Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:18 am, the temperature is 64 degrees.

It will be breezy today with a 100% chance for rain and a high temperature in the 60’s. Rain will continue tonight as the temperature falls to the middle 40’s. Tomorrow will be cloudy with a chance for rain and a high temperature in the low 50’s, dropping to the middle 30’s overnight. Thanksgiving Day will be sunny with a high in the middle 50’s.

Roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are currently closed due to high winds and the elevated chance for fire. The roads were closed yesterday. Both Cades Cove and Elkmont Campgrounds were evacuated. I don’t know when they will reopen.

Jack was fishing in the Park along Little River yesterday. A park ranger approached him and told him to leave the Park immediately. The ranger also told Jack that a woman was intentionally starting fires on the North Carolina side of the Park. She was caught and arrested.

A brush fire was reported around Rich Mountain Gap yesterday inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fire grew to 7 acres but it was contained by 8:30 pm last night by crews from several organizations. We can see Rich Gap from our house but I could not see the fire burning after dark. We could hear the big U.S. Army helicopters flying over and dropping water on the fire until dark.

Paula and I packed “Go Bags” with essentials we might need if we had to evacuate. Strong winds were blowing starting about 10:00 pm last night. We got a reverse 911 call urging some residents in Dry Valley where we live to evacuate at about 2:00 am. The area of evacuation was about a mile from our home. We waited at home the remainder of the night for further instructions.

We have had a little rain and the strong wind gusts are less frequent right now. As you can imagine, we did not get much sleep last night.

Little River is flowing at 39.6 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.27 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 165 cfs. The water temperature is 52 degrees this morning.

Streams in the mountains are flowing extremely low. Water temperatures are good in the low elevations where you should be fishing. Stealth is essential to your success. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs.

Fishing for smallmouth bass in the lowland rivers will be fair to slow. The rivers are flowing very low. Fish in the deep pools with streamers or crayfish imitations.

If you are planning to fish on a tailwater today, check the TVA website from the links below to see the planned generation schedules first. I noticed a few schedules you can work with.

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

Byron Begley
November 21, 2023

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Parking Tags are now required to park your vehicle inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes. Tags may be purchased at Visitors Centers, including the center in Townsend. Or, they may be purchased online. You can buy a daily, weekly or annual tag. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com