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 4:55 am, the temperature is 45.0 degrees.

A brief shower come through late last night. We got a total of .15 inches in Townsend while at the Knoxville Airport, .21 inches fell.

It will be mostly cloudy this morning the gradually clearing later with a high temperature in the low 50’s. Tonight will be chilly, in the low 30’s. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high in the upper 50’s.

Little River is flowing at 162 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.90 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 188 cfs. Little River is rising. The water temperature is 50.7 degrees this morning.

It appears very little rain fell in most drainages in the Smokies. Other streams that have USGS gauges are flowing at about normal with none rising except Little River. Water temperatures are warmer than they have been lately.

Fishing should be fairly good today. I thinks nymphs will work best but you might come across a hatch of blue wing olives or midges, so be ready for that.

Lowland river fishing could be fair for smallmouth bass as the water has reached a point where they become somewhat active. Streamers or nymphs are good choices. If you are fishing for trout where they are stocked in the rivers, fishing will be good.

I don’t see many tailwater wade fishing options today in east or middle Tennessee. I did not check every TVA page so look yourself and you might find an opportunity out there somewhere. There are more boat fishing options.

This might be a good lake fishing day. The wind should be calm. Overcast skies early today will be helpful. I would go early and cast streamers or swimming nymphs to the banks. My favorite fly today would be a large black Wooly Bugger, tied on a #2 to 2/0 hook, weighted with plenty of lead free wire. I think a slow retrieve will work best but it is always a good idea to change up your retrieve and learn what the fish prefer. Smallmouth bass will often follow these flies then strike at the boat, just when you are pulling it out to cast again.

I found a Charlie Craven article and video this morning on an older Fly Fisherman Magazine web page. This is a good read on tying a Perdigon Nymph. Perdigons are enjoyable to tie and they work well for trout. These flies sink like a rock. Perdigon Nymphs were first developed by competitive fly anglers in Spain but were quickly picked up by the French. Now, they are popular everywhere.

We sell everything to tie them and these materials sell well. You can see this article by CLICKING HERE.

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

Byron Begley
November 23, 2020

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com