Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:41 am, the temperature is 61 degrees.

I did not rain yesterday, anywhere in the Smokies as far as I can tell. I did see a few drops of rainfall on the windshield of my truck when I drove home from work yesterday.

It will be mostly cloudy today with gradual clearing later. It is predicted to be hazy today. The high temperature will be in the middle 70’s falling to around 50 degrees tonight.

Tomorrow will be sunny and hazy with a high in the upper 70’s.

Saturday will be sunny and warmer with a high in the middle 80’s.

The next chance for scattered thunderstorms will be on Sunday.

Little River is flowing at 64.3 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.49 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 157 cfs. The lowest recorded flow on this date was 50.0 cfs in 1988. The water temperature is 67.3 degrees at the low elevation gauge site near Townsend. Yesterday, the temperature rose to a little over 70 degrees.

Streams in the mountains are flowing very low. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations. If you go, fish higher where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the middle 60’s. Dry flies and nymphs will work. Cast into the choppy broken water where the trout are hiding. Dress to blend with the forest. Fishing will likely be fair.

Fishing for stocked trout in the low elevation rivers is fair. Most of these rivers are flowing very low. Water temperatures may be warm today. Fishing conditions are certainly not ideal. Use small nymphs and light fine tippet.

Fishing for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish in the lowland rivers if fair. The rivers are flowing low. Fish in the deeper pools using streamers, crayfish patterns, foam floating flies and poppers.

Fishing will be best early or late on the lakes today. It should be overcast this morning which is beneficial. When the sun is high, look for shaded banks to fish. I would use foam floating flies or poppers when the sun it low, then switch to weighted streamers or swimming nymphs when the sun is higher.

There will be long periods of no generation with pulsing at some dams today. At others, there will be less generation in the morning with long periods this afternoon. If you are planning a tailwater fishing day, which is a good idea, refer to the TVA website to see what options you have. With good planning, you should be able to fish on many of the tailwaters whether you are wading or boating.

We saw all the new Simms fishing products that will be delivered in the Spring of 2024 yesterday. Chris, who represents Simms in our region spent a few hours at the shop. He was preparing us to place our Spring 2024 pre-season orders. Everything we saw looked very good as we expected.

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

Byron Begley
June 8, 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