If you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.

Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:43 am, the temperature outside is 31.8 degrees.

Today will be wet and warmer. We may get up to ¼ of an inch of rain today and possibly again tonight. Tomorrow and Saturday will be much warmer. Expect rain and strong wind Saturday. Sunday will be very cold, with temperatures dropping into the teens at night. It may snow Sunday.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTED HIGHS AND LOWS TODAY

Little River is flowing at 336 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.35 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 253 cfs. The water temperature is 42.1 degrees.

Water temperatures in other Smokies streams include 40.3 degrees at Oconaluftee River and 39.2 degrees at Cataloochee Creek.

Water temperatures are on the chilly side this morning, especially in the higher elevation streams. I think they will warm some today. They will certainly warm tomorrow and Saturday. Fishing will improve as the water warms.

I would count on possibly good fishing Saturday, if we do not get too much rain.

Plan on using weighted nymphs or streamers, but be prepared for heightened aquatic insect activity. You may see blue wing olives on the water at times over the next three days. Go prepared with some blue wing olive dry flies and emergers in your fly box.

Guides Rob Fightmaster and Jon Oody will be tying at the shop Saturday between 10 am and 2 pm. This event is free. All you have to do is show up.

Though Rob guides mostly for trout, and he teaches at our fly fishing school, he focused on fly fishing for carp last year, on his days off. From what I have heard, he has that figured out. So, Rob will be tying carp flies and discussing fly fishing for carp Saturday. If you have not caught a carp on the fly, you have been missing out. I have not caught many, but when I did, it was a lot of fun.

Jon will be tying streamers. He likes chasing all game fish, including stripers. Much of his guiding in our area has been from a power boat, on the lakes and tailwaters. His presentation will be very interesting for all fly fishing enthusiasts.

Come by the shop Saturday and enjoy your day. Rob and Jon will be conducting tying demonstrations and fly fishing discussion at different locations in the shop, simultaneously. You can pull up a chair, watch, listen and ask questions. Spend some time with Rob, then move over to Jon or vise versa.

I will be ordering more fly tying materials today. I will call Phil, the sales manager at Whiting Farms, to see what they have in stock. Then I’ll place an order with him. Our Whiting Farms business has been exceptional. Actually, the whole fly tying department is going strong. I’ll place an order with Hareline Dubbing and Umpqua today. I ordered from Wapsi Sunday, and that order should arrive today or tomorrow.

Hungarian Partridge skins were impossible to find for a long time. We couldn’t get them. Now we can, from two sources. We sold two, yesterday. I don’t know where they went, but I’m glad they are back. Those feathers make excellent nymphs and soft hackle flies.

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

Byron Begley
January 17, 2019

Fly Tying Classes January, February and March 2019 Taught by Walter Babb and Brian Courtney Beginner to Advanced CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com