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About Our Maps Certain boundaries, trail routes, locations, names
of facilities, etc., that appear on the quads may have changed, or partly
or fully vanished from sight since the time the quads were produced
by USGS as early as the mid-1940s. In general, these have been left
as is on our maps. In cases in which such might cause confusion, we
have placed masks over the out of date items. An example of this is
a quad designating a trail as a Bridle Path that has subsequently
been made inaccessible to horses. Recent man-made feature changes or
additions are not necessarily reflected in our illustrations. Any features
shown outside the park boundary could be significantly out of date.
The unavoidable variation in the color and
clarity of the backgrounds from one map to another is due to a number
of factors including differences in the original publication and how
they were scanned by USGS and, to a lesser degree, the variation in
printers used to produce our maps. Latitude/longitude and UTM coordinates are located
along the maps borders. In addition to the border coordinates, a 1000
meter UTM grid, Zone 17 S is located throughout the map. When used with
map datum NAD 27, these enhanced coordinates provide a location fix
with an accuracy approaching that of the digitized USGS quads from which
it they were manually derived. Visitors to the park should use our maps
in conjunction with, at the very least, the official Great Smoky Mountains
Trail Map and Guide available through the visitor centers and online
via www.nps.gov/grsm. Before planning a backcountry trip, read through
the trail closures and warnings page of the park web site. |
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All our Park stream maps are species color coded indicating waters
known to, or thought to, hold, depending on the stream, bass, brown
trout, rainbow trout and the native Southern Appalachian brook trout. Product
Endorsements |
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| Our Kind of Fish Finder |
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The original basis for our color coding
begun in 2009 was solely the trout distribution graphic provided to
us from data collected by the National Park Service fishery biologists
work done primarily in the previous decade. Because of the ever changing
range of the trout species due to drought and wet weather year extremes,
we now rely on information from:
Acknowledgments
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| About Saint Clair
Mapping by Owner & founder, Joe Fred Turner I am a retired professional engineer, self-taught illustrator and a cartographer wannabe. Although not necessarily influenced by my being born in close proximity to the Smoky Mountains, my nickname in infancy was Smoky Joe. The Joe part stuck. My bride Dianne comprises the companys very capable and cheerful staff. My interest in small streams began in the 50s as a kid swimming, fishing and crawdad stalking in the diminutive Roberson Creek on the family farm in Saint Clair in Hawkins County, Tennessee. My first intimate knowledge of aquatic life was from observing and listening to the family's pet (no joke) raccoon feeding on said crustaceans. Inspiration for creating SmokyStreams.com and our exclusive maps came from: 1) the recent decision by the Park Service to open up numerous Park native brook streams previously closed to fishing, 2) the lack of readily available detailed stream maps, 3) an interest in how streams were named and other historical information surrounding them, 4) a relatively recent introduction to fly fishing by my brother Al and 5) my underlying passion for the Smokies that grew out of childhood memories. |
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| While growing up, my parents and five
siblings got to escape the farm and heat for a week of camping in Chimneys
Campground (now a picnic area) and later on at Cosby. This camping tradition
continued into the '60s. It was on my last visit to the Cosby family campsite
that I met Dianne, a really cute redhead from Nashville camping with her
family just across the road. It was obvious from the family's head scratching
that their tent, which was coincidentally the same model as ours, was
either new or borrowed. At the urging of my brother-in-law, Chuck, I agreed
we would offer to assist. In exchange for putting up her tent, Dianne
has been putting up with me for over forty years now. I owe much to my
beloved late mother for making the camping trips possible and my dear
late father for allowing me to drive the family 57 Chevy from Saint
Clair to Nashville for weekends of courtin'. During my early days at Eastman Chemical Company, then part of Eastman Kodak, I was interested in nature photography and active in the Camera Club. From our print shop Dianne ran in the 90s, I became to learn and enjoy computer graphic arts. Those influences, and my engineering background, made designing web sites and maps into yet more hobbies. Although I am a retired mechanical engineer, I became interested in civil engineering and mapping from working with a highway surveying crew during the summers. Many times as a kid perched on boulders in the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River I was mesmerized by the small trout holding in the speedy current below. Im thinking, Man! How would you ever catch one of those? I mean the floater is not going to stay in place long enough for anything to bite! It was not until nearly fifty years later that I first caught a trout on a fly. After a seven year hiatus in Nashville, Dianne and I returned to East Tennessee in 2007. In 2010 I caught my first native speckled trout fittingly on Cosby Creek. Enjoy your maps and your waters, Joe Fred |
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| We are honored to have
received the following endorsements... |
