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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:06 am, the temperature outside is 64.2 degrees.

Today through Sunday will be hot, with high temperatures in the upper 80’s to 90 degrees. It will be dry, no rain is predicted until Sunday afternoon. The chance for scattered thunderstorms is 40% Sunday and higher Monday through Thursday.

Little River is flowing at 62.7 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.49 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 138 cfs. The water temperature is 71.4 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 169 cfs, 1.43 feet, compared to median flow of 303 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 223 cfs, 1.38 feet, compared to median flow of 273 cfs. The water temperature is 68.0 degrees.

Tellico River is flowing above median flow at the Tellico Plains gauge. The river is flowing at 123 cfs, 1.03 feet, compared to median flow of 106 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 56.3 cfs, 2.33 feet, compared to median flow of 53 cfs. The water temperature is 63.0 degrees this morning.

Streams in the Smokies are flowing lower than normal for the most part. Additionally, the streams are warm in the lowest elevations. It looks like these conditions will continue through the weekend.

We have had low water conditions in some watersheds for a few days. Now, most are flowing lower than normal.

I would call fishing “Fair” right now. You can catch trout but you will have to be mindful of the low and warm water we have now.

To be successful, you need to fish in the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the 60’s during the heat of the day. Dress to blend in, so the trout do not see you. Fish the choppy water in riffles, plunge pools and deep runs. Use fine tippet. I would use 6X.

I would tend to rely on dry flies with a dropper. A Yellow Neversink Caddis or Elk Hair Caddis would be two of my first choices. Another would be a black foam beetle. For a dropper, I would use a Green Weenie. Other flies will work. The trout will be looking for food while trying to hide from predators.

I think lowland river fishing will be fair at best. Go early or late when the sun is off the water. If you are fishing midday, fish shaded areas of the rivers. Poppers or foam floating flies are what I would use.

Lake fishing is fair. Go early or late and fish shaded banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or Rubber Legged Dragons.

I don’t see many tailwater opportunities today but there are some. I did not check all of them in Tennessee. Visit the TVA website from the links below to see what rivers might be fishable for you today.

I am writing this report from home, for the first time in months. My goal is to change my routine, mainly because the days are getting shorter and I hate driving to work in the dark.

This iMac is brand new. I hope this report loads successfully. My plan is to write the report early, work out, shower and leave for work at 7:30 am. Three things I do every morning at the shop before opening are, clean both bath rooms, blow off the parking lot and clean the glass on the front doors. I usually clean a couple of windows every day or every other day.

I left all three of my computers in Knoxville with my pros, merging files, moving software subscriptions and for about 30 hours during that time, I was computer-less. Almost all of my work requires a computer. I don’t need one to clean bath rooms of course.

So, I’ll run this report up on the server and see if it works.

It worked!

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

Byron Begley
August 16, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com