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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. We have some great fly tyers in the Shop this morning. David Knapp and Travis Williams are here. They will be tying from 10 am till 2 pm. Stop by and learn some new patterns and get some great info about fishing the Smokies.

Water temperatures continue to drop. This morning the gauge is giving a reading of 43F. Temps will rise throughout the day and tomorrow they will warm even more. Over the next week everything should stabilze out and fishing should improve.

Water levels in the Smokies are excellent for fishing. The gauge is at 2.06 feet or 225 c.f.s. The daily normal for today is 300 c.f.s.

Let the water warm up a bit before heading out fishing this week. Lower elevation streams are going to be more productive than the headwaters. Crowds are light so take advantage of fishing those areas that you shy away from in the Summer. One great place to fish is right through the middle of the Elkmont Campground. There is some wonderful water there.

Spring is coming soon. Are you ready? The first insects that will begin are Quill Gordons and Blue Quills. They are both blue/gray in color but drastically different in size. Blue Quills are tiny little mayflies, sizes 18 and 20. Quill Gordons are not small being size 10 or 12. The water needs to get to 50+ for a week or so. Once this happens the bugs will begin to hatch. When this starts it won't matter much what happens with the weather as they will have to continue with their life cycles. A cold, damp day can be carnage. The mayflies get to the surface but can't get off the water before the trout slurp them up.

Quill Gordons hatch into adults beneath the water. They will swim up through the water and then try to fly off before becoming lunch. This is why wet flies patterns are more effective during a hatch than the dries. There is a Quill Gordon Wet Fly pattern that we sell. The company that we have bought this pattern from for years is out of this pattern to sell us. Yesterday we got some tied by Mike Wallace.

Walter Babb was talking to us about the wet flies and how many more trout he catches fishing the wets. He also said that to him the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Wet is a better immitation for the Quill Gordon. I had never really considered it but it does make good sense (most everything Walter says makes good sense). The wing of the Hares Ear is gray duck quill and not the barred wood duck flank. Though this doesn't match to the dry pattern on the actual insect the wings of a mayfly start out opaque gray. This is why they call that early stage a DUN.

Many times, when we are selling flies in the Shop, we will be showing anglers different flies to match the hatch. People will shy away from one pattern and buy another, which may not be as good, because the other pattern is named Yellow Sally or caddis or something else. Fly pattern names are names. Just because a fly is called this or that doesn't mean we can't use it during a hatch for some other type of bug. A yellow elk hair caddis is a great pattern to use during the Yellow Sally hatch. It doesn't matter that one is a "caddis" and the other is a "stonefly". Stay flexible on your flies. Sometimes you need to try something completely different.

Next week's Winter Fly Tying Demo is Josh Pfeiffer and Jimmy Jones. Josh will most likely be tying smallmouth flies. Jimmy has a variation of the Neversink Caddis that he is going to be demonstrating. Mark it on your calendar!

There is no need to call ahead for the demos, just show up!

You can read more about them and other free demonstrations we are holding this year by CLICKING HERE.

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

Daniel Drake
February 10, 2019

NOTICE: Great Smoky Mountains head fisheries biologist Matt Kulp will be giving the State of the Park Fisheries Address at the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited's February meeting. Date: Tuesday February 26th.

The chapter meetings are held at Barley's Restaurant in downtown Maryville, Tennessee. Social hour begins at 6 pm. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm. You do not have to be a TU member to attend. Newcomers are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited has partnered with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, voluneering and raising funding, since 1993.

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: info@littleriveroutfitters.com