At the southern end if the Blue Ridge Parkway and at the entrance to the Great Smokey Mountains lies Cherokee, NC. It is the headquarters for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. It lies in the Oconalufte River Valley and is a great spot for some trout fishing. With great expectations, we purchased fishing permits for the day for $10 each (for 12 years and older) and set off to catch our dinner.Only four of us were interested in fishing so after our lunch, the others went to the visitor center nearby at the Smokey Mountains Park entrance and enjoyed the displays and the examples of farming in the old days.
Meanwhile, my grandson and one of my granddaughters, my son and I worked the shores of the river trying to entice a few trout to bite on our lures. My grandson and I ended up wading into the water a few times to find what we thought might be better spots and eventually we all ended up at a calmer deeper spot in the river where we could actually see a couple of trout in the water.
Suddenly my son yelled, "Got one!" and pulled up a nice rainbow trout. We put it in the cooler we'd brought along that had some ice in it and looked forward to hooking a few more. It was not to be. We fished that spot for quite a while and then all piled in the van and tried a couple of other spots further up the river. All to no avail.
The trout dinner would have to wait. Meanwhile we found a Mexican restaurant that had some terrific food and satisfied our hunger with that.
It would be fun to go back and wander around the Oconalufte Village a bit. There is a lot to do in the area and a lot to learn about the culture and tradition there. For a preview, check out their website, Visit Cherokee, NC.
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