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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:15 am, the temperature outside is 40.3 degrees.
Get ready for cold temperatures. Today through Tuesday will be sunny and clear. High temperatures will be in the 30’s with lows in the teens to low 20’s during the period. Warmer air will move into the area Wednesday.
The long term weather forecast indicates this warming trend will last through the end of January and into early February. Expect highs in the 50’s and lows in the 30’s. The forecast is subject to change.
Rainfall yesterday affected stream levels in the Smokies. The Knoxville Airport reported .60 inches of rain while in Townsend, we got .49 inches.
Little River is flowing at 784 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.12 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 273 cfs. The water temperature is 50.7 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 1,550 cfs, 3.32 feet, which compares to median flow for this date of 519 cfs at the Sevierville gauge.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 1,340 cfs, 2.95 feet, compared to median flow of 553 cfs. The water temperature is 46.0 degrees.
Tellico River is flowing at 847 cfs, 2.82 feet, compared to median flow of 290 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 272 cfs, 3.14 feet, compared to median flow of 122 cfs. The water temperature is 45.3 degrees.
Stream flows are very high. Be careful wading.
Water temperatures will be falling soon. Fishing will be slower as that occurs.
I would plan on fishing close to the banks in safe water using nymphs or streamers. High sticking or Euro Nymphing may be most effective today. Dress warm and don’t fall in. Get those nymphs and streamers down deep.
I hope every morning to see better conditions on our area tailwaters. I did notice TVA and the Corps have cut back on sluicing and spilling at some of the tributary dams in our area. Maybe that is s sign of better things to come.
Keep an eye on the South Holston. I’ve seen some reduction in discharges there lately.
I will still be working from home on our fly tying department inventory levels today. I think we have about 2,000 different items or SKU’s in the department. SKU is an abbreviation for “Shop Keeping Unit”. I have to look at each one, along with the sales history, and determine how many of each I want to stock. The fly tying department has been growing quickly so these numbers will have to be adjusted from time to time, either up or down.
After that, the computer inventory system will take over the ordering and maintain those desired levels.
Our inventory system is stored on the cloud, so I can work from anywhere there is an internet connection.
Of course, I need electricity too. Yesterday, the power went out at our house for three hours. That halted my work for a while. I waited for what seemed like forever. I finally drove toward town, about one mile, and found the crew that was working to restore our power. They told me they were just about to turn it back on. By the time I got back to the house, we had electricity. I was working again.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
January 19, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |