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
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout
(Wild)
Size
Small to Medium
Location
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park
Nearest Towns
Knoxville, Tennessee
Townsend, 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:
You can fish the river year-round but the spring and fall seasons are the preferred times to fish.
Spring:
Springtime is the best time to fish the Doe River because of the hatches.
Summer:
The lower sections of the river can become too warm to fish during the summer. The headwaters areas are
generally good except for the hottest days of the year.
Fall:
Fall is a great time because the brown trout spawn and become easier to catch.
Winter:
Although you can fish during the winter, it is generally not very good.
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
Little River (Middle Prong) GSMNP
Tennessee
The Middle Prong of the Little River is a tributary of the of Little River, one of the major streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is a small, beautiful
freestone stream. The elevation of the stream in its lower part is fairly low and the stream gets too warm for good trout fishing during the hot summer. The headwaters are at a higher elevations, well shaded by trees and the water remains a cool temperature
throughout the year.
The main stream is formed by the confluence of two other small streams – Lynn Camp Prong and Thunderhead Prong. These two small streams join about four miles up the main stem of the Middle Prong.
The lower four miles is followed closely by a road. Trails access the upper headwaters. At this time, above the cascades, Lynn Camp Prong is undergoing a major change. All of the rainbow and other fish are being removed and it will be restocked with native brook trout.
It is closed to fishing at the present time.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Middle Prong of Little River GSMNP
Tennessee
The Middle Prong of the Little River is one of the easier streams to fish in Great Smoky
Mountains National Park. I don’t necessarily mean that from a fish catching standpoint. I
mean it is easy to cast and get around in. Some of the stream is tightly enclosed with trees but the part along the road has one side that is fairly open for much of its length along the road. I have already mentioned the picture perfect, pool, run, riffles type makeup of the stream. I have also mentioned the relatively low gradient. The low gradient is mostly along the four mile section of road. The two headwater streams fall at a much greater decline.
Although theres been a few large brown trout caught in the lower part of the stream, they
are rare upstream. Most all of the fish are rainbows until you get into brook trout waters in the headwater streams. There’s also some smallmouth bass in the lower section of the
stream. The rainbows are easy to find most of the time. They like the faster water of the runs and riffles. You will also find them in the pools, but much of the feeding they do is in the current.
Each year during late February through April, the Middle River is a popular fly fishing
destination. It is close to the park entrance at Townsend, fairly easy to fish and produces
some good catches during this period of time. During the later part of month of May, the
water temperatures usually rise above the point it is feasible to fish. Once the water reaches the high sixties, it is time to move upstream past the end of the road or change to another stream.
The stream will remain too warm in its lower section until about the middle of October. The exact time will vary with the cold fronts that pass but normally the fish will become much more responsive in late October. We have been able to catch trout in the Middle Prong in the middle of the winter. We have done that several times on a dry fly. This is one of the advantages of being able to fish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are really no off seasons.
Hatches and Trout Flies for the Middle Prong of Little River
GSMNP Tennessee
The Middle Prong of the Little River has some great early season hatches. Beginning in late
February, you can usually find some Blue-winged Olives hatching on a cloudy day. We have
seen these hatch even when it was snowing. 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. They will hatch out in the stream on the surface almost like a mayfly. 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
come off. This can really turn on the trout and the anglers. They actually turn on the anglers more than they do the trout. The larger mayflies are easy to see and give the impression that the trout are really interested in them. Actually, they probably eat far more Blue Quills than Quill Gordons, but the Blue Quills are more difficult to imitate. You can match the flies alright, but you must fish the shallower, slower moving water where the trout get a good opportunity to examine your fly. It is easy to spook the trout feeding on the Blue Quills. The larger Quill Gordons hatch behind the boulders and in pockets where they quickly get caught up in the current seams and head downstream.
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. Often anglers are frustrated by
seeing them hatch and still not catching trout. When that happens, fish an emerger pattern. 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.
Fishing the Quill Gordon hatch, you can usually get by making rather shot upstream
presentation in the current seams and at the ends of long runs and riffles. When they take the duns on the surface, the action is exciting and provides a lot of fun for anglers. Come April, the Quill Gordons will be gone for another year and you will have to start looking for other less concentrated mayfly hatches.
The March Browns will show up on the Middle Prong but not in heavy concentrations. Soon 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 the stream. 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.
Around the middle of May, the lower four miles of stream is usually not a good choice for a place to fish. Your options would be the Thunderhead Prong or Sams Creek. The brook
trout fishing is usually great by the middle of May and that would be a good choice.
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 on the lower four mile section of the Middle Prong of Little River. 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. 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, there’s a lot of other food for the trout. Small Crawfish is one of those items. The brown trout are especially fond of them. 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.
Naturally 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.