I had a great time fishing with Christine, Mike, and Ray from Indiana. They were down in Pigeon Forge to watch Ray compete in a baseball tournament, but managed to spare some time to fish for smallies on the Little Pigeon and French Broad Rivers. This was one of those trips where I was reminded that fishing is not always about catching the biggest or the most fish. Ray had caught several nice smallies that late afternoon and evening, but the sun was getting ready to set and it was starting to be that time where we needed to pack up and head back to the ramp. I wanted to get Ray one more fish before we left and told him that we will fish for 5 more minutes and then we would have to go. I eased him over to a section of rocky shoreline that now had a nice current thanks to the two generators that were running at Douglas Dam. His first cast was against the shore, but no takers. His second cast yielded the same result. His third cast was right on the money against the shore and as he slowly eased the shiner over the rocks he set the hook hard and brought a nice 12 in. smallie to the boat. We all looked at each other and decided that would be the perfect way to end the trip. It’s not all about catching the biggest and most fish. Sometimes those special moments on the river include nothing more than catching that last fish and calling it a day.
June 16, 2016 Fishing Report
