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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:44 am, the temperature outside is 67.8 degrees.

Today will be partly sunny with a high temperature in the mid-80’s. Scattered thunderstorms are likely this afternoon. Weather websites put the chance for thunderstorms between 60% and 80%. The National Weather Service, on their hazardous Weather Outlook page, writes: “Some of these storms may be strong to severe with damaging winds the primary threat. Large hail and localized flooding will also be possible”.

Tomorrow through Thursday will be mostly sunny to sunny, cooler day and night, with no chance for rain. Fishing will be very good in the Smoky Mountains, later this week. When and where that occurs, depends on how much rain we get today.

Little River is flowing at 392 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.44 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 163 cfs. The water temperature is 63 degrees this morning.

All streams in the Smoky Mountains that have USGS flow gauges are flowing above median flow. Some streams are flowing very high, while others are fishable. Little River is one stream that we consider fishable at 2.44 feet. You will find strong currents in some areas so be careful wading.

All streams that I can see data on this morning are receding. Little River rose slightly after midnight but has receded to its current level.

We don’t know what will happen today. It seems certain to me there will be thunderstorms in the area, and some may be strong. What we do not know is where they will track.

If you are fishing today, be on the lookout for quickly rising water. Strong winds may accompany these storms. Limbs or even trees may fall. The ground is saturated. With little to no cell service in the Park, you will not be able to check the weather radar. If you go fishing, be careful.

One of our readers sent me an e-mail yesterday. He was fishing in the Park. A tree fell and took out another tree 50 yards from where he was fishing. That is a scary thing to watch, that close. If it happens, you may not be able to get out of the way. You do not want to be fishing when the wind is blowing and the ground is saturated.

I think fishing will be fair today. There is a fair chance fishing will be good or slow, depending on where you go. There is also a fair chance fishing will be slow due to rising water from these storms. It all depends when and where you are and the track of the thunderstorms.

Most if not all of the tailwaters are sluicing until further notice. The flows are very high, too high to wade for sure.

All the lakes are high. Some are off color or stained. Debris is floating in the water or just below the surface. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is trying to lower the lakes without causing flooding below.

TVA and Brookfield Energy are discharging a huge amount of water through the Little Tennessee River into Tellico Lake. They are sluicing at Fontana Dam.   

Boating and fishing near the dams is extremely dangerous right now. Sadly, three North Carolina men in a 22 -foot boat got too close to Fort Loudoun Dam yesterday. The boat and men were sucked under water by the current. One man drowned. The two others were rescued by other fishermen. They were all wearing life jackets. You can read the story on the Daily Times website by CLICKING HERE or on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE.

I was at the shop yesterday, and there were many customers there. What I did not see is anyone that was going or returning from fishing.

We are all waiting for better fishing and boating conditions. Improvement begins tomorrow and maybe in some cases today.

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

Byron Begley
June 3, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com