Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:41 am, the temperature is 50 degrees.

Today will be sunny and warm with a high temperature in the low to middle 80’s, falling to the low 60’s tonight. It will be partly sunny tomorrow with a high in the middle to upper 80’s, dropping to the low 60’s overnight. Showers will move into the Smokies tomorrow night and linger through Saturday.

Little River is flowing at 246 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.20 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 380 cfs. The water temperature is 51.6 degrees this morning.

Streams in the mountains are flowing very close to normal with some flowing lower than normal. Water temperatures will begin within the trout’s preferred range in the low elevations. It will be sunny and warm today, so water temperatures will rise. Fishing will be good in the low elevations early, then improve in the middle elevations later today.

Trout will be actively feeding. Weighted nymphs may work best early. Dry flies, emergers and wet flies should produce for you later today and tomorrow.

Fishing for stocked trout in the low elevation rivers will be good today. Sub-surface flies will probably work best but you never know what will occur as the streams become warmer. Try weighted nymphs, egg patterns, squirmy worms, midge pupa, caddis emergers, wet flies or streamers.

Fishing for smallmouth bass will improve this week as the lowland rivers warm. Nymphs and streamers may work best. Try foam floating flies and poppers this week. They might produce too.

As the lakes warm, game fish will move into shallower water. Look for smallmouth bass along rocky banks in the deeper water. My fly of choice would be a large, weighted black Wooly Bugger. Cast to the banks and let the fly fall as it is slowly retrieved back to your boat. Vary your retrieves. The fish may not be there yet but it won’t be long before they are.

Long breaks in the generation are planned at several dams today, giving tailwater anglers options for wading or boat fishing. Check the TVA website from the links below to plan your tailwater fishing day.

We are busy at the shop, even on weekdays now. Spring fishing has arrived in the Southeast. Fishing is improving as the streams, rivers and lakes warm. The shop is stocked like never before. We have a new staff member, our old friend Ron Wollard. He started working at the shop yesterday. You will like him.

Easter weekend is fast approaching. We will be closed Easter Sunday but open Friday, Saturday and Monday. We will be busy.

I got a bad case of “sticker shock” yesterday, when I saw a quote from our roofing company. It is time to replace the roof on the shop. Weather permitting, that may happen next week. I can’t believe we built that building almost 20 years ago. We designed it and built it from the ground up to be a fly shop. It has a huge roof.

The cost to seal and stripe the parking lot has risen over the years. Foothills Sealing did that last Fall which is something that needs to be done every three years. It is a massive parking lot by fly shop standards, that can handle 50 cars and trucks. It has only been filled once this year so far.

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

Byron Begley
April 4, 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