The Fishing Report 11/18/21 Great Smoky Mountains National Park and East Tennessee Time of Readings 4:42 am Eastern Time Zone : CFS=Cubic Feet Per Second
Water Temperature Little River
Stream Flow
Sunrise
Sunset
Rainfall 2021 YTD Knoxville Apt
Rainfall Normal YTD Knoxville Apt
Townsend, Tennessee - Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina
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 4:42 am, the temperature is 60.6 degrees.
There is a high chance for showers this afternoon. It is breezy right now. The high temperature today will be in the low to upper 60’s, falling to the high 20’s tonight. Friday will be sunny and cool with a high in the low 50’s and a low around 30 degrees.
Little River is flowing low at 93.8 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.60 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 146 cfs. The water temperature is 48.9 degrees this morning.
Most streams in the Smokies are flowing lower than normal. Water temperatures are cool in the low elevations and colder in the high elevations. Fish lower where the water is warmer today. Nymphs will probably work best. You may want to have some blue wing olive dry flies and emergers in your fly box, just in case.
Lowland rivers are flowing fairly low to low. Smallmouth bass may not be very active but they can be caught until the water becomes colder. Try streamers, nymphs or crayfish patterns. Stocked trout should be actively feeding. Streamers, nymphs, egg patterns and Squirmy Worms are good fly choices.
There are breaks in the generation schedules at several area dams today. Tailwater anglers have opportunities so check the TVA website to see what yours are. If you are boating you have more choices.
Euro nymphing or tight line nymphing is becoming more and more popular. Fishing with weighted nymph rigs, without a strike indicator, is a very effective way to catch trout. It takes practice. Over time you will develop a sense and feel, that a trout has taken your fly. The newer tactics involved were developed by competition anglers around the world because they work.
Many anglers are investing in longer and very sensitive fly rods, made specifically for nymphing with a tight line. Flies have been designed and used for Euro nymphing. We sell many of those flies in the shop. Many of the flies are intended to be “anchor flies”, that are heavily weighted and sometimes tied on a jig style hook. Those flies are tied at the bottom of the rig. An additional nymph is tied in above the anchor fly.
Spanish competitors developed a fly or group of flies known as Perdigons. A Perdigon breaks the suface of the water and sinks quickly, by design.
Below is a very informative video on tying the Spanish Bullet, which I would classify as being in the Perdigon family of flies. I have tied many of these. They are easy to tie.
If you visit our fly tying department at the shop, or on our online store, you will find many competition barbless jig hooks, made to tie Euro flies and they have been selling very well during the past few years. Slotted tungsten beads, designed to be used on jig hooks have also become very popular.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
November 18, 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.
