The Trade
Thursday, August 28th. I was just about ready to leave the office for the day when one of my co-workers popped his head in the door.
“Did you see it?”
A lot of potential things rushed to mind, but I was drawing a definitive blank.
Then he said, “Micah Parsons got traded to the Packers.“
F*ck.
In my line of work, reacting to what the sports fan wants quickly comes with the territory. In this case, when a top five defensive player in the NFL gets traded to a team with an outsized and loyal fan base, I envisioned spending the next 24-48 hours figuring out how to get thousands of Micah Parsons Green Bay Packers jerseys printed up and ready for sale.
The problem was, I was headed to the Smokies on Friday for what I hoped would be a work-free Labor Day weekend. Those two things had the potential to not mix well and I could feel the stress building inside me. I didn’t sleep easy that night.
The Road Trip
Luckily, nothing motivates people more than the potential infringement of work upon their long weekends, so I was not the only one laser focused to knock this fairly important task off the to-do list ASAP. The team rallied over the course of Thursday evening and Friday morning and jerseys & t-shirts were available for Packers fans to purchase around 11 AM on Friday. A huge relief, and a big win for those who had weekend plans for their final NFL-free weekend of 2025.
Now, all that extra afterhours work didn’t really allow me much time to give any dedicated thought to packing. But I was able to steal 10 minutes or so to haphazardly toss some clothes and fishing gear in a bag and throw it in the car. Yeah, I later found that I forgot some things that I would have liked to have at hand, but nothing mission critical to enjoying a weekend of trout fishing in Cherokee.
3:30 PM on Friday, car now loaded, I headed north on I-95, 26, & finally west on 40 to western North Carolina, relieved I wouldn’t have to deal with any work hijinks. Unless of course there was another last minute trade or something brewing. But despite me nervously checking my work emails and ESPN app every 15 minutes of the 8 hour drive, nothing else materialized. As I laid down my head on the surprisingly plump pillows of the bed in my room at the Great Smokies Inn, I let out a big exhale, I was finally in the clear.
Saturday on the Straight
The weather forecast in Cherokee called for rain on Sunday, so I wanted to make the most out of Saturday. It was going to be a “tenkara day”, fishing one of my favorite smaller streams just inside the Park boundaries.
When I arrived, I didn’t expect the gate beyond the parking area to be closed. I’ve never seen it closed before. But this was the first time I returned to this area since Hurricane Helene, and either the remnants of that, or a simply brutal winter and spring must have wreaked havoc on the forest service road that runs alongside the water. I found it to be completely washed out in several places, and those stretches that survived had very deep and uneven grooves etched into the mix of clay and gravel surface.
Normally, you could continue driving on the service road back and in a few miles utilizing one of the many pull-offs along the way to start fishing, but with the locked gate I’d have to hike in on foot. Honestly, it was probably a bit of a blessing, as for a Labor Day weekend, there were surprisingly few cars in the lot. Maybe 3 or 4 total including mine, and at least one of those folks was mountain biking, not fishing. I suppose most anglers are probably on the lazy side when it comes to hiking a mile or two before starting to fish. Especially when the fish are likely going to be small. Hopefully their loss was my gain.
A Nice Day on the Water
The fishing? Well, it was pretty stellar. What I didn’t catch in size, I certainly made up for in numbers and I had an absolute blast. Rainbow trout after rainbow trout, with a brown or two mixed in for good measure. Didn’t get the elusive brookie, but it didn’t matter.
And the scenery is just so damn gorgeous.
I was using two different tenkara rods, the first a $50 rod I bought from Amazon called the SeaQuest Etova. I bought it just to see how a budget tenkara rod might fish. It was more than capable in this environment. I’d eventually switch over to the Tenkara USA Rhodo, simply because it had been some time since I had fished it. Can’t have any rods collecting dust. I ended up catching two of my nicest fish of the day on the Rhodo towards the end of the session.
By the time I collapsed my rod for the final time I had been fishing for a little more than 8 hours. A bit tired, but not exhausted when I exited, I really didn’t notice the time passing while I was fishing. But the distance I covered, combined with the realization of how far I now had to hike to make it all the way back to my car was a bit of a buzzkill. Once I finally got to the tailgate of my SUV my knees and feet were screaming bloody murder. A couple Tylenol would certainly go down easy.
