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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 7:02 am, the temperature outside is 68 degrees.

It rained again yesterday. The Knoxville Airport reported .60 inches fell there. We got .36 inches in Townsend.

It is a beautiful morning in Townsend and the Great Smoky Mountains. That should continue until this afternoon. Late this afternoon and tonight may be different. Showers and thunderstorms are headed our way, maybe. Some storms could be severe with damaging wind, possible large hail and heavy rain.

The balance of the week through the weekend looks better, though there is a chance for more rain every day through Sunday. Except for today, the chance for rain tomorrow through Sunday is only 20% to 40%. Rainfall later this week will be the normal Summer scattered thunderstorms.

Little River is flowing at 196 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.94 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 137 cfs. The water temperature is 68 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 465 cfs, 2.07 feet, compared to median flow of 258 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 705 cfs, 2.19 feet, and that compares to median flow of 333 cfs.

Tellico River is flowing at 187 cfs, 1.29 feet, compared to median flow of 126 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 153 cfs. 2.78 feet, compared to median flow of 65 cfs.

We have very good stream flows for this time of the year. Water temperatures are warm in the lowest elevations. Little River just below the Townsend “Y” rose to a little over 70 degrees yesterday. That will likely happen again today. Fish the mid to high elevation streams where the water is cooler.

Try upper Middle Prong, on the gravel road. Check the temp there. The East Prong of Little River will be cooler above Metcalf Bottoms, to Elkmont and above. Upper West Prong of Little River will be cool. Thunderhead Prong and Lynn Camp Prong will be fine too.

I would use dry flies, nymphs or a combination of both. Or, you might try two nymphs on a rig. Black foam beetles, Stimulators, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Smoky Mountain Candy or Rob’s Hellbender are all good choices for your dry fly. Nymph choices should include Pink and Green Weenies or any reasonable pattern.

Lowland river fishing may be fair today. Go early or late, or fish shaded water with poppers for smallmouth bass and rock bass.

If you are fly fishing on a lake you should have been there at daybreak. Now, you will be looking for shaded banks. I would avoid the lakes later today, due to the chance for severe thunderstorms.

TVA continues again to run about 8,000 cfs at Cherokee Dam all day and night. They are sluicing at Norris Dam, about 6,800 cfs. They are generating at about 9,900 cfs all day and night at Douglas Dam. They plan to generate between 8 am and 6 pm at Center Hill Dam. 14,000 to 15,000 cfs is flowing through Wolf Creek Dam, midnight to midnight.

The reason for this is the rain we have been getting. This year, rainfall at the Knoxville Airport is 14.33 inches above normal as of today. Other areas may have had more.

I pulled up to our carport Friday and saw I had left our grill near the entrance where I park from the night before. When I grilled that night, it was windy and raining. I moved the grill to that location to keep the smoke from blowing into my face. The grill looked normal, just misplaced. The lid was on the grill.

About an hour later, a large bear walked by our house. He just kept walking and was out of sight shortly.

A few minutes later, I walked outside to get something out of my truck. The grill looked different. The lid had been removed and was hanging on the kettle by the flange, which I never do but it is designed for that purpose.

The bear did it. It appeared he lifted the kettle cover off and hung it on the side. Of course, that is not possible. He must have pushed it with his nose or paw and it happened to catch on the flange.

Anyway, that is the first time in 26 years, a bear has bothered our grill. We see bears at our house often, though not this year for some reason. I would love to have watched that.

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

Byron Begley
June 24, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com