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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:44 am, the temperature outside is 69.4 degrees.

Today’s high temperature will be in the mid-70’s. It will be windy at times. In fact, the wind is blowing fairly strong right now. We have a 40% chance for rain today and thunderstorms are possible. Rain is possible tonight but it should be light. Another weather website I check every day puts the chance for rain chance at 20% today. So, it may not rain at all.

Tomorrow (Sunday) will be cooler, with a high in the mid-60’s. It will rain. We may get up to ¾” of rain during the day. Or, we may not get much at all.

Little River is flowing at 311 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.26 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 347 cfs. The water temperature is 56.7 degrees this morning.

Fishing is good. Aquatic insects are hatching, but they are sporadic. Trout are active and sometimes, feeding on the surface.

A lot of anglers fished in the Smokies yesterday. We have not talked to those who returned. It is possible the trout are taking dry flies often now. We don’t know. It takes time for the fish to tune into the hatches. We think they have had enough time to do that. So, yesterday could have been awesome.

If dry flies are not working for you, try Quill Gordon wet flies or nymphs. The water temperature is perfect in the low to mid elevations for trout feeding activity. They are eating somewhere, on the surface or deeper.

The trout should be active today, but, a cold front is moving in. Sometimes that slows the fishing. Maybe that won’t be the case today. It will be breezy. Wind causes casting problems and the wind can blow the adult insects away. I don’t know if that will happen today, but it has for me many times and that is frustrating.

I would go today!

Next week will be cooler, with temperatures dropping into the 30’s at night, later in the week. Daytime temperatures will be in the 50’s and 60’s.

Water temperature is critical, especially during the early Spring. We all want the temps to stay above 50 degrees for the best fishing. When I see the forecast, longer term, with colder nights, I wonder what the water temperatures will be like later next week.

Of course, rain is critical too. Flows are normally high during the early Spring. Rainfall of ½” can make a difference in the water levels. An inch can make a big difference. The ebbs and flows are temporary, but they can come at the worst time, when the water temperatures are perfect. That is what we deal with in the Spring.

Come by the shop today to enjoy our free fly tying demonstrations. Bill Boyd Jr. and Bill Boyd Sr. will be tying and talking to you about their fly fishing experiences. This father/son team have been fly fishing together for decades. Their specialties are trout and warmwater species. The event is free. They will be demonstrating between 10 am and 2 pm. All you have to do is show up. Read more by CLICKING HERE.

Walter Babb will be demonstrating next Saturday.

I will be working all weekend at home. I have a list of about 175 new items, I’m writing about and placing on our online store. The fly department is huge and it is almost finished. I had to photograph each fly. You can see them by CLICKING HERE. Check it out. That is a lot of flies.

What I’m lacking are some warmwater flies, egg flies, some midges and the saltwater flies. I think this project will be near completion in a few weeks. After that, I’ll only have to add items that are new. This whole online store is new. I spent much of last year and all of this year so far, working on it. We want Little River Outfitters to be a one-stop shopping site for fly fishing gear.

Fishing is picking up in the South US. Orders are pouring in on the online store. I saw we got a bunch of them last night. Thank you!

I was worried, but the newborn orphaned calf we are bottle feeding is alive and doing well. He is 7-days old today, so he made it through the critical time span. Last night, Paula and I fed him ½ gallon of replacement milk and more water. Yesterday morning, he drank about the same amount. At midday yesterday, he didn’t want anything to eat.

He is a cute little fella and he starts bawling when we pull up to the barn in the Gator. He is friendly, and loves for us to pet him. He is kind of acting “like a dog”. He has four of us taking care of him. That will go on, 3 times a day, for about 5 months. His name is Jefferson.     

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

Byron Begley
February 24, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com