Back in town, I wrapped up the night by popping into one of my favorite Mexican food restaurants. Bistec Encebollado was on the menu. IYKYK. It didn’t hurt that El Cajelito was right across the street from my motel either.
Sunday with the System 4
Sunday was a new day, and I’ll admit, I slept in a little later than I probably would have liked before rolling out of bed to get some fishing in. With the threat of some early afternoon weather, I decided to not really go too far and chose to fish the Oconaluftee with my Redington Classic Trout rod and Scientific Anglers System 4 reel.
This is probably where my rushed packing first reared it’s head. I should have brought a 9 foot fly rod. Not a huge deal, but when you’re accustomed to using 11 or 12 foot long tenkara rods, I just felt a little undergunned with my 7.5 3-weight for the size of the water I was fishing.
In the end it was all good. I caught a few small fish on a hopper dropper setup, and actually added some nymphs to my fly box over the course of the day.
I guess Smokies anglers aren’t always so keen on removing tangled lines and flies from streamside vegetation. I found one low hanging branch to have a whole team of nymphs from two different rigs dangling from it. A few quick snips and I had at least 5 new-to-me euronymphs in hand.
Unfortunately, the combination of sleeping in and fishing a more popular stretch of water didn’t give me the same level of solitude as I enjoyed on Saturday. I found myself having to navigate around more than a few anglers – especially the ones that chose to stay put at deep pools – but at least the folks I encountered in the parking areas were cool.
Friendly Fishers
I crossed paths with one younger couple (husband & wife?) twice. They arrived in the parking area as I was gearing up and were seemingly new to fly fishing. They asked me a bit about the stream and what proper stream etiquette is when it’s crowded. When I bumped into them later in the day, we exchanged our respective fish tales and I was thrilled to hear that they had some success with hoppers.
Later, I chatted with a father & son who were visiting from South Carolina. While the Dad & I peeked in each others fly boxes to see what dries and nymphs we were tossing, he told me this was his son’s first fly fishing outing. I didn’t see them again after that, I hope his son got onto some fish!
Last but not least, the resident Cherokee elk were out in force! While I was down in the water fishing, the elk were in the fields immediately above me. It was kind of surreal to hear the bull elk bugles every so often while I was mending my line or watching a drift. Once I finally called fishing quits, I had to pop out of my wading boots and just watch them for a bit. Whenever I’m around the Smokies’ elk, I regret not having a nicer camera.
While the rain never really materialized, there wasn’t too much to the day after that. I grabbed a very quick bite to eat on the way back to the hotel, took a long shower, and kind of snoozed off the rest of the evening. I closed out the trip by treating myself to an ice-cold mandarin orange Jarritos that I bought at the Mexican restaurant the night before and stashed in my hotel mini-fridge just for this occasion. Delicious.
Monday Return & Reflections
Come Labor Day Monday morning, it was time to drive back to Jacksonville. While I didn’t really want to leave quite yet, an early start was necessary due to the long road trip ahead.
As I merged back onto I-95 and pointed the car south, I couldn’t help but smile at how the weekend unfolded. What began with the stress of a last-minute NFL trade turned into exactly what I needed; long hours on the water, a few good fish to hand, and even better memories made along the way. Sometimes, even when work tries to creep in, the fish, the mountains, and the people you meet remind you that balance is still possible. And that’s a trade I’ll take any day.
Mike,
I love your road trip stories and then am reminded of how lucky I am to live in the Driftless Area and at times not having to drive more than 30 minutes to fish. Until we meet again.
Thanks Dave, you are lucky indeed. The things we do for trout.
I really enjoyed this post, Michael. It felt like I was there with you. I’m sure I drove past the Oconaluftee in my one and only visit to the area, and somewhere near the boundary between NC and TN a great big billboard advertised quite proudly that it was “the most stocked river in the state”. Or perhaps it was even in the entire country. It caused a chuckle.
Thanks for the kind words Justin. Perhaps you were near the Tellico. It’s funny, as someone who enjoys seclusion & wild trout, that billboard would have sent me in the other direction!