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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:49 am, the temperature is 63.5 degrees.

Scattered showers brought heavy rain to some areas in the Smokies yesterday. Almost an inch of rain fell in Townsend. Today will usher in warmer and dryer weather for a few days. No rain is predicted today, with a high temperature in the upper 80’s. It will be hot tomorrow through early next week with highs in the upper 80’s to low 90’s. We have a low chance for showers and thunderstorms beginning tomorrow and lasting through the weekend.

Little River is flowing at 167 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.87 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 132 cfs. The water temperature is 66.2 degrees this morning.

Some streams in the Smokies are flowing higher than normal, though at good fishable levels. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations and we will see further warming as we move through this week. Fish the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the middle 60’s or cooler later in the day when the water is warmest.

Dry flies and nymphs will work. Terrestrial imitations are excellent choices. Try a beetle or other terrestrial pattern for your dry fly. Dropping a Green Weenie, Pink Weenie or ant pattern off your dry fly is a good strategy. Stealth and proper fly presentation are essential to your success. Don’t let the trout see you and get a good drift. You will catch more. Fish the broken water in riffles, plunge pools and deeper runs.

Lowland rivers are flowing higher than normal in most cases. Some rivers exiting the mountains are flowing fairly high, including Little Pigeon River and Tellico River. They are all receding now. Fishing will be best early or late in the rivers that do not have tree canopy. Fish the shaded areas on the rivers that do, after the sun rises higher. Foam floating flies and poppers should work for you. If not, switch to streamers, nymphs or crayfish patterns.

Check the TVA website from the links below to see the generation schedules to plan your day on a tailwater. There are some options for wade and boat fishing depending on where you go and when.

I would go early or late to the lakes when the sun is off the water. My choice would be to launch at daybreak and cast to the banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs. When the sun is high and it gets hot, I’m ready to go home.  

We are busy at the shop for now. That always changes in early August, when the kids go back to school and less people will be traveling. Schools will be back in session here, the first week in August.

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

Byron Begley
July 21, 2021

WALTER BABB MADE BAMBOO FLY RODS FOR SALE – CLICK HERE

Walter is selling a selection of over 50 bamboo fly rods. All but one was made by him. The other one was custom made for Walter by Walton Powell. Read the description of each rod on the list and contact him if you are interested in buying one or more than one. Even if you are not interested in a purchase, this web page is very interesting to read. Walter has made over 285 bamboo rods over the past 20-years. You will be working directly with Walter on a purchase and you can test cast the rods before you buy one at his home. Or, call him and he will ship a rod to you. His contact information is on the web page he and I created.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com