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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:08 am, the temperature outside is 48.9 degrees.

Today will be warm and wet, with a high temperature in the upper 50’s. Tonight’s low will be in the low 50’s. Saturday will be warm, in the low 60’s. Temperatures will fall Saturday night and Sunday.

Rainfall may be heavy today and tomorrow. From one to two inches of rain are possible. Localized flooding is also a possibility Friday night through early Saturday, primarily in flood prone areas.

Little River is flowing at 96 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.54 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 203 cfs. The water temperature is 48.6 degrees this morning.

The streams in the Smoky Mountains are still warming and that should continue today and tonight. The problem is, heavy rain is possible. In fact, it is raining right now.

Fishing is good thanks to the warming water. Fishing should remain good through Saturday, unless we do get the heavy rain that is predicted.

If you go, watch for quickly rising water. If you see that happening, get out of the stream.

I would use nymphs. My favorite patterns are Tellico, Hare’s Ear, Prince and Pheasant Tail. Be on the lookout for a hatch, possibly blue wing olives. These little insects love overcast skies and nasty weather. You may want to have some BWO dries and emergers in your fly box.

Look at the TVA website to see if you can work with their generation schedules today on the area tailwaters. I saw some opportunities if you are boating and possibly wading too.

If you plan to spend Thanksgiving week in the Smokies, you are going to enjoy warmer days and nights next week, beginning Tuesday and lasting through the weekend. I think fishing will be good. There is a chance for rain each day beginning Wednesday through the weekend.

Water temperatures will be much better by Tuesday, after a chilly Sunday and Monday.

I am having some extensive grounds maintenance work done at the shop for hopefully a nicer looking lawn next year. Right now, the grass looks rough.

A company has sprayed two applications of weed specific herbicide on the grounds. All of the weeds turned brown. Yesterday, a crew of five people showed up with a tractor and small machines to chop the soil. There is a name for what they did and I can’t think of it right now. This was more than de-thatching. Then, they fertilized and over-seeded fescue.

We will follow up next spring with more fertilizer and over-seeding again. If the soil needs lime, we’ll do that too. The lime we are using is in pellet form. I had never seen that before. This process is supposed to work. We’ll see what happens.

Bill, our lawn maintenance man hired the company to do this for us.

We will also have the parking lot re-sealed next Spring. The building was painted this year and everything except the grass is looking good.

The new 2020 Fishpond gear is in the shop and displayed for you. The shop is extremely well stocked with everything. Come by and check it out.

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

Byron Begley
November 22, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com

A bamboo fly rod made by Walter Babb and 10 dozen flies tied by him will be auctioned off on Saturday December 14th at about 5:30 to 6:00 pm. This auction benefits the Needy Family Fund of Sweetwater Tennessee. This organization is made up of 20 area churches and raises money to buy food for families in need for Christmas. The auction will be held at the Sweetwater Primary School located at 500 Highway 322 East in Sweetwater. You do not have to be present to bid on the rod or the flies. Call Phil Roy beforehand, at 423-337-1212 to register. You will be given several phone numbers to call in your bid during the live auction. Below is what Walter told me about these auction items: “The rod I made for the Needy Family Auction this year is a seven foot, 2 Piece, 4-weight Wayne Cattanach taper. Wayne is the author of Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods, one of the teaching books for me. This is a flamed single tip rod with a Hormigo Negro wooden spacer. In Spanish it is called an ant tree. Reel seat, spacer and ferrules are made by Baily Wood of Classic Sporting Enterprises. Also, the rod bag and rod tube are made by REC. The box of flies are 10 dozen of my favorite nymphs. They include, three types of Tellico Nymphs, the Gray Squirrel nymph, George Nymph, Bead Head Peasant Tail, Atherton’s Medium Nymph, Bead Head Prince Nymph and Mr. Rapidan Emerger. This is my core group of nymphs that I use in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee National Forest and in Western North Carolina. I carry a few others for special occasions or hatches.”