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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:03 am, the temperature outside is 15.8 degrees.

Today will be sunny and chilly, with a high temperature in the low 30’s. Tomorrow will be warmer, in the low 40’s. It will continue to be cold through Thursday, seriously cold Tuesday and Wednesday. It may snow Tuesday. Next Friday, and through the weekend will be warm. We may hit 60 degrees next Sunday.

Little River is flowing at 311 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.34 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 299 cfs. The water temperature is 34 degrees this morning.

Some roads in the Park are still closed due to snow and ice. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road) and the Cades Cove Loop Road are still closed. CLICK HERE to see up to date changes in road closures and openings.

Fishing will be slow in the Smoky Mountains today. The water is too cold. The trout will be sluggish. If you go, try nymphs, weighted and fished deep along the stream bottom. You might tempt a trout to eat. I doubt it. Don’t fall in. It is going to be cold out there. Fish close to your vehicle. Have a change of dry clothes in your truck, just in case.

I am already weary of Winter and I’m thinking about Spring. This happens every year, about this time. I think I would like to be floating down a river, somewhere. That somewhere would probably be in Florida, right now. How about the St. Johns? It will be in the 60’s, in Orlando today.

Much of my childhood was misspent floating down rivers. Some of my fondest memories, as a child, were floating down the Kentucky River. I grew up about 2-miles from the river and almost always had some sort of a boat, kept at what we called boat docks back then. I don’t remember hearing the word “marina” in those days.

Before I was old enough to drive a car, my parents would take me and my friends to the river. Some days I went alone. I could spend every daylight moment, in a boat, in that river. Sometimes my friends and I would go on camping trips, down the river, without adult supervision. I think we started doing that when I was about 12 or 13 years old, maybe younger.

If we arrived at a dam, and locks, we would honk the horn, in three long blasts. The lockmaster would come out of his home, and start turning wheels and levers, raising or lowering the water in the locks, so we could pass through. Pleasure boats were given the same free service, that was most often used by barges and tug boats.

I knew some of the lockmasters personally. They didn’t seem to mind letting a boat load of kids lock through, though the process took time out of their day and, it was hard physical work, filling and lowering the water levels in locks, then opening and closing the gates.

Sometimes I locked through going one direction early in the day, then came back through from the other direction later. They didn’t seem to mind. They were probably happy to have their job. They enjoyed living on the river, working for the Corps of Engineers.

Today, most of the locks are shut down. The barges, loaded with coal, are gone. Four locks have been re-opened, for recreational use, on the downstream part of the river, near the Ohio River. They say the Kentucky River is still beautiful, with those towering limestone bluffs we call “The Palisades”, unchanged for thousands of years. The caves we played in are still there. They were usually hard to see from the river, but we knew they were there.

Now, I sometimes look at the Kentucky River on Google Earth. To me, that is like going back in time. I hope to go back someday. I could launch our boat into a pool and spend the day. I would like to take Paula, to experience that.

The river was never charted. The chart plotter on our boat would be of no use today. The shallow spots are not dredged anymore. There is a chance, I could hit something with the boat motor. I’ve done that before, many times.

Yep, I would like to be floating down a river today.

Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.

Byron Begley
January 14, 2018  

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com