of the most beautiful streams
in the park.
This is a beautiful brown trout
that are common in this
stream. It’s one of the best
brown trout stream in the park.
Creek
for the brown trout and has a
very good population.
large tributary stream that usually
has an excellent population of
brown and rainbow trout.
definitely one of the best trout
streams in the park.
Description:
The Oconaluftee River is definetly one of the better trout streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The stream has just about the right amount of gradient to it for the water to maintain a good flow, but yet not steep enough to make it too turbulent. It’s mostly the classic ripple, run, and pool type freestone trout stream.
Stream Size:
The portion of the stream above the confluence of the Bradley Fork is a medium size trout stream in comparison with other Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams. Downstream of the confluence of the Bradley Fork, the Oconaluftee is a much larger stream. Much of this part of the stream is surrounded by open meadows. This portion offers excellent fishing but for some reason, is rarely fished.
Accessibility:
Most all of the Oconaluftee, except its uppermost part, is accessible from highway #441 that crosses the park from North Carolina to Tennessee.
Popularity:
Due to its proximity to many other North Carolina trout streams it’s not heavily fished even though it;s a very good stream that has excellent access for most of its length.
Species:
This stream has a good population of brown trout as well as rainbows.
Average Fish Size:
Although most of the trout are of average size, the stream does contain some very nice ones.
Difficulty:
This stream has a very good coverage of overhanging tree limbs that helps keep the water cool during the hot summer months. This makes casting in most of it on the difficult side, but doing so can be very rewarding.
Tributary Streams:
The Oconaluftee River has two large tributary streams that flow into it before it leaves the park.
Bradley Fork:
The tributary stream, Bradley Fork, is a fine trout stream that offers several miles of fishing. It’s easily accessed near its confluence with the Oconaluftee River at the Smokemont campground. The Bradley Fork is about as large as the Oconaluftee at this point. It becomes smaller upstream of the campground but it’s still a good size stream. It has an excellent population of both brown and rainbow trout with brook trout in its upper waters.
The Bradley Fork has a relatively good sized tributary stream, Chasteen Creek.
Chasteen Creek:
This stream enters the Bradley Fork just over a mile upstream of the campground. It is followed fairly closely by the Chasteen Creek Trail. A couple of miles upstream is backcountry campsite #48. Chasteen Creek usually has a good population of rainbow trout.
Taywa Creek:
Upstream of Chasteen Creek is Taywa Creek, another small tributary stream that usually has a good population of rainbow trout in its lower portion and brook trout in its headwaters. Chasteen Creek Trail follows this stream making access fairly easy in most places.
Chasm Prong:
Chasm Prong, along with the Gulf Prong, forms the Bradley Fork. It is a small brook trout stream with no formal trail that follows it.
Gulf Prong:
Gulf Prong, along with Chasm Prong, forms the Bradley Fork. It’s a small brook trout stream and like Chasm Prong, it doesn’t have a trail that follows it. The stream must be fished from the streambed in a upstream direction.
Collins Creek:
Collins Creek enters the Oconaluftee River across the #441 highway from the Collins Picnic Area. It’s accessible from the picnic area. The stream has mostly rainbow trout with a few browns.
Kephart Prong:
Rainbow trout make up the fish population in this small stream. The Kephart Prong trail off highway #441offers access to this stream. It’s a tributary of the Oconaluftee River that together with Beech Flats Prong, forms the river.
Beech Flats Prong:
About three miles of Beech Flats Prong is accessible from highway #441, but the stream is tough to get too. It’s a tributary of the Oconaluftee River that together with Kephart Prong, forms the river. The stream has rainbows and a few brown trout with brook trout in its headwaters.
Kanati Branch:
Kanati Branch is a small brook trout tributary of Beech Flats Prong. It’s also accessible from highway #441near the Kephart Prong trail.
Comments:
Easy access, few anglers, excellent aquatic insect life (for a small mountain freestone stream) and both rainbow and brown trout makes this a very good choice. This is one of the best streams in the park.
Copyright 2011 James Marsh
