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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:25 am, the temperature outside is 40.1 degrees.
It will be warmer today in the Smoky Mountains with a highs reaching the low to mid 50’s. There is a slight chance for rain this afternoon. It may be windy today, with strong winds in the mountains possible. It will rain tonight, with precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch. More rain is likely Monday. Tuesday and Christmas Day will be mostly sunny with highs in the mid to upper 60’s falling to the low 40’s at night.
Little River is flowing at 323 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.34 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 249 cfs. The water temperature is 46.2 degrees this morning.
Streams in the Smokies have receded to a fishable level. That could change tonight and tomorrow depending on how much rain we get. Water temperatures are rising, creating better fishing conditions. The rise in water temperatures will continue through the week.
Nymphs and streamers are good fly choices. My favorite nymph choices are Prince, Tellico, Hare’s Ear and Pheasant Tail patterns. A sculpin pattern will work for your streamer. Try a Muddler Minnow. Watch for surface activity this week. Blue wing olives and midges may be present on the water at times. As the water warms, trout are more likely to be feeding on top.
Ethan caught a big brown trout in Little River last week. He landed the trout and found a six inch rainbow trout almost swallowed by the brown. The rainbow’s tail was sticking out of his mouth. Ethan pulled the rainbow out and threw the dead trout in the water. He released the brown. I saw photos of this last night. The brown appeared to be twenty inches long or longer.
First, it is amazing that the brown trout ate again, after catching and almost swallowing the rainbow. What is more amazing is, the brown tried to eat the dead rainbow again, after Ethan released it.
That brown trout was hungry.
Generation is going to be heavy at our area dams today. There are not any trout tailwater options nearby that I saw this morning. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can find a river to fish.
The Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the City of Maryville have been working with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to stock Pistol Creek and the Greenbelt Lake with rainbow trout. That happened Friday. TWRA stocked 400 trout with the help of TU volunteers. They plan to re-stock again in January and February.
This will give adults and kids who live in town or elsewhere, the opportunity to catch trout in this urban stream and lake during the cold months.
You can read more about this on the Daily Times website by CLICKING HERE. Scroll through the 7 photos on the page. I saw a lot of friends of mine helping with this project.
We will be open at the shop today, as usual. And, we will be open Monday. On Christmas Eve, we will open at 9 am and close at noon. We will be closed on Christmas Day.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
December 22, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
