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
Bryson City, North Carolina
Maryville, Tennessee
Season
Year-round
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
Either the State of Tennessee or the
State of North Carolina
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Season:
The season is open year-round.
Spring:
Springtime would be the preferred time to fish
Twentymile Creek. That is when the most insects hatch
and fishing is generally good.
Summer:
Summertime can be hot in the Smokies and you may
need to travel upstream a short ways to fish. The entire
stream does have a very good canopy of tree limbs
covering it, providing the shade needed to help keep the
water cool.
Fall:
Autumn is a great time to fish Twentymile Creek.
Winter:
Trout can be caught on most winter days in the Smokies
provided the stream is fished correctly.
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 Twentymile Creek North
Carolina
Twentymile creek is a very good, medium sized, small stream relative to other trout streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s among the best hidden, little known, yet very accessible streams in the park. If you take the time to travel there, you will most likely be in for a good day of fly-fishing. It is a tributary of Cheoah Lake.
Your odds are good that the stream will likely not have anyone else fishing it when you visit Twentymile Creek. It can be accessed from the Twentymile Trail that follows
along although usually not right along the water. There’s a Ranger Station located right at the entrance to the park.
Access ranges from easy to tough depending on how far you want to walk. This is an excellent choice for those desiring to explore new streams and areas of the park.
Moore Springs Branch is the only sizeable tributary stream, but it is very small and difficult to fish.
Fly fishing Twenty Mile Creek is tight. Don’t expect to be able to make fifty foot cast. Most of the stream consist of fast, pocket water and short, upstream presentations
are all that is needed.
Fly Fishing Guide to Twentymile Creek
Fly fishing Twentymile Creek is a matter of climbing around in a tightly enclosed small, steeply inclined mountain stream.
Getting around in this stream isn’t very easy in most places. Several portions of the stream is a little on the difficult side to access. In some places you must progress upstream in the creek because the banks are thickly covered with trees and brush. Rhododendrons line the banks of the stream in many places. In some places the banks are very steep. Still, negotiating the stream is possible.
There are several areas where getting from the Twentymile Trail down to the stream is next to impossible. It runs high above the creek in some areas and the decline is very steep and rugged. You have to work you way upstream inside the streambed and that isn’t easy in some places.
It seems that ever little run or riffle has some trout. The average size seems normal for the park but large trout, or trout over nine inches seem very rare. We have only caught a few that reached or exceeded that length. I don’t know if that is just it just a product of the number we have caught, or is standard for the small creek. What we do know, is that its seems to have about as many as it could possible have. We have alway been able to catch large numbers of them. You would think the stream would have some brown trout but we have yet to catch one in Twentymile Creek. We have also read where it gets some brook trout in the lower end of the stream that have been stocked in the lake but we haven’t seen any proof of that.
The Ranger Station has always been unoccupied when we have fished there. The area is in
a very remote section away from other public areas. We always wonder about leaving a
vehicle there but we have never had any problems. Maybe the Ranger Station serves some
purpose. As a matter of fact, we have never seen another person anywhere on Twentymile
Creek. We have fished the stream about eight times, usually within the first mile or so. We
have hiked a good ways up the trail and fished a few spots but the best fishing seems to be in the lower section. I should say, the easiest area to get around in is in the lower part of the stream. If you want a truly remote stream that receives little pressure, try Twentymile Creek. It has always been worth our effort to fish there.