Appalachian Tightlining

Hello Everyone and welcome to the Appalachian Tightlining Podcast! Where we chase tightline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. We support our local fly shops surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in

Little River Outfitters , 3 Rivers Angler, Tellico Outfitters, Smoky Mountain Angler, Maggie Valley Fly Shop, Rivers Edge Outfitters, Tuckaseegee Fly Shop, Orvis of Knoxville, Orvis of Sevierville and Bryson City Fly Shop
I'll apologize in advance for the recordings you are about to hear with Travis Williams from the Gatlinburg Trout Facility and Jesse Huddleston , guide for Smoky Mountain Angler as well as our main presentation with Matt Kulp, fisheries biologist of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Grassroots beginnings start with that little seed pushing its 1st sprout through the dirt and so goes a new podcast with a fella floundering to get those seeds started. Both of these recordings have some background noise but they are good listens and provide a ton of information. We'll see if I can do better for our future episodes. Lets get into these tightline adventures.
J.Bear was able to attend Discover Life In America's Conservation On Tap event at Albright Grove Brewing Co. with special Guest and presenter: Matt Kulp; Supervisory Fisheries Biologist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
01/28/2023 Gatlinburg Winter DH Fly Fishing Tournament Results...
1st place: Cody Fisher owner of Tellico Outfitters and Will Blevins crushed it catching over 60 trout in 3 hrs.
Following 1st place we had...

Blake Hall and Lawson Braun in 2nd place

Shawn Isaacs and Scott Asbill in 3rd place

Jessie Huddleston and Bill Warganich in 4th place...my apologies Bill if I destroyed your last name on the podcast

And in 5th place we had Peyton Bodo and River Wilson

Catch of the day went to Brent Hall who caught an absolute beast rainbow trout at 27.9 inch , 15 pound and won a Thomas and Thomas Rod for his efforts! Congratulations guys!
Today we have a special presentation. J.Bear was able to attend Discover Life In America's Conservation On Tap event at Albright Grove Brewing Co. with special Guest and presenter: Matt Kulp; Supervisory Fisheries Biologist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Discover Life in America has a goal of discovering and cataloging all the plant and animal species within the National Park. The Cherokee Black Bellied Salamander was discovered as recently as 2022 and it just shows Southern Appalachia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park haven't given up all their secrets yet.
Discover Life in America has a goal of discovering and cataloging all the plant and animal species within the National Park. The Cherokee Black Bellied Salamander was discovered as recently as 2022 and it just shows the Southern Appalachia’s and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park haven’t given up all their secrets yet.

What can you do to help with Discover Life in America's goal. Download the INaturlist App from your App store. Upload photos of the plants and animals you see and if deemed research grade your photo may help discover evidence of a new species of life. Pretty cool stuff!

Matt discussed a variety of topics from pollution in the streams and land of the park and what the park is doing to mitigate it, to fish species distribution within the park streams, to reclamation efforts for removing non-native species and restoring native brook trout populations.
Want to support the podcast paypal and/or shoot us an email [email protected] for guest recommendations and more.

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Just over 8 minutes of a Appalachian Tightlining teaser episode. Chase the tightline adventures, the magic in the water, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Fish on! Remember not to high hole!

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Today we are going to get into what is Appalachian Tightlining. The Japanese have history in tightlining that dates back at least 400 years in Tenkara. Native Americans have a history of using rods 10 to 12 foot in length and 20 to 30 inches of horse tail or another natural line for bass fishing from canoes before America was "discovered". Early fly fisherman of the United States and particularly the Appalachian region including what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were a poor and resourceful people. They used monofilament lines on what they could use as a pole. Joe Humpries and George Harvey were talking about using monofilament lines as early as the 1950's and of course the popular Euro Nymphing scene today has been around since the late 70's to early 80's.

Appalachian tightlining takes all of these methods and uses each as needed. We short line nymph, we Tenkara, we Euro nymph and we dropshot with split shot. I personally own a Tenkara rod that I learned to fly fish on and I own a 10 ft 3 wt euro nymphing rod. I also use a 9' 4 wt for smaller streams where the rhododendron and mountain laurel restrict movement and for the smallest waters I have a 8'6" 3 wt and a 8' 1wt. Its rare on these mountain streams to see the big beautiful cast of a River Runs Through it fame as our tree limbs hang low and the tangles of rhododendron are waiting in secret to claim a fly and tippet as their own . We embrace the cast, the lob, the bow and arrow cast, the dap, the side cast, the curve cast, and soo many more to make getting the line in our waters effective.

Why is this different? It's not really. To get to Appalachian tightlining we need an understanding of where we fish. We're pushing the idea that for tight mountain streams the popular euro rod may not always be the most effective tool. For larger rivers of our region like the Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or the Tellico River near Tellico Plains often my 10' 3 wt euro rod becomes my go to rod. Once I start getting into smaller streams and tributaries though I switch over to my 9 ft 4 wt down to my 8'6" 3 wt as streams get narrower and choked more with tree limbs and rhododendron.

