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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:26 am, the temperature outside is 58.8 degrees.
Another 1.2 inches of rain fell in Townsend during the past 24 hours while the Knoxville Airport reported .80 inches. I have lost track of the rain numbers during the past three days but the totals are significant.
The rain is about over for now. There is a slight chance for more this morning. It will clear later today. The high temperature will be in the low 60’s. Tomorrow and Friday will be sunny to partly sunny and warm. Saturday will be mostly cloudy and warm. High temperatures Friday and Saturday will be in the low 80’s. Rain returns Sunday.
Little River is flowing at 2,380 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 4.94 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 351 cfs. The water temperature is 53.4 degrees. The river just crested and is receding.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 5,520 cfs, 5.95 feet, compared to median flow of 669 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 5,260 cfs, 5.85 feet, compared to median flow of 636 cfs. The flow right now is a record for this date. The prior record was set in 1965 at 3,120 cfs. The river recently crested and is receding.
Tellico River is flowing at 4,110 cfs, 8.12 feet, compared to median flow of 357 cfs. The river has crested and it is receding. The current flow is a record for this date last set in 1965 at 3,140 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 997 cfs, 4.57 feet, compared to median flow of 150 cfs. The creek has crested and is receding. The current flow is a record for this date, last set in 1965 at 888 cfs.
West Prong of the Little Pigeon River in Gatlinburg is flowing at 666 cfs or 5.20 feet on the gauge. The stream has crested and it is receding.
Streams in the Smokies are blown out. Wading is not safe. The lowland rivers are flowing high and probably stained.
TVA and the Corps of Engineers are generating at most dams in the region today. I did see some breaks in the generation schedules at Douglas, Norris and South Holston Dams. There may be other dams that are inactive at times today. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with their generation schedules on some tailwaters in your area.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed temporarily yesterday until Monday April 6th. The only open roads are the Spur and Foothills Parkway.
We are in compliance with all state and local laws concerning our business operations. We are offering curbside service at the shop. You can call us and we will deliver your order to a desk on our front porch. You can use the credit card terminal located there. Our staff is keeping a safe distance from all customers. If any of our staff show symptoms of a cold, they will not be working. We are planning to continue our curbside service until we are told to do otherwise by our Governor or local authorities.
Our store hours have been reduced to 9 am until 4 pm, seven days a week. We are not selling fishing licenses. Please order yours online.
Our mail order business is very active. We are filling orders daily and shipping them to customers. Many customers are calling us to place mail orders instead of buying online.
During the past two weeks we have not been placing orders with most of our suppliers. Today, we will access what has been selling and make decisions about placing orders to re-stock. Our store was what I would call “overstocked” in early March. That is usual. March is always a busy month.
Our fly tying department has been very busy. More people are staying home and looking for something to do. I will be restocking that department beginning today. We are out of a few items and they will be ordered immediately.
We are ordering flies and essential items. One of our larger suppliers, Fishpond, will be allowing us to drop ship merchandise to you directly from their warehouse, without extra charges that we would normally have to pay. We will only do that if we are temporarily out of a Fishpond item.
So far, we have not seen any supply interruptions from our vendors. There may be some I am unaware of.
We are making the best of a bad situation. And, it is working for us as planned. Our team is working hard to serve you and I really appreciate everyone’s efforts. Our customers are supporting us and we all appreciate you very much. Your e-mail and phone calls of encouragement are very much appreciated.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
March 25, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |