Smokies Trout [Illustration: Brook trout, or “spec,” are a glimpse of nature at her best. Their colorful delicacy is a sharp contrast to the mountains’ mass. The three-toned fins most easily distinguish it from other species while it swims. A mountaineer here once paid the local dentist 200 trout—caught in a morning—for some dental work, as attested by account books. Park regulations now prohibit catching the brook trout because it has lost so much of its original territory that its numbers have been severely reduced.] [Illustration: Brown trout, a European fish, has entered the park recently. It inhabits the park’s lower waters, which provide the warmer, slower conditions it prefers. It will eat its own young as well as those of competing rainbow and brook trout.] [Illustration: Rainbow trout were introduced from the West during the logging era via milk cans to improve fishing. They are larger and more aggressive than brookies.] The streams and rivers of the Smokies are famous for their purity. All who come to these mountains are impressed by the beauty of the waterways that have carved their way into the lush wilderness. More than 300 streams flow throughout the park. To many of us these streams mean only one thing, trout. Actually, more than 70 species of fish have been collected in the park, such as chubs, shiners, minnows, dace, catfish, suckers, sculpins, darters, and even lamprey. Trout live in fast-flowing water where their streamlined bodies enable them to maintain themselves in the current, often close to the stream bottom. Brookies, especially, require such pure water that they are often considered a clean water “index.” [Illustration: This little creature is known as a mayfly, one of the five insects most widely imitated by artificial fly patterns. The imitations seek to simulate, as dry, wet, or nymph patterns, the insects’ larval and adult stages and their aquatic habits.] [Illustration: _Male Adams_] [Illustration: _Dark Cahill_] [Illustration: _Olive Caddis_] [Illustration: _Leadwing Coachman_] [Illustration: _Yellow Hammer (antique gold)_] [Illustration: _Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear_] [Illustration: _Adams Variant_] [Illustration: _Royal Wulff_] [Illustration: _Light Cahill_] [Illustration: _Secret Weapon_] [Illustration: _Yellow Hammer (peacock)_] [Illustration: _Muskrat Nymph_] [Illustration: _Yellow Forney Creek_] [Illustration: _Humpy or Guffus Bug_] [Illustration: _Grey Hackle Peacock_] [Illustration: _Yellow Wooly Worm_] [Illustration: _Light Cahill Nymph_] [Illustration: _Tellico Nymph_]