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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:52 am, the temperature outside is 62 degrees.

Rain and thunderstorms moved into the Townsend area at 4 am. So far, in just three hours, the local weather stations are reporting .63 inches to .79 inches has fallen. It is windy, we have lightning and thunder. This is the beginning of a nasty day.

The forecast today includes more rain, thunderstorms and wind. Gusts to 30 miles per hour are predicted in the foothills.

The worst predictions I see on the National Weather Service website include, “damaging straight-line winds in excess of sixty miles per hour but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out”. “Locally heavy rainfall will accompany the showers and thunderstorms which could lead to localized flooding of low lying or poor drainage areas.”

From what I see on the radar, these storms will continue moving over the Smokies for a while.

The streams are already rising quickly. We have not seen the full impact of this rain yet, so I expect the rivers to continue rising most of the day. For that reason, and the possible strong winds, I’m going to say fishing will be slow today.

Little River is flowing at 377 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.44 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 268 cfs. The water temperature is 61.0 degrees this morning. A gauge reading on Little River of 2.5 feet is on the high side of good. However, the river is going to rise further by late morning.

Little Pigeon River is rising quickly at the Sevierville gauge. The river is flowing at 818 cfs, 2.55 feet, compared to median flow of 508 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is also rising quickly at the Birdtown gauge. Flow is 1,010 cfs, 2.62 feet, compared to median flow of 565 cfs.

Tellico River is doing the same thing. At the Tellico Plains gauge, the river is flowing at 486 cfs, 2.10 feet, compared to median flow of 330 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is just starting to rise. Flow is 199 cfs, 2.94 feet, compared to median flow of 126 cfs.

If you are planning a trip here today, to fish this weekend, you should keep an eye on the stream flows from the links below before making a decision. If somehow this line of storms moves away, probably to the East, the weekend fishing may be fine. If this continues through the day and night, the streams could be blown out today, tomorrow and possibly Sunday. It is too early for me to determine exactly what to expect this weekend. It is not looking good right now.

TVA has not ramped up the generation at Norris Dam or Cherokee Dam. Fishing may be good on some of the tailwaters today. I would not want to be out there, if the conditions are similar to what we have in Townsend. I would not consider lake fishing today, at least not around here.

I can barely see the mountains from my office window. Heavy rain continues to fall. The track of the storm is moving north and east. We are in the center of the path right now. I want us to be out of the path.

I’m going to work in my office at the shop today and hope the power does not go out.

UPDATE 1:53 PM - IT APPEARS THE STORM TRACK HAS MOVED TO OUR EAST. WE GOT OVER 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN IN TOWNSEND. THE STREAMS IN THE SMOKIES ARE BLOWN OUT. LITTLE RIVER HAS ALMOST REACHED A RECORD HIGH FLOW FOR THIS DATE. LITTLE PIGEON RIVER HAS RISEN TO A NEW RECORD FOR THIS DATE.  

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

Byron Begley
April 19, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com