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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:44 am, the temperature outside is 70.9 degrees.

It is going to be hot today and through the weekend, with high temperatures in the upper 80’s to 90 degrees. The nights will be very warm too, dropping only to 70 degrees or nearly that.

We have a fair chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. The chance is lower tomorrow. Friday, and through the weekend, we may see scattered thunderstorms at times. I am looking at two weather websites, that conflict about the chance for rain.

The humidity is expected to be about 70% each day through the weekend.

I can tell you for sure, it is going to be hot and muggy for a while.

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 130 cfs. The water temperature is 68 degrees this morning, at the low elevation gauge site near Townsend. The water will be much cooler in the high elevations.

Most streams in the Park are flowing at near or a little above normal. Little Pigeon River is flowing slightly below normal.

The water will be warm in the lower elevations for several days. Seek higher ground where the water is cooler. You might do best, fishing a backcountry smaller and shaded stream. That is what I would do. You will be more comfortable. I think the fishing will be better.

Go early or late, when the sun is off the water or find shaded areas to fish.

Terrestrial imitations are good fly choices right now, in the Smokies. Try a foam beetle, ant and Green or Pink Weenies. You may drop a Weenie off the beetle or fish one alone and weighted. You can also drop an ant dry off the beetle. Ant patterns are hard to see. Watch for a fish rising behind your larger dry fly. The trout probably ate your ant.  Try other flies too. They may work well.

Stealth is paramount to success. We have normal Summer flows. Normal is low in July. If the trout see you, and they are spooked, you probably won’t catch them. Dress to blend with the forest. I would start with light tippet, probably 5X.

A trout or smallmouth bass tailwater may be a good choice. I am floating one, all day tomorrow, with guides Josh Pfeiffer and Gary Troutman, along with three lifelong friends of mine. We all grew up together in Kentucky. We all fly fish. We call ourselves, “The Buddy Boys”.

Josh and Gary are excellent fly fishing guides and wonderful people to spend the day with. They both helped me get into smallmouth bass fishing. They are experts.

We will be fishing for smallies. I don’t know which river we will be floating. The guides will make that call tonight, after reviewing the generation schedules. I think we’ll be on either the Holston or French Broad rivers. I’m taking plenty of sunscreen. I bet we stop at times, so we can cool off in the river.

Lake fishing is probably fair to good. I have not been in a week. Go early or late. Fish the shaded banks with either streamers or poppers. Drink plenty of fluids. You will be sweating.

Today is my birthday and I’m going to work. I am 67 years old and I feel thirty. I lost 43 to 45 pounds during the past 11 months, depending on the day. I am at my 30-year old weight. All it took was diet changes and exercise. The only food I miss is pizza and I don’t crave it as much as I did early on. I’m going to cheat tomorrow and eat what the guides prepared for lunch. Hopefully they have sandwiches with real bread.

Daniel will be writing the fishing report tomorrow and Friday. I’ll be back to work Saturday.

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

Byron Begley
July 11, 2018  

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com