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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:53 am, the temperature outside is 54.4 degrees.

Rain began falling at 10:43 pm last night. So far, .93” of rain has fallen. Rain will continue today. It may be heavy.

Another storm will arrive late Friday. Rainfall may be heavy again. Predictions indicate possible rainfall of 1 to 3 inches by Saturday evening.

It will be warm through Saturday, with highs in the upper 50’s to low 60’s. Low temperatures will range from the low to mid 40’s through Saturday evening.

Sunday will be colder. There is a slight chance for rain or snow Sunday night. Christmas Day will be much colder, with a high in the upper 30’s.

This is going to be an interesting week.

Little River is flowing at 156 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.88 feet on the flow gauge. The stream level is rising sharply. Median flow for this date is 220 cfs. The water temperature is 45.5 degrees this morning.

Water temperatures have risen and will continue to rise until Sunday. This morning, the water temperature in Little River is almost 10 degrees warmer than it was a week ago. Right now, the water temperature is within the trout’s active range. If that number hits or exceeds 50 degrees this week, fishing will be good. I think that will happen.

On the other hand, heavy rain is expected today and Friday. Rainfall in this front has already reached 1”. The rainfall totals I use in this report, are calculated at a personal weather station in Townsend, not at the Knoxville Airport. You may notice the rainfall totals at the Airport above, when compared to yesterday, differ from the Townsend numbers. The Airport numbers will be updated later.

The streams are rising quickly. I am looking at the radar now. More rain is on the way.

So, our negative now is too much rain, not cold water, which would be normal this time of the year. We have good fishing conditions from a temperature standpoint, but the possibility of very high water.

We’ll have to see how this plays out. I will be working at home today and watching the flows online. This report will likely be updated later.

If by some miracle, the rain moves to our south, and we are spared the heavy rain, fishing could be very good tomorrow and Friday. We will know soon.

If you go fishing in the Smoky Mountains today, be aware that quickly rising water is a possibility. Don’t take chances. Stay near the bank on the road or trail side of the streams. The water could be stained right now, anywhere you go.

UPDATE 12:40 PM - LITTLE RIVER HAS RISEN TO OVER 2.6 FEET ON THE GAUGE AND IT IS STILL RISING. THIS WOULD INDICATE THAT MOST STREAMS IN THE SMOKIES ARE VERY HIGH AND THEY WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO WADE. IF YOU GO, BE CAREFUL. LITTLE RIVER IS PROBABLY STAINED. IT HAS STOPPED RAINING.

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

Byron Begley
December 20, 2017

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com