Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:40 am, the temperature in Townsend is 38 degrees.

Today will be sunny and cooler with a high around 50 degrees and a low tonight in the low 20’s.

Tomorrow will be sunny and a little warmer with a high in the middle 50’s dropping to the upper 30’s overnight.

It will be windy today and tomorrow. Humidity will be low. The chance for wildfires is high.

Little River is flowing at 525 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.64 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 394 cfs. The water temperature is 50.0 degrees this morning.

Streams have receded and will continue to recede over the next few days. Most streams on the west side of the mountains are flowing somewhat higher than normal. Streams on the North Carolina side are flowing at or slightly lower than normal.

What will affect fishing most over the next few days is water temperature. The streams are going to be colder. Fishing will be slower. Soon, we will see warmer streams and improved fishing.

If you go, fish in the lower elevations where the water is warmer. Nymphs or weighted nymph rigs will probably work best for you until the streams warm to about 50 degrees again.

Fishing for stocked trout in the low elevation rivers could be fair or good today. Stocked trout do not seem to be as sensitive cooler water, compared to wild trout. The water is not cold right now, but the temperature is falling and will bottom out at some point today. The water will be cold tomorrow. If you go, try nymphs, egg patterns, squirmy worms or streamers.

There will be short to long pauses in the generation at some dams today. Frankly, I was surprised at some of the schedules I saw this morning. Check the predicted flows at Cherokee, Norris, Wolf Creek, Dale Hollow, Tims Ford, South Holston and Chatuge dams. If you are a wade fisherman, you might have a shot at some tailwater fishing today. If you are boating, you have even more options.

The wild turkeys have decided it is time to mate, or at least the male gobblers around here have. The three big gobblers that hang around our house were “gobbling”, fanned out and strutting yesterday every time some hens were around. The jakes were staying away, back in the woods, to avoid a fight with a gobbler. Nothing really happened that I saw, but the group of turkeys that live around here are getting close. By close, I mean a couple of weeks. Then, the hens will disappear to nest. In May, we’ll see the hens with their brood.

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

Byron Begley
March 18, 2024

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