’s winter and it’s going to rain tonight, right?” The woman at the Smokemont gate asks when I tell her I’m looking for a place to park so I can hike in to camp tonight( Friday)

“Saturday night is supposed to be 26 F at 3200 ft where we’re camping and my pack is nearly 12 lbs heavier then I usually take” I respond.

“Oh, ok. We just didn’t want to have to worry about you out there. Have a great weekend darlin’ “

Understandably with the park being as close as it is to populated areas it probably sees its share of 1st time backcountry folks with Walmart tents and sleeping bags and cotton sweatshirts. I’m definitely newer to backpacking as an adult but I’ve spent nearly every weekend of my adult life in the outdoors from mountain biking Pisgah National Forest to mountain biking and snow biking in Colorado in temperatures near -15 F to the last 6 years of spending most of my time wading streams looking for trout and the meditative experience a stream in the backcountry brings. I understand hypothermia and I want nothing to do with it. So yes, the kitchen sink was packed.

This weekend I was meeting up with my buddy Dwight Wyatt (D Dub)from Asheville who I hadn’t seen in probably 15 years after we moved to Colorado. Years ago I met D Dub and his son Nate. Both were phenomenal mountain bikers and tons of fun to hang out with. D Dub and I reconnected through FB and found out each other had a passion for fly fishing, brook trout, hiking and backpacking so for 6 months we’ve been trying to put together a weekend to get together and things finally fell in place.

Friday night I hiked in alone. D Dub to show up the next morning around 9 am. It was around 3pm that I made my 1st camp. Work had been a whirlwind of stess lately so after making camp, my mind gave way to the relaxation of the woods and I made dinner around 3:45, grabbed my book called, “How to Spoon a Bear” and was in my hammock by 4:15 pm. By 4:45pm I was asleep and woke up at 7:30pm with a light but large droplets of rain pattering on my tarp. I fell asleep again around 9:30pm with the rain a chorus upon my tarp till 7am the next morning.

To the rest of weekend came a chilly Saturday morning, heavy with moisture in the air and D Dub and I met up and started fishing Bradley Fork by 9am. Browns and rainbows were caught but we were both chilly so we decided to pack up and hike the additional 4-6 miles to our next camp for the evening.

Here we met Dave Williams from Minnesota and some fellas from Waynesville who were doing their own adventures and after setting up camp, D Dub and Dave convinced me to try fishing the nearby stream. I rigged up my Tenkara rod this time and had several hits but either the cold had sapped my reflexes or these wilds were being a bit finicky. Finally after 30-35 minutes I plucked a heathly 10” rainbow from the water. Bonked her head and took to cooking my 1st wild caught trout on the fire. Roe and all. Thanks to John from Waynesville for showing me the ropes and pointing out the cheek meat is one of the best tasting parts of the trout.

The next morning with frost on everything from a cold night close to 30 F we bid the Waynesville guys good bye and set up plans to meet Dave back in Smokemont for dinner.

D Dub and I geared up for a day of wading further up stream in search of brook trout, wild backcountry fishing and the peace that comes with it. We found it all.

03/18/2024

Old lumber train routes, brook trout, rainbow trout and the Trilliums are coming!!

03/14/2024

Your a fishing site….why all the hiking post? Preperation for blue lining my friends and backpacking for blue lines deeper in the mountains. Strength and endurance comes from these hikes and if you can do a few, that pays in dividends in the summer when wading steep mountain streams, climbing waterfalls or around them and crawling through rhodo hells.

Rocky Top in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Understanding how we got here, that’s a long story that goes back nearly 100 years to days of these mountains being stripped barren of their large ancient trees for lumber, and of manways that are being swallowed by Rhododendrons, Greenbrier and Dog Hobble.

Some of these cuts are as visible as a trail for miles and easily traversed, that is, until the mountains took back what was theirs, shoved some of these cuts off the side, as sediment and soil loosened by the barren slopes came down washing away lines cut by man then years later rhododendron, green brier, dog hobble and blow downs took it all back, mostly.

I was invited to follow one of these cuts by a local legend of the hiking community with a few others and we went a few miles up a ridge from a parking lot where there could be 30 cars by the end of the day full of visitors that won’t venture more then half a mile from the lot. We crossed streams swollen from the recent rains, carefully watching to make sure no one was swept downstream. We traversed easily to a ridge then the rainforest swallowed us alive.

The next few miles were a lesson in mental and physical endurance. Map, compass, Avenza maps with a topo map showing our progress that had slowed to half a mile to 3/4 of a mile an hour fighting our way through spiderwebs of greenery that would swallow our bodies and leave them to feed the mountain if it wasn’t for the blinking light on my Spot to show our families where to tell the recovery crews where to find them.

I was the weak man of this group. Falling behind as we neared the top but every once in a while I would send out a man faked bird hoot/ Tarzan holler and and I would hear one back letting me know I was still somewhere within ear shot of the group.

Finally a rhodo tunnel appeared, hoar frost coating the limbs, the ice clinking in 30 mph wind gusts that made me smile as the ice sounded like thousands of minature wind chimes, a mix of hunched back to crawling to swinging off limbs to get the feet through. Somewhere in all this, my pack rips and I loose my beanie and favorite wool gloves.