We'll get into this a little further with Dan Young Dan is Owner of Trout Scout guide service and teaches fly fishing classes at 3 Rivers Angler in Knoxville, TN. This will be a casual conversation where we talk rods, leaders, techniques and more that help us be successful anglers in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Music today was provided by Artlist.IO and the Talbot Brothers American Dream. If you liked what you heard today give us a like and a follow on your favorite Podcast Platform. You can find us on Facebook at Appalachian Tightlining as well as on Instagram at Mountainbearflyco. You can find us on the web at www.appalachiantightlining.com and at https://www.mountainbearflyco.com/ where we will soon be providing articles, hard goods and more.
Talbot Brothers American Dream
Trout Scout
Siglon F colored monofilament Line
Courtland White sighter material
3 Rivers Angler

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

On this episode of Appalachian Tightlining I sit down with Shannon and Kristin Young of Maggie Valley Fly Shop in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. If you haven’t stopped in to see their place in Maggie Valley yet, or learned of the great fishing nearby; grab your rod and gear and stop in to say hi. This western style cabin fly shop has fresh coffee in the pot, an excellent assortment of gear, rods, flies, a fly tying room that rivals the best I’ve seen and a woman’s room with woman specific gear including Miss Mayfly waders, the shops own brand in Dry Fly Girl, and so much more. They also have a great group of guides that will not only put you on fish but also give you the friendly education needed to catch more fish on your own. Plus this shop opens at 6am so you can get that last minute needed tippet or fly before heading to the water.
www.maggievalleyflyshop.com
Maggie Valley Fly Shop's Dry Fly Girl that is offering women a line of clothing, rods and a place within fly fishing where they can focus on being on the water and catching fish. Its Dry Fly Girl's Mission to bring women to the forefront of this beautiful sport.
Dry Fly Girl Introduction Video
We finish up with the Maggie Valley Fly Festival created by Maggie Valley Fly Shop.
Featuring: Fly Fishing & Outdoor Vendors, Live Music, Food & All Things Fly Fishing with a Trout Derby for Kids. The event is being held at Maggie Valley Festival Grounds Event starts at 10:00am-7:00pm Saturday June 24th & Sunday June 25th.
Maggie Valley Fly Festival
We also talk a bit about rod building. Soo far some of my favorite sites I have worked with is
https://mudhole.com/
CRB Hand Wrapper
https://www.epicflyrods.com/
https://www.flyrodcrafters.com/
https://www.proofflyfishing.com/
https://gbflyshop.com/

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Welcome to Appalachian Tightlining. We are starting to see the first signs of spring with flowers starting to pop, leaves and flora starting to spread their greenery and thunderstorms starting to fill the rivers. Warming water temps means the trout are waking up, rising from the depths and spreading out .This brings the excitement of getting ready to start chasing not only wild trout but native brook trout and the bushwacking and adventures that comes with the chase.

On March 11th is the Tellico River clean up. Registration will begin at 8am at the Tellico River Ranger Station. Lunch will be provided by the Chattanooga Trout association and there will be prize drawings at noon.

April 1st is the Gatlinburg Tournament and River Clean Up. Check in with the Gatlinburg Trout Facility on Facebook or on Instagram for details.

In this weeks episode of Appalachian Tightlining I have special Guest Cody Fischer, Owner of Tellico Outfitters. Tellico Outfitters opened in 2018 in Tellico Plains, Tennessee and is home to the well known Tellico River which has stocked and wild trout as well as Small Mouth Bass in its lower reaches closer to town.

In addition, The Cherokee National Forest which the Tellico River Flows through is home to Citico Creek, which also has stocked and wild trout. What's more is the Cherokee National Forest is home to the Bald River, the North River and many tributaries of all these watersheds which hold wild rainbows, browns, and native brook trout. Cody and Tellico Outfitters specializes in Euro Nymphing, where they teach, guide, and offer the best gear and products for tightlining the Cherokee National Forest and beyond into North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains. Along with tightlining gear and specialization Tellico Outfitters offers traditional fly gear and understanding so don't feel excluded if your throwing a fly line, a Tenkara rod, even spin fish, Tellico Outfitters and Cody will get you on some fish. Cody's tactics have been proven in the areas watersheds where he has caught multiple large brown trout, wild and stocked rainbows and he loves to adventure and bushwhack for native brook trout. Recently Cody and his team partner Will Blevins won the Gatlinburg Trout Tournament further solidifying his tactics work.

When I met Cody for todays interview he had just gotten through with a fly tying demonstration at Little River Outfitters in Townsend, Tennessee, just a few miles from the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We bounce around a bit but dig into understanding fish behavior, a bit of Cody's time in the Dakotas and some of the fantastic fishing there. We get into the marked differences of some of the Dakotas streams higher PH waters and how that provides a better habitat for fish and particularly trout vs our lower PH waters in the Tennessee and North Carolina areas of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Then we get into some tactics including leader design which for some, can be the most confusing aspect of Euro Nymphing and tight lining but is easier then you think once you master a blood knot and a nail knot.

Listen back to Episode 44 of the SouthEastern Fly Podcast for more from Cody on fishing the Tellico area.

Music was brought to you by Artlist.IO and the Talbert Brothers American Dream.
Give us a follow on your favorite Podcast app and you can find us on Facebook at Appalachian Tightlining as well as on Instagram at Mountain Bear Fly Co. You can also find us online at Mountain Bear Fly Co.com where we'll be offering articles, hard goods, leaders and more.
Thanks for listening and remember to chase the tightline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian M

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Chasing tighline adventures, the magic in the streams, the forest and the Southern Appalachian Mountains.