Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:42 am, the temperature is 58 degrees.

Today will be sunny and warm with a high in the middle 80’s. Tomorrow will be sunny, warm and dry with a high in the middle to upper 80’s. Sunday will be mostly sunny with a good chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms. The high temperature will be in the low to middle 80’s.

Little River is flowing at 83.8 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.60 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 171 cfs. The water temperature is 62.6 degrees this morning.

Streams in the Smokies are flowing low and they will continue to recede today and tomorrow. Hopefully, we will get some much needed rain Sunday.

Anglers are still reporting fair to good fishing despite the low flows. To succeed, you will need to stay hidden from the trout by dressing to blend with the forest. Fish the broken water in deeper runs, plunge pools and pockets where the trout are hiding. Dry flies with droppers are a good fly combination to use right now. Or, use weighted nymphs. Or, use a dry fly fished alone.

Fishing for stocked trout in the low elevation rivers is fair to good. Small nymphs will likely work best. Downsize your tippet to 6X.

If you are planning to fish for smallmouth bass, rock bass or panfish in the lowland rivers, you will likely do best fishing in the deeper pools. I would go early or late when the sun is low or fish the shaded areas if they are available. Try streamers, nymphs, crayfish imitations, foam floating flies or poppers.

Fishing on the lakes will be best early or late when the sun is low. When the sun is high, try to find shaded banks to fish. Foam floating flies and poppers will work best when the sun is low. As the sun rises higher, fish deeper with streamers or swimming nymphs. It may be a little breezy this afternoon.

There will be long pauses in the generation with supplemental pulsing today at some dams. There will be long periods of generation this afternoon at other dams. The Corps will be generating almost all day at Dale Hollow and Wolf Creek dams. You can work with some of these generation schedules. Visit the TVA website from the links below to plan your tailwater fishing day.

Though it seems like it, according to the US Drought Monitor we do not have drought conditions in east Tennessee. The Monitor was updated yesterday. What we have are abnormally dry conditions in some counties. The Knoxville Airport reported .44 inches of rain yesterday.  

The long term weather forecast calls for a greater chance for rain and cooler temperatures next week beginning Sunday and lasting through Wednesday. I hope that pans out.

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

Byron Begley
June 2, 2023

BEGINNER FLY TYING CLASS - We are holding a Beginner Fly Tying Class all day on Saturday June 17th. As of yesterday we had one opening in the class. The cost for the day is $100, which includes the use of tools, materials and lunch. The class will be taught by Brian Courtney. Brian has been teaching our fly tying classes with Walter Babb for many years. This is a great opportunity for you to begin this incredible hobby. You will learn to tie 5 different trout patterns. This class will get you started. Call the shop at 865-448-9459 to book your spot in this class or find out if an opening is still available.

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