We finally broke through within yards of the top of Thunderhead Mountain at 5527’ and sat to eat and rest a moment before the hike mostly downhill on the Appalachian Trail to Lead Cove over the next 6 miles or so.

The hardest part of the journey was done. My will almost crushed but that quickly fading into the views of the surrounding mountains from Rocky Top. Thanks for the invite gentlemen. That was an adventure and I can’t wait for the next.

02/16/2024

I recently had a question in a Smoky Mountain Fishing group asking,” Was I really targeting baby fish?” People have gotten so used to seeing social media trout and large stocked trout that they don’t realize that many wild Fish in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains don’t often grow large. Below was my response .

Understanding the Great Smoky Mountains and its streams is the first step in understanding why our fish are smaller here. Many, but not all of the trout you see posted on this page are stocked trout from Hatcheries where these fish are well fed and can grow big.

In the Great Smoky Mountains our streams are relatively infertile compared to the ecology of the park. Our streams are fairly acidic and food is relatively scarce. This means low building blocks of protein and calcium that helps grow bigger fish.

The average life span of Rainbow and Brook Trout is about 5 years. Many remain 6-8 inches on average to their deaths with a few rarities of Brook trout reaching 10 plus inches and a few rainbows reaching up to 18 inches. The largest park rainbow I have caught so far is 17.5”. The largest brook trout was 9.5”.

Brown trout are scarce in the park but they do exist and they can grow quite large due to once reaching about 9 inches they switch to a Piscivorous diet, meaning they start eating other fish. Finding the larger brown trout is a challenge. Last year I caught 3 larger brutes at 18, 20 and 22 inches. Another fella on here , Jim Parks, well known for catching large trout caught one that was 27”. Those catches in the GSMNP are rare and momentous moments though.

02/15/2024

For some , the idea of walking miles and miles for small wild trout will never be an acceptable feat when large stocked trout are just a few feet from the drivers door. For others, it’s not just about the trout, it’s the adventure, the solitude, the whispering of the forest and the stream in your ear.

Adventures in miles, wet wading, mist, rainbows and brookies. With yesterday’s rain and high stream levels I was looking for cascades and a few soft spots where I could cast a fly.

I carried along my leaf whistle, a one-weight , 8 foot graphite fly rod that I finished for myself last February. I carried this rod 7 1/2 miles (15 miles round trip) deep trip into the mountains before I even put it together, the goal searching out our native, southern Appalachian Brook trout on another stream that was new for me.

In the beginning, I caught half a dozen small rainbow trout, and then I hooked and lost what appeared to be a 7 to 8 inch brook trout, redfin flashingb, as it jumped my hook. With the day ending fast, I gave myself 15 more minutes and just nearing my last cast of the day I hooked little 5 inch brook trout before a fast hike to dinner with my wife at home.

02/07/2024

In the mountains I seek solace and a peace that only the forest, the streams, and the elevation can provide. There is a magic there in a wild place that is older than mankind.

January 28th’s trek was almost one bigger then I chew. 16 miles and nearly 4,000 ft of climbing into a snow and windstorm on Mount Leconte. Thousands of small limbs littered the trails in places looking like deer horn sheds and acting like ball bearings kept me on my toes for most of the day along with dozens of trees that had fallen that had to be climbed, crawled under and in some cases, dropping off trail on steep slopes to get around.

In hiking and backpacking they say you carry your fears on your back. Literally.I say your either foolish enough to not have it, or just prepared enough to wonder if you should have added it. That was my thought all day as I wondered if the mountain was going to let me go or should of I packed the quilt and the tarp in addition to the emergency blanket I always have.

With nightfall quickly approaching, I managed my way along the last two miles back to my truck with a headlamp held by my waist , wearing it on my head just made the rain/ snow mix at this low elevation a hyper space of stars shooting past my eyes.

Oh what a day to remember in the mountains of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

01/24/2024

Keeping the legs in blue lining condition by getting after it this winter with some hikes. Looking forward to more backpacking trips into the backcountry searching out rarely fished blue line streams this year!

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Videos

A Brook Trout release in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this past summer

Have you ever spotted a Hellbender in the The Great Smoky Mountains National Park or beyond in the Southern Appalachian Mountains? The Hellbender is a species of aquatic giant salamander capable of reaching lengths up to 30 inches long and can weigh up to 5 lbs. Don’t let these shy creatures scare you, they are quite shy feeding on worms, insects, crawdads and small fish around rocks on the bottom of the river. I shot this video in the Little River while Flyfishing back in April of 2021. Wearing polorized glasses to cut through the water glare and X-ray the bottom of the river I was stepping forward when I noticed what appeared to be a large stick move on its own. Knowing Hellbenders lived in the parks streams I pulled out the camera and filmed this fella rummaging through the rocks looking for food or shelter. This sighting was reported to the TWRA and the National Park. https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/hellbender-salamander/

Our 1st episode is dropping in about two weeks. Here's a minute trailer of the hour plus episode with Matt Kulp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Supervisory Fisheries Biologist at Conservation on Tap held at the Albright Grove Brewing Co. and hosted by Discover Life in America.