Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:41 am the temperature is 54 degrees. It was extremely foggy when I drove to work this morning. Of course, it was dark too.

Today will be partly cloudy with a high temperature around 84 degrees. There is a slight chance for rain today. Tomorrow will be similar, with a high in the lower 80’s.

Temperatures will fall this weekend along with a much higher chance for rain, 80% both days. Expect high temperatures in the low 70’s on Saturday and Sunday.

Little River is flowing at 55.9 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.34 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 85 cfs. The water temperature is 61.2 degrees this morning at the USGS gauge site near Townsend.

Most if not all streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are flowing lower then normal with one exception, Cataloochee Creek. I suspect there is a malfunction at that gauge because it has been flowing higher than normal for a long time, at least 30 days. Maybe the history numbers are wrong. Maybe everything is working fine except me.

Fishing is good due to the cool water temperatures. There are many options since the low elevation streams are now fishable without any harm to the trout due to warm water. But, the water is low, so the trout are spooky and more likely to see you. You can give yourself a stronger advantage by dressing to blend with the forest. Use light tippet and stay low if possible. Fish the broken water.

Dry flies, nymphs or dry & dropper rigs are good choices. Fly pattern choices don’t matter as much right now. If you don’t spook the fish and get a good drift the trout should respond to your offering if it is a reasonable representation of food. The fish are hungry and there are not as many food choices right now. Terrestrials might work. Fishing Euro rigs deep will produce for you. A dry and dropper rig is another good option. Yellow or even orange dry flies might produce.

Make mine a Stimulator please! What a great fly. Stimulators have been around forever it seems. I buy mine. I think they are hard to tie due to so many steps and chances to crowd the hook eye. The more you tie, the better they get. I haven’t tied enough Stimulators I guess.

My favorite dry fly to tie and use is an Elk Hair Caddis. Sometimes, I tie them  “hackleless”. That right, no hackle! I think they ride in the slower water better, in the surface film. I probably should not be so honest here since I try to make a living selling hackle.

I also like to tie in a little chartreuse calf body hair on top of the wing so I can see the fly better. Try different body colors. I like Caddis Green or Olive best. Or, maybe I like yellow best. Orange is a good color during the Fall for some reason.  

I was once a very good Bead Head Pheasant Tail fly tyer. I had a lot of practice since that was one of the patterns I tied to sell during the early years at LRO. I am glad we made it through that period and I don’t have to do that anymore. Fly tying is a lot of fun if you do it for enjoyment and for your own consumption. Tying flies to sell is not fun for me. I worked in a restaurant once when I was a teenager. I didn’t like cooking for other people either. I enjoyed serving the finished product to customers, prepared by someone else.

I like helping people going fishing and enjoying themselves in other ways. I especially enjoy helping customers make fly tying decisions. I feel like I’m part of the customer’s team. I think it is fun helping customers plan a fishing trip to some far away destination. It’s kind of like I’m going too.

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

Byron Begley
October 8, 2026

FREE CLASS – INTRODUCTION TO EURO NYMPHING
Saturday October 10, 2026 
10 AM to Noon
At Little River Outfitters, Townsend, TN

One of the hottest topics in the fly fishing world in the past few years is Euro Nymphing. In view of that Little River Outfitters will be offering a introduction to Euro Nymphing class on Saturday October 10, 2026 at 10 AM. In this free two hour class we will cover the equipment, flies, history, technique, etc. no registration necessary. Just show up. We will be talking about all that you will need to help you get started.

WALTER BABB BAMBOO RODS FOR SALE - Buy directly from Walter. CLICK HERE for more information.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com