Cheesehead,
I will make this my first post. Townsend is a beautiful area and is more practical as a base station than Gatlinburg. There is plentiful fishing in the Little River and then you can head to the GSMNP for even more fishing. I would highly recommend reading everything you can as there is a lot of unpressured fishing in the park if you are willing to get off the beaten path.
As well you may want to consider doing some reasearch here or even getting guide service from Ian and Charity Rutter. He is a wealth of knowledge for the park: http://www.randrflyfishing.com/.
Enjoy and I am glad I found this board!
Steve