Today we are going to discuss the fantastic but hidden fishing waiting just behind the scenes of the world’s largest tourist magnet, the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge-Sevierville complex of east Tennessee.

As a favored destination of this writer from early childhood, I have watched the area grow from a quaint locale to an overburdened mini-metropolis populated by tire-squalling car club conventions and harried vacationers determined to squeeze the most recreation into the least amount of time.

Below the sprawl of goony golf courses, factory outlet malls, fudge shops and hotels lies the Pigeon River.  Starting as a cold and clear trout stream in the Smoky Mountains, the river raucously charges through Gatlinburg until reaching the wide valley at Pigeon Forge.  Here the river transforms into a goodly sized waterway that slides, only a bit warmer and slower, towards a final meeting with the French Broad River north of Sevierville.

I have casually fished here a few times over the years without much success.  However, on this trip we had a secret weapon in the person of Keith Jones, sportswriter for the Mountain Press newspaper of Sevierville.

Keith has lived in the area nearly 20 years and when not covering football and Tennessee Smokies professional baseball, he fishes a paradise of local streams.  Keith claims the Pigeon River to be an unrivaled trophy fishery so we made plans to see for ourselves.

After arriving in town shortly before noon, Keith joined my fishing partner Sam and I within minutes and we headed out before even unpacking.  The first stop was a bait shop for licenses and minnows.  Jones is a diehard lure fisherman but explained shiner minnows were the only good way to hoodwink the local smallmouth.

After phoning our bank to arrange a third mortgage, we purchased bait.  The shiner minnows were nearly the size of stocker trout and rather costly, a fact the shop owner acknowledged as his fingers gleefully danced across the cash register.

Keith then drove us to the river but as a sworn fisherman, I cannot divulge the exact spot we chose.  Anglers do need to consider that virtually all the land along the river is privately owned but polite inquiry will usually grant permission to trespass.

Parking in the middle of the tourist hubbub, we walked down to the river.  After a few minutes I opened the festivities with a long line release of a decent smallmouth that struck my tiny crawdad crankbait.  Determined to use something plastic instead of protein-based, I felt encouraged.

This confidence quickly eroded as Keith and Sam began pulling in smallmouth with great regularity.  The winning strategy proved to be a weightless lip-hooked shiner suspended three feet under a small bobber.  This rig was then drift-fished in the fastest water in the middle of the river.

This technique fairly went against everything in my smallmouth fishing knowledge base but it proved deadly.  So deadly that I reached for a bobber upon seeing Keith’s rod bent double as he fought an obviously bigger fish.

Sam stood by ready to beach the smallmouth but his services were not needed for several minutes as the bronzeback used the fast current to her advantage.  Keith was huffing and puffing in excitement as we stood by, offering advice and hoping that the six-pound-test line wouldn’t part under the strain.

With gridlocked traffic as a backdrop, Keith expertly played the fish until the relentless pressure of rod, reel and line won.  Sam pulled the broad shouldered bass from the river and handed it to Keith.  Our whoops and yells of congratulation blended with a few horn honks from passing motorists who saw the fish.

After a round of photographs, Keith revived the chunky bronzeback and watched it swim slowly back to the current.  The minnows now disappeared from the bucket at a much quicker rate even though the Hoosier contingent periodically tried every manner of artificial bait.

It was all in vain.  The shiners indeed proved the only viable method for catching the smallmouth of the Pigeon River.  They also proved deadly on small rock bass, large hickory shad and an even larger longnose gar.  In a scene that could only happen in such a tourist-infested location, the last fish inspired a lurking vacationer to shout “Nice jar!” several times.  It took a moment to realize he was talking about my fish rather than a jelly container.

Regardless, if you can ignore the traffic, mini golf and inquisitive tourists, the Pigeon River does indeed offer tremendous fishing for smallmouth bass.  While on vacation this year, sneak away from family duty for a while, grab some shiners and head down to the Pigeon for a few minutes of serious smallmouth action.  You might even get a chance to do some home canning.

After all, the river is apparently full of jars.

Trip Planner:

Where: The Pigeon River, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, Tennessee.

What: Trophy smallmouth bass fishing

License and regulations:  A three-day Tennessee non-resident fishing license is $16.50 (no trout).  On the Pigeon River, the possession limit is one smallmouth per day with a 20-inch minimum size.

Access: virtually all land along the river is privately owned but there are many businesses and shops that will allow parking or access if asked.  A small boat would be useful if launch and takeout could be arranged.

Safety: snakes and ticks are fairly abundant along the river.  The water is cold, swift and too deep in many spots to be safely waded.  Traffic and dogs are other concerns along the river.