by Craig Lancaster
9/10/08
Nestled in one of the most scenic watersheds in the Smokies, Enloe Creek is one of the park’s hidden gems. While not easy to reach, Enloe Creek will reward an angler who is willing to put his/her angling and wading skills up against the stream’s challenging conditions.
Access to the stream is troublesome and tiring, to say the least. There are two access points, both of which are difficult. The first, and most practical, is coming in off of Straight Fork Road and up the Hyatt Ridge Trail. Once you make the grueling 1.9 mile ascent of the trail you will come to Enloe Creek Trail. This trail goes down .9 miles to campsite 47 and then traverses the top of a gorge for .7 miles until dropping down to cross over Enloe Creek. As previously mentioned, the trail up to Hyatt Ridge is difficult although relatively short. It’s all easier down to the campsite as it’s all downhill and from the campsite to Enloe Creek the short jaunt is just wide enough for one person and is littered with ups and downs, none of which are too difficult. One note of interest are the incredible views that you will have while on this section of the trail. While walking along the top of the gorge you will look out at the surrounding ridges and see amazing views of the Smokies.
The second, and more difficult way to access Enloe is by starting out on a 1.2 mile hike up the Bradley Fork Trail to Chasteen Creek Trail. Once there, follow the Chasteen Creek Trail it’s whole course, 4.4 miles, until you reach Enloe Creek Trail and the last leg, a 1.3 mile hike down the ridge to Enloe. This way is much more longer and also requires a steep hike up a ridge, this time Hughes Ridge, but it could be an option, especially if you were staying at campsite 50 on Chasteen Creek.
Recently opened to fishing after the brook trout moratorium, Enloe is nothing short of a spectacular Southern Appalachian Brook Trout stream. However, just like it’s larger neighboring stream Ravens Fork, this stream is rough and tumble and offers plenty of places where an angle will have to navigate the stream bed with extreme care. The stream is much smaller than Raven where the trail crosses, about 15-20 feet wide in most places, but there are enough large rocks to keep things interesting with deep plunge pools and interesting runs.
Fishing upstream from the trail crossing should produce numerous fish as they are not used to seeing flies thrown their way, most in the 6″-7″ range, a good size for brook trout. As you continue upstream, the stream maintains it’s size and average fish size until it’s first major tributary, Hideaway Branch, runs into it about a mile upstream from the trail crossing. Once you start approaching Hideaway Branch and above it, the average fish size seem to get a bit smaller as the stream also dwindles in size. Above Hideaway, Enloe Creek becomes very tight with rhododendron choking the stream in some places where even a bow and arrow cast won’t work.
If you decide to fish Enloe Creek, make sure and invest almost a whole day on it. The ability to catch good size brook trout well above the trail crossing as well as the seemingly naive fish ensure that you will not regret your decision to come here. If you are anywhere in this watershed, however, wading can be dangerous due to the rugged nature of this area of the park, so take your time and be careful.
Enloe will surely delight any fisherman and should not be passed up by any brook trout fanatic.
Article Copyright 2008 Craig Lancaster