If you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.

Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:47 am, the temperature is 65.1 degrees.

The NOAA website that I use every morning to obtain rainfall, sunrise and sunset data is out of service this morning. The outage It has affected much of the eastern United States.

Showers and thunderstorms are likely today, tomorrow and Friday. High temperatures will be in the 70’s with lows in the low 60’s each day. Locally heavy rainfall is possible, especially to our south. For instance, Tellico Plains near the Cherokee National Forest and other areas to our south are under a flash flood watch today. One weather website I visited this morning predicts one to two inches of rain in the Townsend area. The skies will clear by Saturday, with sunny and dry conditions expected for the weekend.

Little River is flowing at 225 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.06 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 72 cfs. The water temperature is 62.6 degrees.

Most if not all streams in the mountains are flowing above median flow. Most are currently at good fishing levels, at least for now. If you go, watch for quickly rising water.

Nymphs would be my fly choice today in the Smokies. It is also possible that dry flies will work too, depending on the stream conditions where you are fishing.

Fishing for smallmouth bass in the lowland rivers may be good today depending on where you go. You could encounter stained water is some rivers. Otherwise, flows in the rivers I checked this morning are at good levels. Streamers and nymphs are probably your best options. You might try poppers or foam floating flies too.

There are fairly long breaks in the generation at some dams, making tailwater fishing options available to you. The generation schedules look different today, from what I have been seeing lately. If you are boating, you have more options. Check the TVA website from the links below to see what they are.

It will be overcast today through Friday, which is an excellent condition for fly fishing on the lakes. You will probably get wet and thunderstorms are possible. Cast to the banks with streamers, swimming nymphs, poppers and foam floating flies. Be on the lookout for game fish feeding on shad, on the surface. The wind should be fairly calm today, except where thunderstorms are active.

I talked to TL, the sales manager at Wapsi yesterday. Wapsi is our largest fly tying distributor, located in Mountain Home Arkansas. We have been working together for 26 years. We discussed business, but mostly college football. TL earned his economics degree from the University of Tennessee. He is a huge UT fan.

I also talked to Phil, the sales manager at Whiting Farms in Colorado. After our discussion, he switched me over to Jake, our customer service representative.

Together, we planned to increase our Whiting Farms inventory. They helped me make ordering decisions, that will keep more of their pelts and feathers in stock at the shop. Since it takes a year to grow their chickens, planning is critical. And, that planning can involve placing orders that take up to two months to fill.

After our discussion, I sent them another large order, though we just got one from Whiting about two weeks ago. That order will probably be delivered in December.

Whiting Farms is 30 years old. We became a customer four years after their founding. Tom Whiting signed me up as a dealer back then at a dealer show in Denver. The company was much smaller than it is now.

The fly tying season is quickly approaching as the weather provides less time for fishing and more for fly tying.

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

Byron Begley
October 6, 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