Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Rainbow Trout (Wild)
Size
Small
Location
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park
Nearest Towns
Townsend, Tennessee
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Season
Year – round
Access:
Easy to Difficult
Special Regulations
None
Non-Resident License
Either the State of Tennessee or the
State of North Carolina
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Additional Information:
Fly Fishing Smoky Mountains
Seasons:
The fishing season in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is year-round.
Spring:
Spring is the best time for fly fishing Anthony Creek.
Summer:
In the hottest days of summer, you should fish the upper part of the stream.
Fall:
Fall it a great time to fish the creek because of the beautiful fall foliage in Cades Cove.
Winter:
It is possible to catch trout during the wintertime in Anthony Creek, especially on the warmer days.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Fly Fishing Anthony Creek in the Great
Smoky Mountains
Anthony Creek is a small stream that flows into the upper end of Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, meanders through the cove and eventually disappears beneath the surface of the ground. Most of its water is thought to reemerge near
the end of Cades Cove as a spring creek and become the beginning of Abrams Creek. Fly fishing Anthony Creek will quickly teach you the difference in fishing very small streams and large ones. It is tough to cast and get around in much of it.
It is very easy to access the stream at its lower portion because it runs through the Cades Cove Picnic Area. It is not easy to access it upper portions; however, because it is tightly covered with trees and bushes. Its trout are small wild rainbows. There are formal and
angler made trials that follow the stream in its upper parts but you mostly have to stay in the stream working your way upstream to fish.
This is an excellent choice for a small stream to fish when other larger streams in the park are blown-out because of heavy rain. It is small enough that it can still be fished even though the water may be high.
Anthony Creek is also a great place to take young kids to teach them to fly fish. The lower section is open in some areas and rainbows are usually willing to take a fly. It is a great place to camp and be near a trout stream. You may need to get an early start but you can usually do fairly well catching the small rainbows in the camping area.
Fly Fishing Guide to Anthony Creek:
The fish in Anthony will take just about any small generic or attractor fly, but you could still do better fishing imitations of what is hatching or about to hatch.
The pictures you see were taken when the water levels was slightly high. That is
about as much water as you will ever see unless there have been some heavily
rains. This particular day, the streams were blown out everywhere else in the
larger streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We had visited Abrams
Creek, hoping it would be fishable but as it turned out, it wasn’t. On our way
around the loop in Cades Cover we stopped at Anthony Creek to wet a hook and
was surprised at the number of small rainbows we caught.
This little stream can be difficult to fish in the Cades Cove Picnic area when it is
crowded with tourist. Kids like to wade the pool and that spooks the trout, of
course. Fishing early and late usually avoids that problem.
You fish this stream the same way you would a small brook trout stream, and as a
matter of fact, its upper areas have some brook trout. Short upstream cast are the
best. By holding the rod tip high, you can avoid placing a lot of the fly line in the
water and avoiding drag. Often roll cast are all that is necessary and often it is the
only cast you can make. Your backside is almost never clear anywhere outside of
the campground area.
We normally take only a four weight rod because we usually hike in from the
picnic area and avoid carrying any extra gear. If it is during the summer, a small
fly box and your rod is all you need. You can wet wade and stay comfortable. As
mentioned in the intro, this is a great stream to teach the youngsters to fish. It
should never be considered a prime destination. There are many stream much
better, but when they are blow out, you may want to make a few cast in Anthony
Creek. It beats the alternative.
Hatches and Trout Flies for Anthony Creek Tennessee
(GSMNP)We have never captured any stream samples of aquatic insects from
Anthony Creek but we have several other small streams including two in the Cades
Cove area that flow into Abrams Creek. It is always amazing at the variety of the insects
present when we do. All of them have the huge Giant Stonefly nymphs down to the
smallest of the Little Blue-winged Olives and Blue Quills. I feel sure, Anthony is no
exception.
Beginning in late February, you can usually find some Blue-winged Olives hatching on a
cloudy day. About the first of March, chances are good that the Blue Quill mayflies will
start to hatch. The exact time can vary a couple of weeks or more if the weather is
abnormally warm or cold.
Around the same time you will begin to see the Little Black Caddis along the rocks and
banks. These can actually provide more action and result in more trout caught than the
Blue Quills or Quill Gordons. From about the middle of the afternoons you can fish
imitations of the pupa, then change to an adult pattern when the hatch gets to going
good. After about an hour, the egg layers from previous hatches will return to deposit
their eggs. The action can last until dark.
Almost at the same time the Blue Quills start hatching, the larger Quill Gordons begin to
hatch. The Quill Gordons hatch on or near the bottom and may or may not get any
attention from the trout on the surface depending on several factors. We have a
“Perfect Fly” pattern just for this. It is a wet fly that works great whether the trout are
taking the duns on the surface or not.
The March Browns will show up about mid April but not in heavy concentrations. By the
first of May the Light Cahills will start hatching here and there but again, not in a
concentrated manner. You can catch trout fishing these hatches, but not as
consistently as you can on the Little Black Caddis, Blue Quills or Quill Gordons.
I haven’t mentioned the stoneflies but they are very plentiful in all the small streams in
the park. The first ones to appear are the Winter Stoneflies that show up in January. In
April you will begin to see the Little Yellow Stoneflies, or Yellow Sallies. They will provide
a lot of action late in the afternoons around sunset.
In early to mid October, the water will cool down and some late season hatches of
Blue-Winged Olives and Mahogany Duns will start to hatch. The Mahogany Duns, a
sister to the early Blue Quills, usually hatch in large quantities and provide some great
action. These are small mayflies, usually a hook size 18-20 but they will get the
attention of the trout.
During the month of June, grasshoppers, beetles, ants and inch worms, all terrestrial
insects, become important food items for the trout. Theres few hatches occurring, so
most anglers start using imitations of these terrestrials. The inch worms, or moth larvae,
are especially important due to the large numbers of them in the forest of the park.
Craneflies are everywhere water exist in the park. The larva and adults are important
insects to imitate. Hellgrammites, or the larva stage of the Dobsonfly, is another
abundant insect that is in many of the park’s streams.
We recommend our “Perfect Fly” imitations. They are the best, most effective flies you
can purchase and use anywhere trout exist. If you haven’t already done so, please give
them a try. You’ll be glad you did. By the way, we also have all the popular generic and
impressionistic trout flies for sale on this site. If you choose to use those, they are very
low priced and of high quality.