Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:03 am, the temperature in Townsend is 45 degrees.

Today will be mostly cloudy with a high temperature in the middle 6-‘s and a low tonight in the low 30’s.

Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the low 50’s followed by a low in the low to middle 20’s overnight.

Little River is flowing at 617 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.79 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 390 cfs. The water temperature is 51.8 degrees and falling.

Streams on the North Carolina side of the Smokies are flowing near normal by looking at the sampling of USGS gauge that are available. On the west side, the streams are flowing higher than normal.

Water temperatures are falling. If you go fishing today, you might choose to go later after the water temperature has bottomed out and begun to rise. Fish in the low to middle elevations where the water is warmer. Nymphs will work for sure. You might also do well fishing with dry flies and wet flies. A dry with a wet fly emerger used as a dropper is a good choice if the trout are active.

Quill Gordon and Blue Quill dry flies are good choices.

You are going to find some rivers flowing higher than you prefer. The water will be swift in some areas. Safe wading may be limited in some rivers.

Fishing for stocked trout should be good today, especially in the streams that are flowing near normal. Try egg patterns, nymphs, Squirmy Worms, and streamers.

There are long periods of no generation planned at several dams today. Check Center Hill, Cherokee, Douglas, Wolf Creek, Chatuge and Tims Ford dams. You should be able to find a suitable flow you can work with if you are planning to wade in a tailwater. If you are boating, there are more options. Visit the TVA website to view the generation schedules before you go.

We are very busy at the shop. Spring fly fishing has begun. We will have a few days this week when the water will be colder and fishing could be slower. That is what we expect in March.

Paula saw a small bobcat walking behind our house yesterday. It was sniffing the ground near our bird feeders and bird bath. She did get a photo of the cat. We see bobcats occasionally. If you want to see nature at its finest, watch a bobcat catch a squirrel. We have seen two successful hunts and a few that were not successful.

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

Byron Begley
March 17, 2024

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Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com