Trophy Water Guide Service

The Nolichucky is a freestone river and these are drift-boat floats: the boat covers water efficiently and puts flies against structure that would be out of reach on foot, which is the argument the business makes for fishing it this way. It is best floated through the majority of the season. What the anglers are after changes with the calendar – smallmouth bass in the warmer months, with fish up to six pounds landed, and rainbow trout through winter, which is the prime stretch of the year for a big one. Around Erwin the upper river is a favourite among fly anglers, running through a narrow gorge that mixes fast riffles with deeper runs; put-ins there are near USA Raft or the Chestoa Recreation Area, and downstream the boat ramps at Jackson Bridge and Kinser Park near Greeneville come into play. Floats of three to six hours are described, run in rafts, kayaks or drift boats, and in the uppermost water toward the North Carolina line brown trout join the rainbows and smallmouth.