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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:41 am, the temperature outside is 39.2 degrees.

Warm air has moved into the Tennessee Valley. It will be much warmer, both day and night, today and through the weekend. Rain is likely tomorrow. We may get between a half and three quarters of an inch. Showers may continue through Saturday night. It may be windy tomorrow.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTED HIGHS AND LOWS TODAY

Little River is flowing at 426 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.54 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 259 cfs. The water temperature is 45.3 degrees and stable.

All streams in the Smokies are flowing above median flow. Water temperatures vary, depending on the elevation but they are not falling. Oconaluftee River’s water temp is 41.8 degrees while at Cataloochee Creek the temperature is much cooler at 38.5 degrees, but rising.

These water temperatures are great news. As the number climbs toward 50 degrees, fishing is going to improve. The temps should continue to drive upward through the weekend.

Today may turn out to be a good fishing day in the Smokies, especially in the lower elevations. Little River looks especially good, starting at 45 degrees already this morning.

Nymphs or streamers will probably work best, at least most of the day. Try a Tellico, Prince, Hare’s Ear or Pheasant Tail. Add weight and get them down. I would choose a Muddler Minnow or other sculpin pattern for a streamer.

Post spawn brown trout will be actively feeding.

Aquatic insects may be active too. You may see blue wing olives or midges, and no telling what else. Be ready to fish with dry flies.

I think fishing will be fair today, and possibly good.

The only negatives I see are the rain and wind tomorrow. The streams are already flowing fairly high. We really do not need more rain right now. High water could spoil the fishing tomorrow and Saturday. I hope not. And, depending on how much rain we get, the streams could also be flowing high Sunday. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

If we do not get much rain, fishing could be really good this weekend. That is what we are all hoping for.

Walter Babb and Jack Gregory will be at the shop Saturday from 10 am until 2 pm for a free special event. They will be tying flies and talking about fly fishing. All you have to do is show up. Jack will be situated in one area of the shop, while Walter will be demonstrating at another area. You can move back and forth between the two. We will have chairs for you to sit in at each location.

I will be there enjoying the event too. Both of these guys have been good friends of mine for a long time. We have traveled and fished together over the years. I learned much of what I know from Jack and Walter. They are the “real deal”, and they are both very nice people.

Today, I will be placing orders to re-stock the fly tying department. I’m looking forward to seeing what sold over the past week or so.

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

Byron Begley
December 13, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com