Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. Cold rain is falling this Thursday morning bringing water levels up and water temperatures down.

East Tennessee received some significant rainfall Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Water levels in the Little River watershed rose quite high. At 10am the gauge is reading 3.29 feet or 955 c.f.s. The daily normal is 345 c.f.s. Once the rain stops water flows should beging to drop quickly. Expect water to be high on Friday and still a bit high on Saturday.

This rain was cold and is causing water temperatures to drop. This morning the Little River is down to 54.7F. Falling temperatures will make fishing harder but today the water is too high to fish anyway. We should see temperatures rise through the weekend.

Spring mayfly, caddis fly and stonefly hatches have begun in earnest. Anglers are reporting lots of bugs but not as many trout rising to eat them. It takes a little time for the trout to remember that they can eat on the surface. Other anglers are reporting good days of dry fly fishing, especially later in the afternoons. Fishing a dry/dropper is an excellent method this time of year.

We have a fun event at the Shop this Saturday. The Orvis/Scientific Anglers sales representative for the Southeast, Garner Reid will be here to talk about new gear, cast the new Recon fly rods and answer all your fly line questions. He'll be here from 10am till 2pm so come by and meet Garner. Garner is also a guide down on the Hiwassee River.

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

Daniel Drake
March 12, 2026

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

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com