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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:35 am, the temperature outside is 68.4 degrees. Light rain started falling a few minutes ago.
What we have now is probably today’s high temperature. It will be cooler later today. Rain will become heavier, with accumulations of up to three quarters to one inch possible. It could be windy, with gusts up to 25 mph. I do not always believe those predictions. Sometimes, the weather folks are wrong.
We have a chance for more rain tonight. Tomorrow morning, expect snow in the mountains. The snow should be light, even at Newfound Gap.
Warm air will move back into our area Tuesday. It will be warm, day and night through next weekend.
Little River is flowing at 253 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.11 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 297 cfs. The water temperature at the Townsend Gauge is 59.4 degrees this morning. Yesterday, that number rose to over 61 degrees.
Well, fly fishing conditions in the Smoky Mountains today, are not going to be exactly perfect. Falling temperatures often slow the fishing. It may be windy. Thunderstorms are possible. Rising water in the streams are another possibility.
If you go, take a rain jacket, a warm under layer, and be on the lookout for rising water.
If it gets really windy, get out of the forest. Limbs may be falling. You don’t want a limb falling on you.
I would start with nymphs and likely use them all day. Pheasant Tail, Prince, Tellico or Hare’s Ear are good nymph choices. I would add some weight and high stick where riffles enter pools or in pockets, behind rocks in the riffles themselves. If you like strike indicators, try them.
You may see a hatch of blue wing olives. They love bad weather. Switch to a BWO dry fly or emerger pattern if you see them. You may find other aquatic insects on the water. Switch to a dry fly that looks close to what you see. Or, just fish with a Parachute Adams as an attractor pattern. That usually works well this time of the year.
It will be overcast, which is an advantage to the angler.
Fishing may be good and I hope it is for you. Just be aware there is some nasty weather coming, or at least predicted.
I checked the TVA website, for possible trout fly fishing opportunities. It looks like you will get a break today at both Norris and Cherokee dams. Look at both pages before you go. They ae both releasing water at times. See if you can work with their schedule, whether you are boating or wading.
I would stay off the lakes today, unless you have a big boat. I would stay off the lakes, even if I had a big boat. Thunderstorms and wind are not my friend on the lakes. I have had too many bad experiences.
It is daybreak. I am looking out at the forest right now. It looks nice out there, overcast, no wind, and the rain stopped falling. I would be tempted to go. I plan to work on our online store today, so I’ll be in my home office, where I am now.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 15, 2018
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |