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
Brown Trout (few)
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout
(Wild)
Size
Small to Medium
Location
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park
Nearest Towns
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Season
Year – round
Access:
Very Good
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:
Trout can be taken in Great Smoky Mountains National Park any time of the year.
Spring:
Spring is the best time to fish the stream because of the aquatic insect hatches.
Summer:
Summer is great for fishing the upper section and the headwaters for brook trout.
Fall:
Fall is an excellent time for fly fishing the Middle Prong of Little River, especially if you enjoy the beautiful autumn
colors.
Winter:
Trout can be and are caught in the lower section of this stream during the winter months and on warmer days, even on the dry fly.
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 2016 James Marsh
Fly Fishing the Middle Prong of Little
Pigeon River, GSMNP Tennessee
The locals call the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River “Greenbrier”. Its a fast gradient, freestone stream located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s probably the
most overlooked stream in the park even though it is very easy to access. An entrance road to the park near Gatlinburg runs along beside much of the stream. The
fact that it is fairly close to all of the tourist activity is probably why it is overlooked as a good destination. Another reason is that the Greenbrier Entrance is not very noticeable, even when you are driving north out of Gatlinburg on Highway 321.
The entrance road follows the stream for about the first five miles. Its paved in its lower section and changes to an unpaved road, but one that can be traveled in an automobile. During the warm months of summer, we would suggest you don’t start fishing the Middle Prong of Little Pigeon until you are at least three miles upstream. The water gets a little too warm in its lowest section.
The first tributary stream of any size is Porters Creek. An unpaved road follows it for about a mile. It too has a good population of rainbow trout. Its not as large as the Middle
Prong but it is a decent size little stream thats a pleasure to fish.
At the end of the main road, theres a parking lot and the Ramsay Prong Trailhead which will take you a few miles father upstream. The brook trout population starts at
about this point
Fly Fishing Guide to the Middle Prong of Little
Pigeon River:
Like many of the other Great Smoky Mountains freestone trout streams, you can fish the small tightly enclosed headwater streams for brook trout, or the larger, lower elevation waters for rainbow trout.
The Middle Prong of Little Pigeon River is called Greenbier by some anglers. It exits the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park about five miles north of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It is
one of the park’s most beautiful streams. It provides excellent rainbow trout and brook trout fishing.
A road closely follows the first five miles of the stream from the entrance to the park.
The lower portion of the stream (the first mile or two) gets a little too warm for the trout
during the hot summer months. During the summer fishing is usually better starting two or three miles upstream from the park boundary. The stream is stocked by the state of
Tennessee outside the park and it is possible that some of the trout may swim up into
the stream inside the park. The road ends at the Ramsey Prong Trailhead. You can catch
brook trout anywhere upstream from that point.
From the Ramsey Prong Trailhead downstream, the Middle Prong is fairly easy to fish.
Ample casting room can be found in most places. Upstream of the Ramsey Prong Trailhead, accessing the stream is more difficult but still fairly reasonable. Casting room naturally declines in the headwater areas.
The Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River has several tributaries. One major one is Porters Creek. The main stream becomes much larger below the Porters Creek confluence. Porters Creek is the first major tributary stream that enters the Middle Prong from its exit at the park’s boundary. Porters Creek also provides some good fishing. About a mile of it is accessible from a gravel road that runs along side it. From the end of the gravel road upstream, you can access it from a trail but it is fairly tough getting to the stream from the trail in most places. Cannon Creek is a very small tributary stream of Porters Creek with small rainbow trout. It is accessible from Porters Creek.
Ramsey Prong is another tributary of the Middle Fork of Little Pigeon. It can be accessed
from the Ramsey Cascades Trail. Most all the trout in the Ramsey Prong tributary will be
brook trout. Buck Fork is a very small brook trout stream that is a tributary of Ramsey Prong.
Chapman Prong and Lost Creek form the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River. It is a very small brook trout stream that is difficult to access. Eagle Rock Creek is another very small brook trout stream that contains brook trout but it is very tough to get to. There are no well established trails.
Most all the water in the Middle Prong is fast flowing pocket water. The best way to fish the river is to make lots of short, upstream cast. Much of the time the rainbows and brook trout can be taken on dry flies, but you will need to fish nymphs at times. The method locals call “high stickin” works great in this stream. It is a short-line method of fishing nymphs whereas you hold the tip of your rod up high and maintain direct contact with the fly. The very short presentation is made up and across and the fly is allowed to swing around directly under the tip of the rod to the downstream position. There are many runs in the Middle Prong where this method of fishing works great.
Hatches and Trout Flies for the Middle Prong of Little Pigeon River
GSMNP Tennessee
It has been generally thought over the years that this stream’s steep decline has kept the
population of aquatic insects lower than it is in most streams. It is also contributed to the
streams low pH which is supposed to be lower than most other streams in the park. Porters Creek is supposed to have a very low pH. We have not taken pH reading on the stream and cannot verify that but we do the other typical streams. Most of its aquatic insects are clingers and the stream may have more clingers than some other streams in the park, but that is the only minor difference we have noticed. It doesn’t have a very good population of crawler mayflies and it is almost void of net-spinning caddisflies but this isn’t that different from many other streams in the park.
The first insects to hatch are the little Winter Stoneflies. We have seen plenty of these along the banks. They start crawling out of the water to hatch in January and continue through March. About the time these stop hatching you will see the Little Brown Stoneflies start to hatch. They will last until the end of April.
Blue-winged Olive are the most consistent hatch throughout the year in the Smokies but
they are not very plentiful in the Middle Prong of Little Pigeon River. You will start to see
some hatches about the middle of February and they will continue off and on throughout the entire year. These include the baetis species along with the Eastern BWOs, Little BWOs and Small BWOs consisting of about 15 different species, some of which are bi-brooded.
The little Blue Quills will start to hatch about the middle of February and last into the first of April. They are usually very large hatches that are very consistent. About the same time you will begin to see the Quill Gordons. They hatch until as late as the first week of April in the higher elevations.
Mid February will also bring about one of the largest caddisfly hatches of the year – the Little Black Caddis or Brachcentrus species. This hatch is always very consistent.
The Hendricksons start hatching near the last week of March. They are short lived, hatching for only about a month to six weeks at the most. There are very few in this stream.
Around the middle of April, March Browns will begin to hatch. These mayflies are very
plentiful in the Middle Prong of Little Pigeon River but they hatch inconsistently until around the first week of June. Much more consistent are the Light Cahills. They start about a week or two after the March Browns and last as long as a month, depending on the elevation. There are only a very few Eastern Pale Evening Duns and Sulphurs.
The middle of April will bring about a hatch of the Short-horned Sedges. These are very
small black caddisflies that are quite abundant. About the same time you should notice the first hatches of the Green Sedges. They hatch everywhere there is fast water for over two months but never in large quantities.
The first of May the Giant Black Stoneflies will start hatching. These hatch at night and
deposit their eggs at night. Nymphs work well in the late afternoons. The Little Yellow
Stoneflies, called Yellow Sallies and one of this stream’s best hatches. They start around the first of May and last until mid July. Another hatch also called Yellow Sallies, but different species, starts again about September and last for about six weeks. Golden Stoneflies start hatching around the first of June and last about five weeks. The Little Green Stoneflies start about the last week of May and last until July.
The last week of June through the month of August you will find some Cream Cahills. These are sparse but important at that time of year. By the middle of August hatches of Little Yellow Quills will start to occur mostly in the higher elevations. This is a very good hatch that last until the end of October. By the middle of August, hatches of Mahogany Duns will begin to occur. This hatch last for as long as two months depending on the elevation.
Also by the middle of August you should start seeing some Needle Stoneflies. These hatch
in fairly large numbers until as late as November, especially in the higher elevations. Many
anglers take them for caddisflies which they resemble in flight.
From the middle of May until the middle of November, a long period of time, you will find
hatches of Slate Drakes occurring. These mayflies hatch out of the water but never in large quantities. Imitations of the nymphs and spinners can be important.
The Great Autumn Brown Sedges, start hatching at night by the first of October and last into the first of December.
During the month of June, grasshoppers, beetles, ants and inch worms, all terrestrial
insects, become important food items for the trout. There are 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.
In addition to the terrestrial and aquatic insects, theres a lot of other food for the trout. Small Crawfish is one of those items. Another one is Sculpin. These small fish are abundant in most of the stream. Imitations of them can be very effective. The Black Nose Dace is another baitfish that is important. Streamers imitating these and other minnows work great especially when the water is slightly off color.
I didn’t mention it in the aquatic insect part above, but midges are abundant throughout the park. They can be very important when the water is cold and nothing else is hatching.
Imitations of the larva and pupa will catch trout anytime of the year.
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, you should give them a chance to perform for you. You will be glad you did. We lived for three years just over a mile from the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River. We have caught hundreds of trout from this stream on our Perfect Flies.