Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:48 am, the temperature is 45.3 degrees.

The warming trend this week has begun. It will rain today, with precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. It will be warm, with a high temperature around 60 degrees, falling to the upper 40’s tonight.

Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the upper 70’s and a low in the high 50’s overnight. Friday will be sunny and breezy with a high in the low 80’s and a low in the upper 50’s. the weekend will continue to be very warm with highs in the middle 70’s. Rain is likely Saturday and it may be breezy.

Little River is flowing at 279 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.27 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 380 cfs. The water temperature is 45.3 degrees and steady.

Most streams in the Smokies are flowing below normal and at good fishing levels. There is a chance some streams may rise today, but hopefully not much. It is possible. Water temperatures are rising and that will continue through the week. Fishing will improve every day.

If you go fishing in the mountains today, given a choice, go later when the water is warmer. Fish in the low elevations where the water is warmer. You may want to start with weighted nymphs or nymph rigs. If the water warms enough, you may see aquatic insects on the surface with trout feeding on them. Switch to dry flies or emergers or both in a tandem rig.

Fishing for stocked trout in the low elevation rivers will improve every day this week due to the warming water conditions. Fishing should be fair to good today. You could encounter stained and higher water today. Sub-surface flies will likely work best for you. Try nymphs, egg patterns, squirmy worms, caddis pupa, midge pupa or small streamers.

Smallmouth bass fishing in the lowland rivers will probably be slow to fair. Streamers or nymphs will work best.

Tailwater anglers have several choices today. Breaks in the generation schedules will occur at many dams, especially this afternoon. Go through the list below to see what options you have.

I found an old article written by Gary LaFontaine on the Fly Fisherman Magazine website. This article was originally published in March 1978, titled “Reading Water”. It deals mostly with fishing large trout rivers. It is well written and illustrated. You can read it by CLICKING HERE.

Gary was a fly fishing guide in Montana and not only was he an excellent writer, the fly fishing information he presented was groundbreaking to many of us during the late 70’s and 80’s. I will never forget when his book “Caddisflies” was released, probably in the early 80’s. I still have the original hard-bound version in my fly fishing book collection. I immediately started tying and fishing with caddis pupa and emergers. All my fishing buddies did the same, and many still do. Gary’s information is timeless.

Gary died young, of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2002 at the age of 56.

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

Byron Begley
March 22, 2023  

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Parking Tags are now required to park your vehicle inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes. Tags may be purchased at Visitors Centers, including the center in Townsend. Or, they may be purchased online. You can buy a daily, weekly or annual tag. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com