Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:38 am, the temperature is 55 degrees.

Today will be mostly sunny with a high temperature in the upper 70’s and a low tonight in the middle to upper 50’s.

Rain and thunderstorms are likely tomorrow. It may be breezy at times. The high temperature will be in the middle 70’s falling to the low 40’s overnight.

Monday will be sunny and cooler with a high in the middle 60’s and a low in the low to middle 40’s. It will be breezy.

Little River is flowing at 249 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.21 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 303 cfs. The water temperature is 56.1 degrees this morning.

Some streams in the mountains rose slightly yesterday. Most are at good fishing levels this morning. The streams are warming. Water temperatures are well withing the trout’s preferred range, even in the higher elevations.

Trout will be actively feeding in the Smokies today. The fish will be taking dry flies, nymphs or wet flies. This will be a good fishing day in the Smokies. Concentrate on the shaded areas of the streams.

Fishing for stocked trout is good. The low elevation rivers have warmed and are at good fishing levels. Nymphs, squirmy worms, egg patterns and small streamers should produce for you. In the heavily fished areas, you may need to downsize to small nymphs or midge pupa and lighter tippet.

Fishing for smallmouth bass in the lowland rivers has improved due to the warmer water conditions. Nymphs and streamers may work best. Try foam floating flies or poppers too. They may work.

This will be a good lake fishing day. Winds will be calm. The sun will be bright, so go early or late. Fish the shaded banks. Cast streamers to the rocky banks and retrieve slow so your fly will sink deep and near the bottom. Smallmouth bass may be in shallow water. That is what I would be hoping for.

Except for intermittent pulsing, there will be long pauses in the generation at many dams today. Tailwater anglers have a lot of options for wade fishing and boating. Check out the generation schedules on the TVA website from the links below to plan your tailwater fishing day.

This will be a beautiful day to be fly fishing in the mountains, on a tailwater, lake or lowland river. We hope to see you in the shop today.

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

Byron Begley
April 15, 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