Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:38 am, the temperature is 72 degrees.

It rained yesterday and last night. We got .65 inches near our house and .90 inches was recorded near the shop during the past 24 hours.

It will be partly cloudy today with a slight chance for thunderstorms and a high temperature in the middle 80’s.

Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the upper 80’s.

Little River is flowing at 199 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.01 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 153 cfs. The water temperature is 69.8 degrees this morning. Yesterday, the water temperature reached 72 degrees at the low elevation Townsend gauge at 5:00 pm.

Most streams in the mountains are flowing higher than median flow but at good fishable levels. Most streams are receding. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations.

If you go fishing in the mountains today, fish in the middle to higher elevations where the water is cooler. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs.

Fishing for stocked trout is fair to good. Some stocked rivers are warm. Nymphs and egg patterns are good fly choices.

Fishing for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish is good in the lowland rivers. There is a chance some rivers may be stained in the lower reaches. Streamers, crayfish patterns, foam floating flies and poppers are all good fly choices.

The lakes will likely be crowded with recreation boaters today. I would go early, and launch at daybreak.  It may be overcast at times which is a good lake fishing condition. Hit the banks and cover with weighted streamers, swimming nymphs, poppers or foam floating flies. If the sun is bright, find shaded areas to fish. If shade is not available, use your streamers or swimming nymphs. Let them sink deep and retrieve slowly.  

There are many tailwater fishing options today. Check the TVA website to view the generation schedules and plan accordingly.

The shop will be open from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm today with the usual Sunday team there to help you. Sunday is my day off so I will be here at home organizing my fly fishing gear and taking it easy.

I will also be watching the sales transactions at the shop on my home computer. I can see who the customers are, what they bought and who rang up the sale. That was not possible until January 2019, when we switched to a cloud based point of sale system. I love it.

Tomorrow is ordering day for me. I place orders to replenish the fly tying department every Monday. Those orders begin arriving on Thursday. I get everything out and start the process again the next Monday.

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

Byron Begley
July 16, 2023

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Parking Tags are now required to park your vehicle inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes. Tags may be purchased at Visitors Centers, including the center in Townsend. Or, they may be purchased online. You can buy a daily, weekly or annual tag. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com