Make note that you still must have a city of Gatlinburg permit in addition to regular state licenses. Also, fishing is closed every Thursday year 'round. There are three or four stream sections in the Gatlinburg area that are designated children-only streams.

A Gatlinburg fishing permit is $2.50 per day or $6.50 for a three-day permit.

For more information on fishing in the Gatlinburg area, contact the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce toll-free at (800) 568-4748.

SEPTEMBER
East Tennessee Rivers
Smallmouth Bass
There are three lures that will get it done for smallies on the French Broad, the Holston, the Nolichucky, the Pigeon and Little Pigeon rivers in the early fall.

Without a doubt, the 3-inch grub is one of the top producers of smallies in moving water. Fished on a 1/8-ounce jighead, this smallmouth getter is productive because it's versatile. You can bounce, it, you can swim it, or just let it drift. Natural colors like smoke and pumpkinseed or green pumpkin grubs tend to get a lot of attention from angry smallmouths.

For topwater, the Tiny Torpedo will always be rated as the best topwater bait ever created for river smallmouths. You'll want to jerk the life out of it to make the smallies mad. Smallmouths are predators, and they prey on the weak, but they also take out a lot of stress on baits that appear aggressive or seem to be running for cover.

The Yum Dinger is a bona fide river finesse worm. For current like that found in smallmouth streams, rig the Dinger straight up, Texas-style on a 2/0 hook without a weight. You'll want to place this finesse jewel in eddy pockets and along the edges of current where smallies stage -- drift it naturally.

OCTOBER
Reelfoot Lake
Largemouth Bass
Spend some time on Reelfoot in October with professional angler Shaw Grigsby, and you'll learn to dissect a largemouth lake. Lakes with vegetation like Reelfoot's lily pads call for plastic worms and other weedless presentations, and of course, spinnerbaits. Many times, it's the Premier 3/8-ounce Pro Model he'll have tied on. Grigsby also likes the Compact spinnerbait and the Rocket Shad for long casts.

"Reelfoot's an incredible lake," grinned Grigsby. "It's just so chock-full of cover." Reelfoot's infamous cover comes in the form of stumps, laydowns, pads and grass-lined banks. Grigsby said it's not difficult to analyze Reelfoot with a Denny Brauer Flippin' Tube or a 3X Craw around the abundant cypress cover. He also said to employ a spinnerbait and crankbait along tree bases.

At Reelfoot, Grigsby starts with his ever-reliable spinnerbait, moves on to a jig or tube and then a crankbait. "You can kill the bass here on any type of cover that's not vertical," laughed Grigsby. "You'll catch fish." The beauty of Reelfoot is with the availability of enough different cover, that it's like fishing four lakes in one.

NOVEMBER
Tailwaters And Creeks
Trout
Trout don't hibernate for the winter -- in fact, brown trout spawn in the late fall. Tailwaters and your favorite summer creeks are also still alive with rainbows waiting to be caught, especially on fly tackle. And now, there's far less of a crowd on streams than in the summer months.

Thanks to delayed harvest measures on streams like Paint Creek in East Tennessee, November is a fine time to find yourself wading for trout. After Oct. 1 until March, trout have to be released. It's worth your efforts with some of the behemoths being stocked in these mountain runoff streams.