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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:02 am, the temperature outside is 65.1 degrees.

Today will be mostly cloudy with a 60% to 80% chance for showers followed by a 50% to 60% chance tonight. There is a good chance for thunderstorms tomorrow and Wednesday.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTED HIGHS AND LOWS TODAY

Little River is flowing at 205 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.97 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 129 cfs. The water temperature is 66.2 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River at the Sevierville gauge is flowing at 624 cfs or 2.32 feet on the gauge. Median flow there is 269 cfs. Oconaluftee River is flowing at 436 cfs, compared to 286 cfs median flow. Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 83.2 cfs. Median flow at Cataloochee for this date is 56 cfs.

So, most stream in the Park are flowing above normal today. Normal is low in July. The Little Pigeon if flowing quite a bit higher than median flow.

Fishing today will be best in the mid to high elevations where the water is cooler. Dry flies and nymphs will both produce for you. Try a dry and dropper rig. My favorite flies for this time of the year are, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Yellow Stimulator, foam beetle, Green Weenie, Pink Weenie or a Bead Head Pheasant Tail.

We have been blessed with good stream flows this month. Fishing has been good all month, except for brief temporary high stream flows and turbid water at times. That is normal in July. July is our wettest month of the year.

I talked to guide Josh Pfeiffer yesterday. He said fishing for smallmouth bass has been good on the tailwaters where he guides. Smallies are taking poppers and other top water flies on overcast days or early and late when the sun is off the water. When the sun pops out, switch to streamers. His clients are catching some bass in the 16” to 20” range.

The trout tailwaters are fishing well too. Lowland river fishing should be fair to good, but I have not been and nobody I’ve talked to has either. These rivers have been flowing high and stained at times lately. When you catch them right, fishing should be good.

The lakes are fishing well for smallmouth and largemouth bass, carp and bluegill. Fishing is best for fly anglers on cloudy days, or you can go early or late. Today will be an excellent day to go, thanks to the predictd cloud cover. You may get wet and thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and this evening.

I try to stay close to the ramp when I know the chance for storms is high.

Everything is going well at Little River Outfitters. We are having a busy year. I have been working at the shop quite a bit lately, organizing and keeping the fly tying department stocked. I think I will be in maintenance mode in a week or two. We have it well stocked right now, with orders coming today and through the week from Wapsi, Umpqua, Metz and Gamakatsu.

I hope you are able to fish today. Except for the chance for thunderstorms later, this may be a good one.

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

Byron Begley
July 23, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com