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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. The sun is shining this morning making it seem nicer than the reality of 33F temperatures. The forecast is calling for it to warm to the 40's today and into the 50's tomorrow.
As of 10 am this morning US 441/Newfound Gap Road was still closed due to ice and snow. The other important roads in the Park are currently open. Little River Road is open. Laurel Creek Road and Cades Cove Loop Roads are open. Tremont Road is open. For the most up to date road conditions in Great Smoky Mountains you can call their road info phone number 865-436-1200. When you hear talking hit 2 and when you hear talking again hit 2 again. This is a looped recording so you may have to wait for it to finish and start again. You can also find road info on Twitter. https://twitter.com/smokiesroadsnps
Fishing is going to be a little slow in the Smokies. Water temperatures have been dropping over the last several days. This morning the water temperature is 37.76F. That is chilly. There is no need to be on the river bank at sunrise. Give the day a chance to warm some.
Water levels are a little below normal. The gauge is giving a reading of 1.83 feet or 141 c.f.s. This is below the daily normal of 231 c.f.s.
The snow is gone here in Townsend. You may find some snow up in the Smokies, especially those areas which are protected from the sun. Even yesterday the roads from Maryville were clear.
Nymphs will be your best choice right now. Double Bead tungsten stoneflies will help get you down to where the trout are. Pat's Rubberlegs can also be good flies. You can go with a double nymph rig. Add a larger, heavy fly for the weight and then a smaller fly such as a pheasant tail, hare's ear or prince nymph. Don't be afraid to keep adding split shot until you are dragging the bottom.
Fish the slower pools. The trout don't need to hold in the fast broken water this time of the year. The brown trout are mostly done spawning but it is still very important, maybe more important, to watch where you are walking. In the big shallow pools with gravel bottoms be concious of redds. These are areas where the trout have moved the gravel around to lay their eggs. Even though you won't find the larger trout on them now, the eggs are still there and stomping on them isn't good for future generations.
Christmas is coming quickly. I can't believe that we are into the second week of December already. Christmas music has been playing for some time now. There is still plenty of time to get orders placed to have them arrive before Christmas. If you are a procrastinator like me, Gift Cards can be ordered right up to the last minute. We can email the number to you to make sure it arrives in time.
This afternoon from 2pm till 4pm we have a FREE Fly Tying 101 class. I'm not sure what fly pattern Dave is going to be teaching today. I expect it will either be Green Weenies or Mop Flies. We have these FREE classes scheduled most Sundays through the Winter. Different beginner flies will be taught so it isn't going to be the same fly each time. If you want to come and try your hand at fly tying just give us a call (space is limited to 8) so we know to expect you.
If you go fishing today stay warm! Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Daniel Drake
December 10, 2017
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
