Every Boat Ramp on Great Smoky Mountains Streams

About Great Smoky Mountains Streams

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains over 2,100 miles of fishable streams across three Tennessee counties, making it one of the largest and most diverse trout fishing destinations in the eastern United States. With depths rarely exceeding 10 feet even in the largest pools, these mountain streams cascade through ancient forests of hemlock, rhododendron, and hardwood, tumbling over mossy boulders and sliding through crystal-clear pools that support wild populations of Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Brown Trout. The gateway communities of Gatlinburg, Townsend, and Cosby provide lodging, supplies, and guide services for the hundreds of thousands of anglers who wet a line in the park each year.

Brook Trout are the crown jewel of the Smokies fishery, with the park protecting the southernmost native populations of this colorful char in streams above 3,000 feet elevation. Rainbow Trout are the most abundant species in the mid-elevation streams, with wild fish averaging 6 to 10 inches providing eager rises to dry flies and nymphs. Brown Trout inhabit the lower-elevation streams and larger rivers within the park, growing to respectable sizes where deeper pools and undercut banks provide cover. Smallmouth Bass are found in the lower reaches of the larger streams as they exit the park, adding warm-water variety to the predominantly cold-water fishery.

Access to Smokies streams is available from numerous trailheads and roadside pulloffs along Little River Road near Townsend, Newfound Gap Road through Gatlinburg, and the remote Cataloochee Valley. The park requires no fishing license for its Tennessee waters but does require anglers to follow strict single-hook artificial-lure regulations designed to protect wild trout populations. Whether you are hiking to a remote headwater stream for native Brook Trout, casting dry flies to wild Rainbows in the shadows of Clingmans Dome, or wading the Little River near Townsend for Brown Trout, the Great Smoky Mountains streams offer a backcountry trout fishing experience that is sacred ground for Appalachian anglers.

Nearest towns: Gatlinburg, Townsend, Cosby