If you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.

Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:55 am, the temperature outside is 64 degrees.

It is going to be warm today and hot tomorrow. We are going to feel high temperatures in the upper 80’s all week and maybe we’ll hit 90 tomorrow. Lows at night will be in the 60’s. There is no rain predicted through Friday. The chance is somewhat greater for rain this weekend.

Little River if flowing at 173 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.86 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 121 cfs. The water temperature is 67.6 degrees this morning.

All streams in the Park are flowing above normal for this date.

The streams are warm in the low elevations. Fish the mid to high elevation streams where the water is cooler. I would fish the Middle Prong of Little River on the gravel road and Lynn Camp Prong or Thunderhead Prong at the end of the road.

On the East Prong of Little River, start at Metcalf Bottoms early. Then you will probably want to move up toward Elkmont or above later. One of my top two favorite streams is Fish Camp Prong. Hike up the Little River trail above Elkmont to the Goshen Prong Trail on your right, below Campsite #24. Fish Camp Prong follows the Goshen Prong Trail for about four miles. I have caught brook, brown and rainbow trout in that beautiful stream. Most people won’t hike over 4 miles to fish. So, you should find some solitude there.

Upper West Prong of Little River is another good choice. I like fishing from the road to Campsite #18.

My choice for dry flies would be terrestrials (beetles), Yellow Neversink Caddis, Rob’s Hellbender, Parachute Adams, Smoky Mountain Candy or a Stimulator. My favorite sub-surface fly for Summer fishing is a Green Weenie.

Lefty Kreh was in the shop one day and we talked to Brian Courtney. Brian was tying Green Weenies. Lefty told us he had just finished an article about his favorite trout flies and the Green Weenie was one of them. Later, he told me he also liked the Red Weenies, tied with Micro Ultra Chenille. After returning to his home in Maryland, he called the shop and ordered some of the red Ultra Chenille.

Later that year, Joe Humphreys was here. Supposedly, his best friend, George Harvey, came up with the Green Weenie pattern. Joe told me, “You should also try them in red”.

So yesterday, after all these years, I bought some red Micro Ultra Chenille. I’m going to tie some Red Weenies.

I have not heard any good news about trout fishing in town. The water is warm. One customer commented on the fact there were so many tubers floating the river, and he felt that hampered his fishing success. I told him to try the Park. Or, go early or late in town. The water is cooler and there won’t be many people tubing if you get away from the roads in the Smokies.

Fishing for smallmouth bass and rock bass is probably good in some lowland rivers. I would go early or late. If you are fishing midday, cast to the shaded water. Poppers should work well.

You are going to bake on the lakes this week if you do not go early or late. Cast poppers to the banks when the sun is off the water. Watch for gamefish feeding on the surface, clobbering threadfin shad. They will only be doing that when the sun is off the water.

Surely, the dams above the trout tailwaters will be discharging less water soon. Not today at Cherokee Dam. They are running day and night. Right now, they are running generators at Douglas Dam until midnight or beyond. TVA is sluicing 6,800 cfs at Norris Dam until further notice. Wolf Creek Dam is cranking 15,000 cfs midnight to midnight. They say they are not generating around the clock at Center Hill Dam. Maybe that is the case. I hope so.

With less rain in the forecast, we can only hope this attempt to keep the lakes lower will soon subside.

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

Byron Begley
June 26, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com