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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:55 am, the temperature outside is 60.4 degrees.
Today will be warm, with high temperatures in the mid-70’s. It will be breezy today, with gusts as high as 20 miles per hour. Rain will arrive tonight in the form of showers and thunderstorms. The wind will continue through the night. Expect rainfall amounts between a half of an inch to one inch before ending Tuesday.
Rain showers ended in the valley early yesterday morning, as predicted. However, in the mountains, the rain continued, raising the rivers unexpectedly in the Little River and Little Pigeon River watersheds. Water levels are receding in the streams this morning.
Little River is flowing at 132 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.69 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 77 cfs. The water temperature is 59.2 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 519 cfs, 2.06 feet, compared to median flow of 144 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 332 cfs, 1.64 feet, which compares to median flow of 204 cfs. The water temperature is 57.0 degrees.
Tellico River is flowing at 83.1 cfs, .88 feet, compared to median flow of 73 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 40.1 cfs, 2.24 feet, compared to median flow of 41 cfs. The water temperature is 53.6 degrees.
Flows are very good in the Smokies today. Rainfall yesterday was especially heavy on the Tennessee side of the Park, where it was most needed. With more rain expected tonight and tomorrow morning, streams may be flowing high tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.
Water temperatures are perfect in the mid to low elevations. The temps are well within the trout’s preferred range.
Fishing should be good today. It will be breezy. If it gets too windy, head to the truck. I would plan on using nymphs, though dry flies may work too. Fishing conditions are better than they have been in a while.
I expect Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) will be stocking trout in Little River through Townsend, and at other lowland rivers, now that the water temperatures are low and stream levels are higher. TWRA postponed their normal Fall stocking in these rivers due to very warm and low water. Those conditions appear to be behind us now.
There are fly fishing opportunities in some area tailwaters this morning, especially if you are boating or you go very early. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with their generation schedules.
The flash drought may be over here, for now. The US Drought Monitor will be updated Thursday morning. Then we can see which drought stricken areas in the Southeast show improvement. I expect to see much better conditions in Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. Hopefully Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, and other states in the Southeast will find relief from this drought in the report. We normally get more rain in November, and through the Winter. The long term weather forecast here looks normal to me.
I have heard reports from people who have traveled to the higher elevations in the Smokies. There, the leaf colors are good, and they should peak this week. The leaf season is late this year. Some trees are turning in the low elevations now, and they may start changing quickly this week.
It is getting back to normal again, at least in here in the Smoky Mountains. We have a lot of good fishing to look forward to this Fall. I hope you are experiencing the same where you live.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
October 21, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |