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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:53 am, the temperature outside is 73.4 degrees.

In a couple of weeks, it is going to be dark when I drive to work each morning. It was almost dark today at 6:30 am, when I left home. It is a pretty morning here in Townsend. The sky is partly cloudy. The sun will be rising soon, over the mountains. I expect there will be an orange sunrise in a few minutes.

It will be warm to hot this weekend. Expect a high temperature in the upper 80’s today, rising to the low 90’s tomorrow. We have a chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. I hope those storms gather and rain in the Little River watershed.

Little River is flowing at 81.8 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.60 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 134 cfs. The water temperature is 72.3 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 222 cfs, 1.57 feet, compared to median flow of 258 cfs for this date.

Oconaluftee River is flowing slightly above normal at 304 cfs, 1.48 feet, compared to median flow of 274 cfs. The water temperature is 67.3 degrees.

Tellico River is flowing above normal too, at 151 cfs, 1.15 feet, compared to median flow of 119 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek looks good and it is actually rising right now. Flow there is 66.5 cfs, 2.39 feet, compared to median flow of 58 cfs. The water temperature is 63.0 degrees.

Some streams are flowing lower than normal while others are not. Water temperatures are very warm in the lower elevations. The temp at Little River rose to 75 degrees yesterday at the very low elevation USGS gauge site, just inside the Park at the Townsend entrance.

You should plan of fishing the mid to high elevations streams today and tomorrow. Fighting and releasing a trout in 70 plus degree water can be lethal to the fish. The trout will be more active in cooler water. Fishing will be better. You don’t have to drive or hike to the very highest elevations to find cooler water. Just go further upstream and look for water temperatures in the 60’s.

Fishing is good in the Smokies. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. I would use a foam beetle, Elk Hair Caddis or a Yellow Neversink Caddis for my dry fly. Other patterns will work fine too. My sub-surface choice would be a Green Weenie.

Stealth is crucial to your success. Don’t let the trout see you.

I think fishing for smallmouth bass in lower Little River may be slow to fair. The river is flowing low. Use poppers or foam floating flies and fish shaded deep runs and pools. You may do fine. The conditions are not ideal right now. Other lowland rivers may be better.

I would go early or late to fly fish in the lakes. You might be lucky today and find cloudy to partly cloudy skies. If that is the case, fish all day.

TVA is still running the turbines at Cherokee Dam, around the clock. How long is that going to last? The lake level is lower than it was last year at this time. The lake elevation is within the operating range. Maybe they will shut them off soon.

There are some tailwater fishing opportunities today. You may want to be at those rivers right now. Check the TVA website from the links below to plan your day.

We are having a very busy August so far, compared to past years. August is usually very slow. I’m happy about that.

I am ordering and receiving a lot of tying materials. But, I’m having problems getting Tiemco hooks. Umpqua has been out of stock on many popular hooks for weeks. I just got another disappointing order from them yesterday.

Whiting Farms is behind. I placed a large order near the end of July and we still don’t have it. I called yesterday. They told me it should ship next week. They are very nice people. The problems is, they are filling huge orders for fly tying companies overseas.  

All the other companies I buy from are getting us what we need. I am still ordering from Wapsi weekly, like I normally do during the big months. The big months are the cold months, in the fly tying business.

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

Byron Begley
August 10, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com