Little Pigeon Smallies - Sevierville - Question?

[mfbab]

I'm planning to fish the W prong of the Little Pigeon next w/end, and maybe the Middle prong as well.
The West is the one that runs down from Gatlinburg through Pigeon Forge and on through Sevierville (along Hwy 441), and the Middle is the one that joins it at the Hardees in Sevierville.

My question is about kayaking.
Basically, I'm trying to figure out a good route for about a half-day trip, I don't know where the portages and best places to put in are.
Also, I will have my dad with me, he is a little older and it would help to know a fairly easy section for him.

I was thinking about putting in at Hardees, I think there is a spillway right above that, right? I wasn't sure if there was an easy portage around that or not if we were coming from upstream.
Is it fairly easy paddling from Hardees on down to somewhere south of Sevierville? And free of obstructions?

Any help appreciated.

Also, any suggestions on easy spots to bank fish or wade in the area appreciated, we're just going up for a family vacation so scouting time (and fishing time for that matter) will be pretty limited :)
My fishing experience in the area has only been within GSM park, so this will be new.

I'm C&R fishing and only get up to this area every couple of years, we're from Memphis.
I'll post up a report after the trip!
Thx,
Rob

[wormdunker]

I don't know much about fishing the areas you refer to, but I was up that way last week, and from what I could tell just driving around, it didn't look like anything was deep enough for kayaking. I know they have gotten a good little bit of rain since then, though, so maybe one of those streams would be good by now. I would give the Orvis store there in Sevierville a call and see if they might have some information. I stopped in there and they were willing to share information.(which at that time was that fishing had been slow due to low water conditions and most people looking for smallmouth were fishing tailwaters like Holston river I think he said)) I had planned to fish the next day, but it poured rain all day and I didn't have any rain gear, so I didn't go. Water might be flowing well by now. I know that there is always deeper water in the Little River on downstream from Townsend (on the Cade's Cove side of the park- about 18 miles from Gatlinburg) I have no idea how the fishing is there though. There is a fly shop there that I think has a website Littleriveroutfitters.com You might check with them too. Good luck, hope you have a nice trip.

[Reel Tune]

I believe that water floods, and gets fast quickly, I'm not sure how quickly it falls out. With the rain we've had it might not be floatable. I would private message Bfish, I think he knows a little about this water.

[GO-OKFISHIN]

I used to fish there a lot back in the late 90's. We would park at Hardees and fish below that spillway and in the Spring catch a lot of smallies. It is shallow once you get below that spillway. I have also fished above the spillway it is shallow also, but there used to be some good fish in there. Not sure how it is now. They used to have a lot of problems with E Coli in that stream. Would shut it down and post warning signs. There used to be a couple of threads on here about it.

[mfbab]

Thanks.
There is a TVA site w stream levels, it says the LPR is running around 700 cfs at Sevierville right now. I think that is a little above average, not sure how it will look when we get there.
This link may be useful to some of you:
https://www.tva.gov/Environment/Lake-Levels/Valley-Stream-Flows

I've heard about the sewage problems there too, we're not keeping any so hopefully it will be OK. I think that was in the past anyway, right?

We'll be set up for Kayaks, wading or bank fishing if need be :)
I'll call Orvis or Bass Pro in Sevierville and see if there's someone to talk to about the water levels and routes.

Thx,
Rob

[bfish]

Here is the downstream gage:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tn/nwis/uv?site_no=03470000

1.5-1.0 is normal for this time of year. It flashes quickly, lots of parking lots draining into it. It is a better wading stream, but can be floated in kayak, especially if you like to get out often.

Expect to see lots of people, between the numerous parking lots and the parallel walking trail, you will be in plain view. Also very little shade.

If you want more of true creek/river experience, hit up the Little River below Townsend (mill dam at bridge in Townsend) or Pigeon River from Hartford downriver (above Hartford is rapids too big for most). Pigeon flows are dam controlled from Walters Power plant. Also French Broad (below Douglas Dam) is very easy to float with numerous ramps (TWRA website has them all listed) all the way down to the mouth.

[mfbab]

Thx bfish!

Maybe we'll just hop along and wade some different spots first, then make a call on the yaks.

It's a family trip, so I'm just going to sneak out when I can anyway :)