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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:16 am, the temperature outside is 60.3 degrees.

Today will be unseasonably warm. It may rain early this morning. In fact, it was raining here at our house at 4:30 am. It will be sunny later this morning and windy. Expect gusts to 25 miles per hour in the foothills and possibly 40 miles per hour in the high elevations.

Thunderstorms moved through Townsend early last night. Thunderstorms in December? This is not typical December weather.

The Knoxville Airport received .40” of rain yesterday, while Townsend got .24 inches.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTED HIGHS AND LOWS TODAY

I started working on this report at 5 am. I have a lot of work to get done today at the store. The USGS Survey website was down. I could not get stream readings anywhere in Tennessee. Now, the site is functional.

Little River is flowing at 928 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.27 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 205 cfs. The water temperature is 53.4 degrees.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 2,060 cfs, 3.72 feet on the gauge, and that compares to median flow for this date of 268 cfs.

Oconaluftee River at the Birdtown gauge is reporting flow at 2,320 cfs, 3.78 feet, compared to median flow of 360 cfs. The water temperature is 49.1 degrees. The river was stained overnight, but it is clearing now.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 274 cfs compared to median flow of 68 cfs. The water temperature there is 48.7 degrees.

We have high water this morning in the Smokies. Some streams may be stained. Water levels will recede some, later today. Water temperatures are very good in the low elevations. Trout will be active but wading will not be easy or safe in many streams or areas of streams. It is also going to be windy.

This is not a great day to be fly fishing in the mountains.

If you go, be careful wading. I would go late, to take advantage of what are hopefully lower water conditions. You will probably do best, high sticking nymphs from the bank. Add plenty of weight and get them down deep. Streamers will work too. Trout will be active. Post spawn brown trout will be especially active.

For your safety, get out of the forest if the wind is blowing as strong as they say it will be.

Some of my friends went fishing for browns yesterday in the Park. They left their fly rods at home and used spinning gear, due to the high water levels. I don’t know exactly what type of lures they use. They refer to them as “no-hackles”.

A woman died yesterday in an accident in the Park. She was riding in a truck that veered off Newfound Gap Road and ended up in the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. You can read the story on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE.

Remember, the Townsend Christmas Parade will be held today. It usually begins at our store at around 2 pm and terminates at Nawger Knob. The parade lasts about 2 hours. You will not be able to drive through town during the parade. You will be stuck at one end or the other. I will be stuck at the shop.

The Townsend Christmas Parade is a great event. It is a large parade, especially for such a small town. It is going to be sunny and warm, a perfect day for a Christmas Parade. It may be windy though.

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

Byron Begley
December 2, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com