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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:13 am, the temperature outside is 61.9 degrees.
Today will be mostly sunny and pleasant with a high temperature in the mid 80’s, falling to the upper 50’s tonight. Tomorrow and Sunday will be similar to today. The chance for rain this weekend is low.
Rain fell in the Little River watershed yesterday. The river rose to about normal briefly, but receded. Currently, flow is 45.4 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.25 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 73 cfs. The water temperature is 70.3 degrees.
Rain also fell in the Little Pigeon River watershed yesterday. Flow at the Sevierville gauge is 146 cfs, 1.36 feet, compared to median flow of 139 cfs.
Rain fell earlier yesterday, in the Oconaluftee River watershed. Flow at the Birdtown gauge is 178 cfs, 1.25 feet, compared to median flow of 200 cfs. The water temperature is 64.9 degrees.
Tellico River is flowing at 57.0 cfs, .65 feet, compared to median flow of 73 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 33.6 cfs, 2.19 feet, compared to median flow of 40 cfs. The water temperature is 61.2 degrees this morning.
The streams are cooling some though they are still warm in the lowest elevations. Drive or hike to higher elevations, where the water is cooler. Find water temps in the 60’s.
Anglers are catching trout, but the fish are spooky. Fish the broken water, dress to blend with the forest and make every cast count. Most reasonable dry fly or nymphs patterns will work if you make a good presentation and get a good drift. I would still use terrestrial patterns. Drop a Green Weenie off your dry fly.
Fishing is fair at best in the lowland rivers. Go early or late today. It is supposed to be sunny. Fish the deep pools or where a riffle enters a pool. Smallmouth bass and rock bass can be caught on foam floating flies and poppers.
Go early or late to the lakes. Use poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or Dragons. Fish the shaded banks when you can find them.
There are a few tailwaters in the region that are fishable today, especially if you are boating. Check the TVA website from the links below to plan your day.
As expected, the updated United States Drought Monitor lists much of Tennessee as being “Abnormally Dry”. The website was updated yesterday, as it always is on Thursdays. You can visit the site by CLICKING HERE. The report released last week painted a better picture. You can click on the region, then the state you are interested in, to get a closeup view.
A new fly shop opened in April. It is located in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, very close to the Cherokee National Forest. The shop is appropriately named Tellico Outfitters. I called the owner, Cody Fischer, yesterday. He is a very nice guy. We did the same thing almost 25 years ago. Maybe I can offer advice to help him cut the learning curve a little. We plan to meet soon. You can visit his website by CLICKING HERE.
Daniel, Dave and I met with Park Burson from Orvis and Scientific Anglers yesterday. Park was at the shop for over three hours. We have been friends for 24 years. Orvis is offering a lot of new gear for the coming year. I loved the new waders and wading boots and everything else he showed us. Scientific Anglers has a new lineup of leaders and tippet that is really exciting, called Absolute. You can’t tell by looking, but the packaging and the tippet spools are biodegradable.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
September 20, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
