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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:59 am, the temperature outside is 56.1 degrees.

Rain and thunderstorms arrived last night. The rainfall total reported in Townsend was .72” with the Knoxville Airport reporting .49”. A small band of rain is headed in this direction, but for the most part, the rain is over, I hope.

It is windy right now. A cold front is coming. Today’s high temperature will be in the mid to upper 50’s. Tonight’s low will fall to the mid to upper 30’s. Today will be windy. Saturday and Sunday will be warmer. Weather websites differ on the highs for both days. Expect a high of 65 to 70 Saturday, and 63 to 65 Sunday.

Little River is flowing at 624 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.85 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 361 cfs. The river flow has peaked and it is now falling. The water temperature is 55.2 degrees.

Flows are fairly high this morning. Care should be taken when wading if you go today. If we do not get more rain, the streams will recede today and tonight. I think the water levels will be on the high side of good tomorrow, and lower Sunday. Some streams may be stained this morning.

Water temperatures are fine. I don’t’ expect them to rise much if any today. They will fall tonight. How cold the water will be by morning is something I can’t predict.

Fishing will slow if the water temperature drops to the mid-40’s. Fishing will be good if the temps are in the 50’s. You can check the water temperature in Little River, at the low elevation gauge site, by clicking the USGS link below.

I think fishing in the Smokies will be fair this weekend, and hopefully better than that.

Start the day using nymphs. A Pheasant Tail is a good nymph pattern to use this time of year. You may also try wet flies. Use a Quill Gordon or Hare’s Ear wet fly. You may see hatches of different aquatic insects this weekend, especially in the afternoons. They will be sporadic.

Parachute Adams dry flies in sizes #12 through #16 should be in your box. You may need some Blue Wing Olive patterns too, in smaller sizes. Elk Hair Caddis is a good choice. Try black. I have used olive this time of year and done well. I don’t know why. They just always seem to work.

I can look at the numbers, relating to visitors to this fishing report, and know more people are thinking about fly fishing. The report was read 889 times Tuesday and 978 times Wednesday. Yesterday, the total dropped to 691. This Winter, there were days when the report was viewed under 500 times.  

Those numbers will grow as warmer weather arrives.

Most readers reside in the Southeast and in States to our north. Some live in the western States. Some live in New England. We get many readers from the Carolinas. Many live in Florida. And then there is our good friend Milt, in Hawaii.

The city with the highest number of visitors to the report, is Nashville, Tennessee. It has been that way since we were able to track where readers live. Knoxville is #2.  

Not many fishing reports you find online, are written each day, 7 days per week. We’ve been doing it for over 10 years. I usually write it, unless for some reason I can’t. When that happens, Daniel writes it. I write it on my days off, unless I’m going fishing early.

I spend up to 2 hours per day, writing this report. Most of that time is spent gathering data, reading weather websites, and looking for news related to fly fishing or the Great Smoky Mountains.

I enjoy it. This is my early morning routine.

I do not write the report on 4 holidays, and Sunday is one of them, Easter. When the store is closed, I feel like I should be able to be off too. So, the store will be closed Sunday, and I may be sleeping in.

People wonder how long we will keep doing this. I always answer, “as long as I can”. I will be 67 years old in July. How long will I keep working? “As long as I can”. I love work, and especially the work I do now.

Thank you for reading the Fishing Report, which encourages me to continue.

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

Byron Begley
March 30, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com