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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:43 am, the temperature is 59.0 degrees.

Cool and dry air has moved into the Tennessee Valley. It will be sunny today with a high temperature in the middle to upper 70’s, falling to the upper 50’s tonight. Tomorrow will be sunny and a little warmer, with a high in the low 80’s and a low in the upper 50’s. Monday will be warm and sunny again.

Little River is flowing at 431 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.55 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 82 cfs. The water temperature is 62.1 degrees this morning. We consider 2.5 feet on the gauge to be on the high side of good.

All streams in the mountains are flowing higher than normal, with some still flowing quite a bit higher.

Nymphs are working well. Dry flies may produce too, depending on which stream you are fishing and how low they are flowing. Water temperatures are excellent at all elevations.

Lowland rivers are flowing higher than normal. Wading may be limited in some of these rivers and it is possible you will encounter stained water, especially further downstream from the mountains. Streamers and nymphs will probably work best for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish. Try poppers or foam floating flies. They may work too.

There are breaks in the generation schedules at some dams this morning. There may be some tailwaters that are fishable for you, and more if you are boating. Check the TVA website to see if you can work with some of the schedules on your favorite tailwater.

This could be a good lake fishing day. Winds are supposed to be calm. I would go early or late when the sun is off the water. Cast to the shaded banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs. You may find stained water in some lakes or areas of the lakes due to the heavy rainfall two days ago.

This is going to be a beautiful weekend. The rivers will slowly recede. Fishing is improving by the day.

Here is an inspirational story on the Fly Fisherman Magazine website. It is written about a man who is introducing his toddler son, Huckleberry, to fly fishing and fly tying. The story and the photography are certainly worthy of reading and seeing. You can see and read it by CLICKING HERE.

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

Byron Begley
October 9, 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