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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:56 am, the temperature is 66.9 degrees.

It will be very warm and muggy for a few days with high temperatures near 90 degrees, dropping to around 70 degrees at night. We will also have fairly high to high chances for rain and thunderstorms each day through the weekend and beyond. “Scattered showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast today. Some of these storms could be strong to possibly severe with damaging winds, cloud to ground lightning, and brief heavy rainfall being the primary threats”, according to the National Weather Service.

Little River is flowing at 107 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.63 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 122 cfs. The water temperature is 68.7 degrees this morning.

Many mountains streams are flowing near normal. Water temperatures are warm in the low elevations. Fish in the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the middle 60’s or cooler.

Dry flies and nymphs are working. A terrestrial dry fly is a good choice. Don’t be afraid to try larger terrestrial dry fly patterns. The trout are looking for a good meal. Drop a small bead head nymph or Green Weenie off your dry fly. Fish the broken water where the trout are hiding. Dress to blend with the forest, stay hidden from the trout, and you will catch more.

Lowland rivers are flowing near normal, which is low this time of the year. Though rain is in the forecast every day this week, it will be sunny to partly sunny most days. Smallmouth bass, rock bass and sunfish can be caught but your best fishing will be early or late. If the river you are fishing has tree canopy present, you may do well when the sun is high. Fish the shaded areas of the river with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers, nymphs or crayfish patterns.

They will be sluicing at Cherokee Dam all day, at 3,400 cfs. I don’t know why. And, they will be generating all day on the Clinch River below Norris Dam. Some tailwaters in the area will be on a schedule of no generation early except for pulsing, then running the turbines later in the day. You can work with those.

It will be sunny at times and hot each day this week. Humidity will be high. Load your boat with water if you plan on fishing the lakes. I would go early or late when the sun is off the water. Hit the banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs. When the sun is high, and there are not shaded banks to fish, I would go home.

It is going to be cooler next week, though the chance for rain or thunderstorms exist every day, according to the long term forecast. That is good news for me. I will be off four days next week to fish for trout on one of the area tailwaters.

My office here at home is a total mess. I am organizing the “fishing closet” and drawers on my fly tying bench and computer work desk. A huge amount of fly tying materials I have not used in a while will be moved to the basement. Paula is buying some more large plastic storage boxes for me today at Target. This project has been long overdue.

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

Byron Begley
August 10, 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