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  1. #1
    New Member JBear's Avatar
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    Fly Fishing & Hangin in the Great Smoky Mountains

    Hello Everyone! Coming at ya from Maryville, TN, just outside the Great Smoky Mountains. I grew up camping with Royal Rangers and then mostly car camped through my late teens to 40Â’s as I was usually camping to be at a new mountain biking area. I learned to mountain bike on the coast of North Carolina where I grew up and my high school sweetheart who IÂ’ve now been married to for 24 years wanted some education so we most to Asheville, NC where I really learned to mountain bike in the Pisgah National Forest.
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    A new job for me took us to Colorado after she graduated and there I discovered the big old Rocky Mountains and the mountain biking there. I hiked a few 14Â’rs and then family drew us back to East Tennessee in 2016. I picked up riding a 1970 Honda CL350 that I rebuilt from the frame up and discovered flyfishing with my father in law.
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    me on the left with my buddy Slow on the right. He wasn’t slow on the bike. We had to tell him to slow down so we could catch our breath.
    In 2017 I flew back to Colorado for my 40th birthday and a group of friends took me to Moab, Utah for a birthday week long mountain bike trip where we camped in the desert. One of my buddies rigged up an Eno between the truck and some desert brush and I slept there each night and fell in love with hammock camping. Still not knowing any better and being on a budget and still just mainly car camping I bought a Wise Owl complete set up, even got an underquilt from them which was fine as most of my camping was in the summer.
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    Fast forward to October of 23 and I was going on my 1st backpacking trip since I was a teenager. I had been doing 6-12 mile day hikes looking for streams deeper in backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding National Forest. The stream I wanted to reach and fish was deep a remote part of the National Park so I got a permit and backpacked in. I took my lighter weight singleman tent that weighs 2 lbs but I struggled with sleep as I can fall asleep on my back but wake up on my side where the hip of my now 235 lb body would be digging into the ground pushing the pad in. Never again I thought and starting planning to get a backpacking hammock and gear.
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    I hemmed and hawed, still on a budget , especially now since my wife had been laid off in October of 23. She started her new job this past Monday, Whoot, but I saved some pennys during that time and just placed a few orders.
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    I started researching hammock camping and found 11 and 12 ft hammocks to be more the standard today among hammock campers as you can lay at an angle and get a flatter lay. I looked at Hennessy Hammocks for a while but fell into the more cottage vendors and just ordered a bunch of stuff.

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    For Christmas I got a Sierra Designs 20 F top quilt -680 grams/ 24 ounce Underquilt-30F 737 grams/ 26 ounces from Hang Tight Hammock Quilts on Etsy…will eventually make my own I think or get one from Hammock Gear510 grams/ 18 ounces Tarp from Hammock Gear 12x9 silpoly . Could of gone quite a bit smaller but wanted doors for rain and wind. Can do that with this tarp. May eventually get a smaller one for nicer summer nights.680 grams/ 24 ounces with suspension- Hammock from Hemlock Mountain Outdoors- made in Pennsylvania 11 ft x58” Redtail with some custom mods I requested for more pull outs, underquilt support and some D rings on the inside for a peak loft from Dutchwear. I May eventually get a Dutchwear Chameleon that has a ton of accessories including different tops from bugnets to winter covers .
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    looking forward to hanging and maybe seeing some of you out there!
    Cheers!
    J Bear

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    Last edited by JBear; 01-12-2024 at 07:48.

  2. #2
    Phantom Grappler's Avatar
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    Great photos! Thanks for sharing

  3. #3
    Member
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    It sounds like you grabbed some nice gear! Rocking to sleep in a hammock is a perfect way to end a day of fly fishing. I love doing the very same thing. Just like you and after investing so much in ground camping and having sleepless nights, I discovered hammocks last year and never slept better! In general I sleep horribly, even at home, but I sleep so much better in a hammock. One night, I slept 11 hours straight. It was raining when I woke up and rained all day at my fishing spot. I didn't go anywhere and was reading books on my phone and napping off and on literally all day long. I just could not stay awake for the life of me. Well, I thought I was screwed. It was 8pm and I had slept so much that day and the night before and I thought there must be no way I can get to sleep at all now. I slept for another 10 hours! I can't remember the last time I ever slept so much! I got up and hiked the trail just enjoying everything that day so much more.

  4. #4
    New Member JBear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phantom Grappler View Post
    Great photos! Thanks for sharing
    Yeah man, I’m easily distracted without photos so I add some for others too.

    Cheers!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    New Member JBear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mattnin View Post
    It sounds like you grabbed some nice gear! Rocking to sleep in a hammock is a perfect way to end a day of fly fishing. I love doing the very same thing. Just like you and after investing so much in ground camping and having sleepless nights, I discovered hammocks last year and never slept better! In general I sleep horribly, even at home, but I sleep so much better in a hammock. One night, I slept 11 hours straight. It was raining when I woke up and rained all day at my fishing spot. I didn't go anywhere and was reading books on my phone and napping off and on literally all day long. I just could not stay awake for the life of me. Well, I thought I was screwed. It was 8pm and I had slept so much that day and the night before and I thought there must be no way I can get to sleep at all now. I slept for another 10 hours! I can't remember the last time I ever slept so much! I got up and hiked the trail just enjoying everything that day so much more.
    Cheers buddy! That sounds fantastical! I’m also a horrible sleeper at home most of the time. I’m looking forward to getting the gear and setting up in the backyard to test it out. I’m looking forward to ending a day of flyfishing in a hammock and getting some reading done. If you haven’t read them yet, Check out the Curtis Creek Manifesto by Sheridan Anderson, and Not All Trout Are Geniuses by Mark Usyk.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    JBear,
    I loved your story and pictures! Reminds me of my story, back and forth from the Smoky Mts to the Rockies, fly fishing, backpacking, tenting and finally hanging, except I have some years on you! Thanks for sharing!
    Bill in north MS

  7. #7
    New Member JBear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BillyBob58 View Post
    JBear,
    I loved your story and pictures! Reminds me of my story, back and forth from the Smoky Mts to the Rockies, fly fishing, backpacking, tenting and finally hanging, except I have some years on you! Thanks for sharing!
    Bill in north MS
    Right on Billybob! The older I get the more I realize I’m not as superhuman as I remembered. Trying to get back into a few workouts and eating a little better so I can do this stuff into my 70’s and beyond as I sit here today nearing 47.

    Cheers buddies!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    FLTurtle's Avatar
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    Welcome...now thats what I'm talking about: fish camping! My hiking buddy and I have been trying to figure out spots to go hammock and fish around the NC/SC/GA/TN corner.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Hang Williams's Avatar
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    That stream with the color change is gorgeous, not so much the rhododendron hell blue line. I can feel the hamstrings burn and the layer of grime from rubbing up against those leaves just from looking at that picture. I love those little natives, but they're a PITA to chase.

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