Got to Townsend, TN on Monday afternoon amidst pretty heavy rain showers and checked in to our cabin. Megan hit the hot tub while I threw on the waders and headed to the Middle Prong of the Little River which was a mere ten minutes away. A day and a half in the car had left me a bit stiff and amped to actually wet a line in Smoky Mountain National Park so regardless of the pounding rain showers I was determined to get out there. My three weight was perfect for the easily accessible pocket water found on the Middle Prong, I quickly was getting takes on my Parachute Adams with a BHPT dropper so I was happy to find that I sort of knew what I was doing on a new river. In two and a half hours I caught at least ten wild rainbows but I really lost count. One fish came from a great hole that required a hard scramble to get down to but was well worth it. I realized on day one that these wild fish were HOT, they fight really hard, and were a lot of fun on the three weight. On a few occasions I had fish jump pools on me! On our second day we headed out with guide, Tim Doyle, of R and R Fly Fishing. R and R (randrflyfishing.com) is owned by Ian and Charity Rutter, we weren’t able to get out with either of them, but out of two days with Tim our shortest day was 10 hours on the water. Our first day with Tim we explored the Little River up in the Elkmont area of theGreat Smokies, which was about a thirty minute drive from our cabin. The Little River is bigger pocket water with great access and miles and miles of beautiful glides and pools. We hit tons of spots along the Little, catching fish here and there but never getting into the full on hatch we were hoping for. You would see the occasional March Brown come off and the occasional tiny BWO but no blanket hatch (that would come on day four). My best luck came on a #16 March Brown pattern with a small BHPT dropped off the back, it was a deadly combo. Tim taught me a few really neat techniques and really helped me with my roll cast which has always sucked. Day three we were on our own so we headed into the park again to do some sight seeing and exploration. We had already seen a bear the day before, and during our driving on day three we’d see wild boar and the ever-present deer. In the park you’re able to fish nearly endless water, there are streams everywhere you look and most have excellent access, so you can just drive along with no real destination and stop where it looks good. Megan and I hit Abrams Creek and Laurel Creek, picking up fish the whole time. We were on the three weights and were mostly fishing dry dropper combos, I think Megan did the best with the March Brown on top while I was fishing a Parachute Adams. Our final day we were back with good ole Tim but this time in the drift boat on the Holliston River. The Holliston is a great tailwater fishery with tons of 12-14 inch rainbows, both stocked and holdovers, and some really large browns. The Holliston was about an hour and a half away from Townsend on some fairly scary back roads, I just tried to concentrate on Tim’s endless stories and not on the driving! We really hit things right on the Holliston. We had a caddis hatch pretty much the entire day, the river had rising fish everywhere! You’d be fishing one spot with risers all over the place and you’d glance down and see rises all the way around the next bend. We caught endless rainbows throughout the day, mostly on the dry for me, and Megan got most of hers on nymphs, and got one on a streamer later in the day targeting bigger fish.The fish in the Holliston fight really hard and even a foot long rainbow would give quite a tussle before being brought to hand. We stopped at a beautiful spot for lunch, above a riffle that had fish chowing down on caddis. Megan and Tim calmly ate their lunches but I grabbed my rod and kept fishing. Who can really eat lunch while there’s rising fish? From that lunch spot I was able to pick up four or five in a matter of minutes. All in all our final day of fishing in Tenn. Left us with sun burns on our casting arms and some sore muscles from fighting fish all day. Megan killed it at the end of the day nymphing while I was stripping a streamer fruitlessly for bigger fish. It didn’t take me long to switch over to nymphs as well. Thanks to Tim and R and R fly fishing for a great trip!