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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:08 am, the temperature outside is 67.3 degrees.

Today will be partly sunny with a high temperature in the mid-80’s. We have a low chance for thunderstorms today. Sunday will bring a higher chance for thunderstorms. It will be mostly cloudy all day.

Right now, scattered thunderstorms are predicted every day on the long term forecast, through July 7th. Highs will range from the mid-80’s to 90 degrees. Lows at night will be in the upper 60’s.

Little River is flowing at 225 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.03 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 142 cfs. The water temperature is 67.1 degrees this morning.

This weekend through early next week will offer good fishing conditions, specifically, cloud cover at times. There is a chance each day, thunderstorms and associated rain could raise stream levels and cause stained water. That is normal this time of the year. The scattered nature of these storms may cause temporary problems in some streams in the Park, but not in others. You may have to move to another watershed if that happens where you are fishing.

Fish the mid to high elevations where the water is cooler. Fishing will be good. Trout will take dry flies or nymphs and other sub-surface flies.

I would use the following:

Yellow Neversink Caddis #16
Yellow Stimulator
Rob’s Hellbender
Parachute Adams
Foam Beetle
Green or Pink Weenie
Bead Head Pheasant Tail

Other fly patterns will work. Some may work better than those listed above. Change tactics if you are not catching trout.

The Park is loaded with visitors. I would hike into the backcountry to fish this weekend. Good choices would be the East Prong of Little River above Elkmont or Lynn Camp Prong. There are many miles of backcountry streams in the mid to upper elevations to choose from on the North Carolina or Tennessee side of the Park.

Stealth is of the utmost importance, though stream levels are higher than normal right now. Dress to blend in with the forest. Get a good drift.

The trout and smallmouth bass tailwaters are fishing well. Whether you plan to float, boat or wade, check the TVA website from the links below, to see if their generation schedule works for you and your type of fly fishing.

The lakes are fishing fair to good. Water temperatures in some lakes are warm, causing bass and other gamefish to be in deeper water. You will find fish in shallow water in the cooler lakes.

Overall, I am very excited about the Summer fishing conditions as they appear right now. We should see sustained normal or above normal flows in the Smoky Mountains. No large storms are in the forecast, so the tailwater flows should be normal. I see cloudy days in the future, which is good for fishing, especially for those, like me, who enjoy fly fishing on lakes.

It is going to be hot!

I found a great video on the Cycology website. Our friend Caroline is demonstrating e-bikes while riding on the Cades Cove Loop Road. E-bikes have motorized assist, which is helpful going up some of those hills in the Cove. Power is provided by a re-chargeable battery. This video is well done with a lot of great scenery. Caroline and the lady with her did a great job on this.

Cycology is a bicycle store which is part of Little River Trading Company in Maryville. The expert service, high level expertise when choosing a bike, and friendly helpful people makes visiting there a pleasure for me.

The bikes used in the video are made by Electra. They are called Townie Bikes. I bought two Townie bikes from Caroline two years ago for Paula and I. We love them. They are comfortable and easy to ride. I heard these are the best selling bicycles in America. Electra is a Trek company.

Watch the video below. Blow it up to full screen for the full effect.

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

Byron Begley
June 23, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com