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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:07 am, the temperature outside is 48.9 degrees.
Today is going to be another beautiful one on the Smoky Mountains. It will be sunny with a high temperature in the mid-50’s. Drag out your long johns and cover the plants. Tonight’s low is predicted to dip to the lower 30’s with possible frost in some areas. Tomorrow will be sunny and warmer, in the mid-60’s. We have a 100% chance for rain on Easter Sunday.
We will be closed Easter Sunday.
Little River is flowing at 246 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.08 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 356 cfs. The water temperature is 55.8 degrees this morning.
All streams in the mountains that have USGS gauge sites reporting, are flowing at very good fishing levels. Water temperatures are good in the lower elevations. We will see those temperatures fall for a couple of days.
Due to the temporary closure of the Park, you may want to fish in the Cherokee National Forest or other national forests.
Lowland river fishing is good for trout where they are stocked, and other species, including smallmouth bass. Nymphs and streamers are your best choices now. Popper and foam floating fly fishing will improve when the rivers warm further. Try Little River or Little Pigeon River.
TVA is cutting back the generation at Norris Dam. Though the periods of low flow are brief, without much of a wade fishing opportunity today, maybe this is a sign of better fishing conditions in the near future. I checked schedules at other dams this morning and didn’t see anything too exciting. Maybe we’ll get better news this weekend on the tailwaters. I didn’t check them all, so look yourself from the links below.
Lake fishing is good and plenty of anglers are out there, from what I am hearing. Launch a boat, canoe or kayak and try one out. Streamers will probably work best for bass. Use Rubber Legged Dragons for panfish, fished a few feet deep on a 9’ leader and slowly retrieved.
Everything I read about outdoor activities, including fly fishing, indicates Americans are participating and enjoying every minute of their time in the woods and on the waters. Think about this. How dumb are the trout going to be in the Smokies when we return? They have not been pestered by humans at all. The trout are loving their isolation. We are waiting for the day.
All of us at the shop are anticipating getting slammed by customers in the near future. We are working hard on many things, including improving our business while still servicing customers from a distance. It’s just not as much fun as having a store full of fly fishing anglers.
Our Paycheck Protection Program funding from the SBA was approved yesterday. That money is to be used for payroll, rent and utilities for two months. That took some pressure off!
Brent, at CBBC Bank (Citizens Bank of Blount County) in Townsend handled it all. He and I have been talking about this since we first heard of the $2 trillion dollar stimulus package approved by Congress and signed by the President.
As Brent learned more, he kept me informed. Daniel and I started gathering documents and financial reports early last week.
I put everything together in a very organized fashion, bound in a sanitized three ring binder, and handed it to Brent on the sidewalk outside the branch Friday, the official “opening day” for applications.
I can’t thank CBBC Bank and Brent enough for all of the support and diligent processing of this. I have been reading about all of the problems small businesses have had, trying to get their applications submitted and approved. My experience was totally different.
CBBC is a community bank where “everybody knows your name”. Everyone at the bank takes very good care of their customers. They have always taken great care of us. The bank is local and the people are local. There is something to be said about the word “community”.
You can read more about CBBC Bank by CLICKING HERE.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 10, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |