The University of North Carolina Press

248 pp., 5.5 x 8.25, 10 illus., index

Paper

ISBN  978-0-8078-5915-5

Published: September 2008

Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies

The Classic Guide for Sportsmen

By Jim Gasque

Jim Gasque's classic 1948 work offers a period portrait of outdoor life in the Great Smoky Mountains. Filled with anecdotes, fishing and hunting stories, and recollections of legendary local sportsmen and guides, Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies presents a social history of these activities before the founding of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The book also offers an insightful glimpse of the region just prior to an era of significant development and growth.

Gasque's guide covers trout streams and trout fishing, lake fishing, and hunting. Thanks to careful preservation by the park, the streams Gasque describes still draw sportsmen today. His tips on prime fly-fishing spots are remarkably up to date and remain valuable for twenty-first-century anglers. Hunting is now prohibited within the park, but in surrounding areas it is still common.

Jim Casada's introduction for this new edition provides a biographical profile of Gasque, puts the hunting and fishing ethics of the period into perspective for today's sportsmen, and offers Casada's thoughts on fishing in the park as it exists today.

About the Author

The late Jim Gasque was an outdoor writer from Asheville, North Carolina, and author of Bass Fishing: Techniques, Tactics, and Tales. Jim Casada is a member and former president of the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association and Southeastern Outdoor Press Association. Author or editor of more than two dozen books, his works include Modern Fly Fishing, Innovative Turkey Hunting, and a number of game cookbooks. Currently completing a detailed book on fly-fishing in the Smokies, Casada also lectures on fly-fishing and turkey hunting and teaches classes on fly-fishing, backpacking, and nature writing.