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The new facilities give access to great trout spots on Little Pigeon River.
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Accessible fishing pier
in Gatlinburg
Amid the candy stores and old-timey photo shops, there’s an accessible fishing ramp in Gatlinburg calling your name.
The late Bill Stevens, once mayor of the Smoky Mountain tourist destination, had a vision of an accessible fishing pier in the city, and in 2007, it became a reality.
The pier sits on Herbert Holt Park on the Little Pigeon River, which Stevens envisioned at a city commission meeting years ago.
Stevens also supported the establishment of Gatlinburg’s unique rainbow trout stocking program, which included the conversion of the city’s former sewer plant into a trout farm featuring six raceways, which support thousands of trout as they grow from fingerlings into adults.
The city stocks Gatlinburg waters with thousands of trout annually for local residents and visitors.
The ramp affords more people the opportunity to enjoy the fishing program by providing added accessibility.
“Former Mayor Stevens believed that it would be nice for the city to offer a designated and accessible place for people to fish for trout in downtown Gatlinburg instead of having to fish off a bridge or off a sidewalk,” said City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle.
A committee, which included Stevens, looked around town and picked the Herbert Holt location on a section of the river presently set aside for fishing by children. Herbert Holt Park offers plenty of parking, another factor in the choice of the site.
After Stevens’ death in 2004, the city commission put special emphasis on the project specifically to construct the fishing ramp and pier as a memorial to the community leader’s years of service to Gatlinburg.
An engineering study was completed, as well as models to determine stream flow and how the addition of any structure in the floodway would impact it. The city received a $100,000 matching grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation towards the project. Also, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency committed an additional $20,000 toward the construction of the pier.
The concrete ramp winds from the parking area down along the river around several turns, meeting all wheelchair slope requirements, to a concrete pier at a bend in the river. The ramp allows people who use wheelchairs get right down next to the fast-flowing water.
Herbert Holt Park will remain a kids’ section of the river, but the ramp itself is designated for the mobility-challenged.
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Despite the wintry conditions, Wheelin’ Sportsmen provided a quality hunt for five disabled veterans.
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Goose hunting in Idaho
Idaho Wheelin’ Sportsmen provided three January goose hunts for five disabled veterans, and three Canada geese were bagged.
All hunts were at a cornfield near Middleton in southwest Idaho. The hunters arrived to find the area had been scouted, with camouflaged blinds set out among the strategically placed decoys. The hunters were transported under gray skies to the blinds by all-wheel-drive vehicles, and some were provided a shotgun and shells. — James Stone
Special thanks to:
- Juan Menchaca of Idaho Wheelin’ Sportsmen, who arranged hunting access to the cornfields through family members and neighbors.
- Wheelin’ Sportsmen Idaho Chapter President Patrick Thomas of Nampa, and his committee of volunteers, who made the January hunts possible.
- And to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Disabled American Veterans for providing a list of soldiers.
[ IN YOUR OWN WORDS ]
Assateague Island action
In 2006, I happened to catch a posting on one of the message boards that I frequent, where Jim O’Brien posted a notice for a hunting trip for the disabled at Maryland’s Assateague Island National Seashore. Little did I know that four years later, I’d still be participating and including the event as a “must do” on my yearly hunting calendar.
The Assateague hunt was the brainchild of O’Brien and Ted Morlock, chief ranger at the Assateague Island National Seashore. Jim, at that time, was working for the NWTF.
That first year, 2006-2007, was the start of something fantastic. We had a handful of hunters, some volunteers for tracking, field dressing and cooking chores, and of course, Ted and his staff. We took four deer that year, all Sika deer, as the taking of whitetails was prohibited. Everyone who participated vowed to be back the next year.
The second year saw the event expand to 1½ days, and we were allowed to take whitetail does. This also was the first year of the pre-hunt orientation and fund-raising dinner in Ocean City, Md.
Our group grew to 18 hunters, including one woman, slowed somewhat by spina bifida. She showed all the men how it was done that first morning. She took three Sika deer before any of the men had even taken one. We also hosted a couple of Iraqi War veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project.
In all, we took 12 deer, mostly Sika, which included two stags.
The third year of the event, the hunt went back in the hands of Wheelin’ Sportsmen. Our hunters only managed six deer in 2008-2009, but the event was still a great success.
We held our fourth hunt on Jan. 4-5. The Pocomoke Chapter of the NWTF laid out a fantastic buffet on both days. The hunters took eight Sika and six whitetails. — Nicholas Fornaro