Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:40 am, the temperature is 68.9 degrees.
Scattered thunderstorms blew through the area late yesterday. Rainfall totals amounted to .48” in Townsend, .38” in Cades Cove and Gatlinburg got only a trace.
It will be hot and humid today with a high temperature around 90 degrees. We have a chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. The temperature tomorrow will be about the same as today but the chance for thunderstorms is higher. Hot days and thunderstorms will remain in the forecast through the week.
Little River is flowing at 80 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.51 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 122 cfs. The water temperature is 71.4 degrees this morning at the low elevation USGS gauge site located just inside the National Park near Townsend.
Some streams in the mountains are flowing higher than normal while others are flowing lower. Water temperatures are warm and will remain that way through the week. The Park will be crowded today. Go early and hike into the backcountry in the higher elevations to fish. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs.
Fishing in the lowland rivers for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish is fair. Some of the rivers are flowing low. Fish in the deeper pools and runs with poppers, foam floating flies, nymphs, streamers and crayfish patterns. There will be a lot of people swimming and tubing in some of the rivers, including Little River. Go early or late.
The lakes will be packed with boaters today. Personally, I would not go. If you are planning to fish on a lake, go early and fish the dim light hours of the morning. Watch for surface feeding when the sun is low. Fish the shaded banks as the sun rises higher. Clouser Minnows, Wiggle Minnows and Puglisi Threadfin Shad patterns will work where fish are feeding on shad. Hit the banks with streamers, poppers, foam floating flies and swimming nymphs if you don’t see action on the surface.
The generators will be mostly idle with some pulsing at many dams early today, but generation will become active this afternoon. You can work with many of the generation schedules on the tailwaters if you go early and pick the spots to wade or float.
Yesterday I wrote about the perception there seem to be less visitors in Townsend than we normally see on the 4th of July weekend. I drove to the shop to do some things early yesterday morning, then drove home and stayed here. I did notice the parking lot at the Best Western was full at 6:45 am.
Paula drove to town yesterday. She returned and told me the town is packed with visitors. Maybe Saturday was the travel day this weekend. Expect the same today.
We are having problems with deer munching on our vegetable garden. Joel, who works with us at the shop told me about a repellent that works. He also told me the repellent smells terrible.
Paula bought a gallon of deer and rabbit deterrent at Ace Hardware yesterday. Betty checked her out at Ace and commented about how bad the stuff smells, even though the jug had not been opened. Paula opened the jug to attach the included sprayer and I got a whiff of the repellent. It’s awful. I thought I was going to get sick. She sprayed some around the perimeter of the garden late yesterday.
We think our deer and rabbit problems are over. Those poor animals will get a whiff of that stuff, lose their appetite and possibly anything they ate earlier.
Have a great 4th of July and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
July 4, 2022
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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