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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:56 am, the temperature outside is 66 degrees.
It is extremely foggy this morning. I can’t see the Smoky Mountains from my office window, and Trillium Cove is barely visible. Today, tomorrow and Monday will be warm, in the upper 80’s. Lows at night will be in the upper 60’s. There is a 20% chance for thunderstorms through the weekend. It will be mostly sunny.
Little River is flowing at 187 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.91 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 104 cfs. The river rose yesterday due to a small thunderstorm dropping rain. And, the river is rising slightly again this morning. The water temperature is 67.1 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing fairly high at 499 cfs, 2.12 feet, compared to median flow of 230 cfs. A thunderstorm hovered over that drainage yesterday afternoon, causing the streams there to rise. They are fine for fishing now and the main river has peaked.
All other streams in the Park that have USGS gauges are stable and flowing above median flow.
Fishing is good, especially in the mid to higher elevations. The water is warm in the lowest elevation streams during the day, though they are fine this morning. Fish up stream where the water is cooler, in the 60’s. You don’t have to go far to find cooler water.
I would use Yellow Sally Stonefly imitations or terrestrials. Try a black foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper. That combination is working very well right now.
Lowland river fishing is fair. Fish the shaded areas of the streams when the sun is high. Poppers and streamers will work for the smallmouth bass and rock bass. Nymphs are a good choice for the stocked trout in the lowland rivers.
Personally, I would stay off the lakes this weekend due to the typical number of Summer recreation boaters who will be enjoying the lakes. If you go, you should be there now. Or, go late in the day. Poppers and streamers are what I would be using.
Some of the local trout tailwaters will be flowing closer to normal today. That is still not the case at Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky. Discharge at that dam is currently over 19,000 cfs and that will continue midnight to midnight today. The lake level there is at 725.59 feet, higher than in the past few years on this date.
Check the TVA website and you may find some opportunities to fish our trout tailwaters. This is good news.
Here is some more good news. Tennessee Department of Transportation has finished stabilizing the bluff in the turns leading to Townsend from Maryville on Highway 321. The stop and go lights have been removed. This should cut at least 10 minutes from your travel time to Townsend from that direction and going back home. They will be repairing the pavement beginning Monday and they should be finished by the 4th. So, there will be flag crews curtailing traffic at times, Monday through Wednesday.
Remember the two young elk bulls that have been making their way to Townsend? That was big news last week. The bulls traversed the high peaks from North Carolina to Clingman’s Dome, and traveled to Sugarlands. Then, they moved toward Townsend through Wears Valley. I suppose they are here now.
The theory was, when the rut begins this Fall, they will go home, because there are no females here. That may have changed too. Two elk have been spotted in Townsend, and they are supposedly females or cows. Paul saw a photo one of our customers took. He said they looked like cows, with no velvet antlers. The young bulls both have velvet antlers.
Experts say, if the bulls find cows, they will stay. So, we may have elk wandering around here year-round now. I hope so. Can you imagine the traffic on the Cades Cove loop road when elk populate here? It is just a matter of time. This is expected at some point.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
June 29, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
