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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:45 am, the temperature is 23.9 degrees.
There is only a slight chance for rain Saturday night. Otherwise, it will be dry each day through the weekend. Today’s high temperature will be in the middle to upper 50’s, falling to the middle 30’s tonight. It will be warmer, in the 60’s tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Lows will be in the upper 40’s tomorrow night and in the low 50’s Saturday night. This is going to be a very nice Christmas weekend to spend time outside.
Little River is flowing at 184 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.96 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 275 cfs. The water temperature is 41.2 degrees this morning and falling rapidly.
Flows are good in most of the mountain streams. The problem this morning is, the streams are cold. Water temperatures are in the 30’s at the higher elevations and they may fall to the 30’s in the low elevations this morning, before bottoming out and begin warming. Fishing will be slow this morning, but we will see improvement this afternoon and through the weekend as the streams warm.
Weighted nymph rigs will probably work best for you today in the mountain streams. Wait a while before going and fish in the low elevations where the water is warmer.
Lowland rivers are cold this morning. Smallmouth bass fishing will be slow until the rivers warm. Hopefully, smallmouth bass fishing will improve over the next few days. Smallies prefer water temperatures around 50 degrees or warmer.
Trout, where they are stocked will become more active in the low elevation rivers when the water warms. Again, wait until later to go today. Fishing for stocked trout will improve every day through the weekend. Use nymphs, egg patterns, Squirmy Worms or Mop Flies.
If you hope to wade fish on a tailwater you will find long breaks in the generation schedules at some dams, including Norris and South Holston, but only short breaks at others. It looks like the choices will be limited today. If you are boating, there are more options. Check the TVA website generation schedules from the links below to see what opportunities are available for you.
We will be open from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm today. Tomorrow (Christmas Eve), we will be open from 9:00 am until noon. We will be closed Christmas Day, then re-open Sunday. I will not be writing this report Christmas Day.
We are seeing a lot of visitors in Townsend, who are here for the Christmas holidays. More kids are coming in the shop this week. The lights warning drivers to slow down to 25 miles per hour near the Townsend School have not been flashing this week. I have not seen any police vehicles waiting for those who ignore the school zone speed limit.
I drive to the shop every morning at 7:30 am. Believe me, the police are usually waiting for speeders and pulling them over. You can’t miss seeing those flashing light signals in the school zone. They are huge and bright. I always wonder what excuse people tell the police officer when they are pulled over. The next time I talk to a police officer, I am going to ask.
Before Frank retired from the police department, we became friends. We talked often. He is the funniest person you will ever meet. He told me once about a lady he cited for driving 60 miles per hour through Townsend. The speed limit is 45 miles per hour. When he walked back to her car and handed her the ticket, she looked at it and said, “Can’t you give me a warning?” Frank said, “Yes mam, Don’t do it again”.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
December 23, 2021
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Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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