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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 7:03 am, the temperature outside is 40 degrees.

It rained last night, mostly after midnight. .66 inches fell in Townsend, while the Knoxville Airport reported .29 inches.

The rain will end early this morning. It will be sunny and cooler this afternoon, with a high temperature of 50 degrees. We are under a freeze warning tonight. I don’t see any more rain in the forecast through Thursday. Rain will return Thursday night and remain through Friday.

Little River is flowing at 382 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.45 feet on the flow gauge. The river is still rising quickly. The water temperature is 55.2 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is rising quickly too. Currently, flow is 760 cfs or 2.47 feet on the Sevierville gauge.

Oconaluftee River is rising, very quickly. The flow there is 933 cfs or 2.46 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 669 cfs. The water temperature is 53.2 degrees.

Tellico River is rising, similar to Oconaluftee. The flow is 538 cfs or 2.22 feet. Median flow is 417 cfs.

The flow chart at Cataloochee looks similar to the above two rivers, flowing at 247 cfs or 3.09 feet. Median flow is 144 cfs.

These rivers will peak at some point today. It appears to me, the mountains got more rain than we did in Townsend. I’ve got a feeling they will be flowing too high to fish and safely wade this morning. That feeling is based on looking at these USGS charts almost every morning for over ten years.

You may find the streams stained. The only USGS gauge site that has a turbidity monitor is Oconaluftee. According to that current reading, the river is stained. It is dark outside, so I could not see if Little River is stained. I bet it is.

I would wait a while before going fishing in the mountains. Check the USGS charts from the links below. If Little River peaks and a reading near 2.5 feet appears on the chart, you may want to go then. Keep in mind, the river may be stained temporarily.

Fishing conditions may be fine this afternoon or, maybe they won’t.

If you go, be prepared with larger nymphs and split shot. If the streams are only slightly stained, that can be an advantage for us. They can’t see us well, we can’t see them, but they are there. I would probably tie on a Prince Nymph and do some “high sticking”.  

You may be able to squeeze in some fishing time on the tailwaters today. Check the TVA website to see if their generation schedule works with yours.

The brakes on my truck died! I almost did too on my way to work this morning. It is parked here at the shop and I’m not driving it. I can still stop if I have to but the truck is not fun to drive in that condition. It will be taken via tow truck to Helton’s repair shop tomorrow. I’ll have to rent a car. Maybe I’ll rent a Corvette. I’m kidding. I’ll rent another truck.

We are very busy at the shop. It is stocked well, probably better than it ever has been. I will be ordering more merchandise today and tomorrow. There are eight of us working on the retail side, not including schools. And believe me, we are all working. I’ve been here at 7 am, 7 days a week, for two weeks straight.

I love it!

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

Byron Begley
March 31, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com

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