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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:40 am, the temperature is 20.7 degrees.
It will be sunny today with a high temperature around 50 degrees, dropping to the upper 20’s tonight. Expect partly sunny skies tomorrow with a high in the upper 40’s and a low in the middle 20’s.
According to the Park’s Roads Twitter page, Laurel Creek Road to Cades Cove opened yesterday morning after this report was written. Newfound Gap Road is still closed due to snow and ice. Maybe it will re-open today.
Little River is flowing at 784 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.13 feet on the gauge near Townsend. Median flow for this date is 361 cfs. The water temperature is 42.8 degrees this morning.
All streams in the mountains are flowing higher than normal but they are receding. Water temperatures are falling this morning. If you go fishing in the Smokies today, stand in safe water and use weighted nymph rigs. The streams are swift so be careful wading.
Lowland rivers are flowing high and swift. The water is too cold for smallmouth bass to be active. Stocked trout might be caught using sub surface flies. Try squirmy worms, nymphs, egg patterns or mop flies.
TVA and the Corps will be generating with only short breaks today at many dams. There are longer breaks in the generation that you may be able to work with at Chatuge, South Holston and Cherokee dams. If you are boating, there are more options. Check the TVA website from the links below to see what your tailwater fishing options are.
Yesterday morning I wrote about “Shad Kills”, something that occurs when the water temperatures fall to a lethal level for threadfin shad in the impoundments. The dead or dying shad are flushed through the turbines into the tailwater below, creating a trout feeding frenzy.
One thing I did not make clear is, shad kills don’t happen often, or that has been my experience. You have to be on the tailwater at the right time to catch this opportunity.
I lived in Hermitage Tennessee near Nashville in the early to middle 70’s. J Percy Priest Reservoir was close by and I kept a boat at one of the marinas. Stripers were stocked in the lake and it was not unusual to catch 20 to 30 pound fish, on the surface, during the cold months.
One bitter Winter, the surface of the lake froze. Fishing seemed impossible. There is one special place where an underwater spring fed warmer water into the lake, and that area was not frozen. Stripers were stacked in that creek like “cord wood”. Shad were present in the warmer water and the stripers were there to feed.
That was a very cold but incredible day of fishing I have not forgotten. On the other hand, I can’t remember the name of the spring or exactly where it is. If you live in Middle Tennessee, you might look for that underwater cave and under those rare conditions, go there to fish.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
February 6, 2022
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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