Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:19 am, the temperature is 61 degrees.

Today will be mostly sunny with a high temperature in the low 80’s and a fairly low chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. It will be breezy today, with winds gusting as high as 20 miles per hour.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high in the low to middle 80’s and a chance for scattered thunderstorms.

Little River is flowing at 69.2 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.52 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 147 cfs. The water temperature is 62.8 degrees this morning.

Most if not all streams in the mountains are now flowing lower than median flow for this date. Some are flowing quite a bit lower than normal. Water temperatures are fine at all elevations.

If you go fishing in the Smokies today you will likely encounter fairly low water conditions. Fish in the broken choppy water where the trout are hiding. Dry flies or nymphs will work. I would at least start with a dry and dropper rig. A Yellow Sally Stonefly imitation is a good dry fly choice. My dropper would definitely be a Green Weenie. You might consider trying terrestrial patterns. A foam beetle with an ant as your dropper is a good combination. Ants are hard for us to see but the trout can see them well. Watch the beetle and directly behind the beetle for trout taking the ant. The foam beetle can act as your strike indicator.  

Fishing for stocked trout in some low elevation rivers will be fair and maybe good, depending on the river you choose. You may find some State maintained rivers have not been stocked recently or may not be stocked until this Fall when the water is cooler. I don’t know that for sure but that is usually the case in the warmer rivers as we move into Summer.

Fishing for warmer water species in the lowland rivers is good. Fishing may be best in the deeper pools. I would try poppers or foam floating flies, especially in the shaded or dimly lit areas early or late. If that is not working, try streamers or crayfish patterns.

This may not be a great lake fishing day due to the predicted breezy conditions. Go early or late to avoid the bright sun. Cast to the banks or cover with streamers, swimming nymphs, foam floating flies or poppers.

There is a mixed bag of generation schedules planned at the dams today. I noticed longer periods of generation planned later this morning or this afternoon at several. At others, the schedules call for longer periods of no generation with some pulsing mixed in. Refer to the TVA website to plan your tailwater fishing day and be flexible.

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

Byron Begley
June 14, 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