Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:45 am, the temperature is 69.4 degrees.
It will be sunny and hot today with a high temperature in the low 90’s. High temperatures may drop to the upper 80’s tomorrow and through the weekend. There is a low chance for thunderstorms tomorrow and Saturday and a higher chance Sunday.
Little River is flowing at 80 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.51 feet on the gauge. This gauge reading is low, but in 1988, Little River was flowing at 28.0 cfs which was a record for this date. Median flow for this date is 150 cfs. The water temperature is 69.8 degrees and rose to 72 degrees yesterday.
Most streams in the mountains are flowing below normal. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations. Fish in the high elevations where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the middle 60’s which can be found at the higher elevations.
Dry flies and nymphs will work. Good dry fly choices are yellow sally stonefly and terrestrial imitations. Drop a Green Weenie off your dry fly.
The lowland rivers are flowing low. If you are planning to fish for smallmouth bass or panfish, you will find them in the deeper runs and pools. Hit the shaded areas with poppers or foam floating flies. Nymphs and streamers may work too. Crayfish patterns are always a good choice during the warm months.
Lake fishing in shallow water is probably fair to good. Go early or late when the sun is off the water or fish shaded banks. Poppers, foam floating flies, swimming nymphs or streamers are all good fly choices.
The water is warm. Large bluegill and shell crackers will be deeper. Under these conditions, I have done well using a weighted swimming nymph or a dragon or damsel fly imitation. The dragons I tie are weighted with bead chain eyes with a dubbed body on a #4 short shank egg fly hook. The collar and tail are added using fur from rabbit strips. Mine always have rubber legs tied in. My favorite colors are rusty orange, chartreuse, olive and black.
Cast them to likely areas and let them sink. Then, start a slow retrieve, keeping the nymph deep. You could pause and let the fly fall deeper. Vary your retrieve until you find what the fish are interested in. You may catch any species doing this, but you will usually catch larger fish. I tie mine with different sizes of bead chain which give me a depth choice.
Tailwater anglers have many choices today whether you are boating or wading. At many dams, the heavier generation will be this afternoon. Check the TVA website from the links below to plan your tailwater fishing day.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
June 23, 2022
NOTICE: FLY TYERS WEEKEND SCHEDULED ON NOVEMBER 5TH AND 6TH HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES.
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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