Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:45 am, the temperature is 67 degrees.

It will be mostly cloudy early today before gradually clearing with a high temperature in the middle to upper 80’s. There is a slight chance for thunderstorms tonight.

Tomorrow will be sunny with a low chance for thunderstorms and a high around 90 degrees.

Little River is flowing at 159 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.87 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 126 cfs. The water temperature is 68.7 degrees this morning. Yesterday, the water temperature peaked at 71.4 degrees at 5:45 pm. These readings are taken at the low elevation USGS gauge site located near Townsend.

Most streams in the mountains are flowing near normal, some slightly higher with other flowing slightly lower. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations.

If you go fishing in the Smokies today, fish in the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for temperatures in the 60’s. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. Good dry fly patterns are Yellow Sally Stonefly imitations or foam beetles. A good nymph to use is a Green Weenie.

Fishing for stocked trout is fair to good depending on which river you choose. Some low elevation rivers will be warm today. Nymphs are good fly choices.

Fishing in the lowland rivers for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish is good. Many of the rivers are flowing low, which is normal in July. Streamers, crayfish patterns, foam floating flies or poppers are all good fly choices. You will likely do best fishing in the deeper pools, in shaded areas.

This may be a good lake fishing day, due to the expected cloud cover early. Winds are predicted to be calm. Hit the shaded banks and cover with weighted streamers, swimming nymphs, poppers or foam floating flies. Watch for gamefish feeding on the surface, especially early or when it is cloudy. The fish will be feeding on threadfin shad. A Clouser Minnow or Puglisi Threadfin Shad are excellent patterns to use in these circumstances.

There are generation schedules you can work with if you plan to fish on a tailwater today. The turbines will be churning for long periods at some dams later this morning or this afternoon. Visit the TVA website to see what tailwater fishing options you have.

A good chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms are back in the forecast Wednesday through at least Friday. We need frequent rain to maintain good stream flows so any moderate rain is welcome. Using the Knoxville Airport as a reference, rainfall so far in July is .27 inches below normal. Since June 1st, rainfall is 1.50 inches above normal.

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

Byron Begley
July 17, 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