| ...maps of Park waters, logically organized by watersheds, which are a flat-out bonanza for the Park fishermen... | ||
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Smokies angler who is serious about sampling and savoring the trout
waters of the Park needs to be willing to do his homework. That means
reading, learning the whereabouts of backcountry campsites, studying remote
areas and blue lines, and pondering means of access to promising
places. All of this translates to the fact that cartographic knowledge
is critical. USGS maps are a starting point, but they werent produced
with the fisherman in mind. Fred Turner has remedied that situation with
his ongoing production of maps of Park waters, logically organized by
watersheds, which are a flat-out bonanza for the Park fishermen. Whether
you are a tyro visiting the Park for the first time or an old hand in
this piscatorial paradise, you need to obtain his maps. I wholeheartedly
endorse them, and some indication of what I think of Freds efforts
is provided by the fact that Ive encouraged him and even provided
a suggestion or two along the way. Jim Casada Jim's Web Site: Jim Casada Outdoors |
![]() Buy Jim's book online at his Web Site or Little River Outfitters or at select Park Visitor Centers |
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| Jim is a native son of the Smokies and author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles and columns on hunting, fishing, and other outdoor-related topics and the hugely popular book, Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: An Insiders Guide to a Pursuit of Passion. | ||
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| ...maps are rich in details like where trails cross the streams, footbridges, backcountry campsites, and access points... | |
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As a local fisherman, I have collected almost all of Freds maps and they have provided me with so much enjoyment. I have fished miles of streams filled with beautiful brook trout that hardly ever see a fly thanks to Fred and his maps. These maps are rich in details like where trails cross the streams, footbridges, backcountry campsites, and access points, which is invaluable information to me. I can tell Fred does this because he loves it and that shows in his work. His maps are so well done and so much fun to look over that I usually spend hours at home or at camp pouring over them planning future trips. Adam Beal, Maryville, Tennessee |
![]() Adam on a backcountry footbridge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| Read in this message board post how Adam recently used one of our maps on a long off trail excursion in the Smokies catching lots of fish in waters rarely touched by others. | |
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| ...Fred uses the USGS maps as a basic ingredient, but goes far beyond that... | ||
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Before I go to any fishing destination, I get the best map of the area I can find and study it in detail. When I arrive, most of what I see just confirms what I already knew was there. This isnt something new for me. Ive done that for years fishing lakes, rivers and streams in 49 states and dozens of foreign countries. I wouldnt think of fishing a trout stream that I wasnt very familiar without first studying the best map I could find. In fact, I prefer to have one along for reference even on the streams Im quite familiar with. Take a look at the hundreds of streams Ive fished in the stream section of my Perfect Fly web site. Every trip started on a map. A map is just as essential for a fishing expedition as a floor plan is for constructing a home or building. In most cases the best maps are the USGS maps but thats not the case with the streams of the Smokies. Fred uses the USGS maps as a basic ingredient, but goes far beyond that by increasing and improving the information provided to meet the anglers best interest and needs. The maps cover streams that are logically organized by watersheds and in my opinion, are by far the best and most useful maps available. James Marsh |
To James, shown fishing the Smokies, having a good map of a stream is just as essential to success as having the right flies and gear. |
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| James' many credentials include: Hosting over 200 national syndicated TV fishing programs, fishing hundreds of saltwater tournaments, SKA Pro Circuit and Big Game tournaments, writing for national publications such as Sportfishing, Marlin Magazine and others, producing/hosting 46 saltwater fishing videos (more sold than anyone else in the World), 18 Fly Fishing DVDs and 500 GPS operation DVD/videos. | ||
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| ...maps have made my limited fishing time more productive... | ||
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I left Ohio for the Dallas, Texas area for ten years after college, and really missed the park. Now that I am back in Ohio, I visit the park as often as possible. When fishing Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I often feel like I am the only person for hundreds of miles around after just a very short hike. I have been able to visit the park (a record) seven times this year and on each trip Freds maps have made my limited fishing time more productive. If the park isn't your home water, having Freds maps will give you an edge. Matt Blickensderfer, Springboro Ohio |
![]() Matt fishing Deep Creek |
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| Matt started fly fishing for trout in 1992 on the Clear Fork Branch of the Mohican River in central Ohio while earning his BS in Natural Resources at the Ohio State University. He currently lives in Springboro, Ohio with his wife and two children. In 2011 Matt took his eight year old son fly fishing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the first time. | ||
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