Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:43 am the temperature is 63 degrees.

The high temperature yesterday at the Knoxville Airport was 89 degrees which was a record for this date.

Today will be partly cloudy early with rain later this afternoon. The high temperature will be around 80 degrees. The chance for rain is 90%. There should be steady showers I the area tonight with a low in the middle 40’s.

We are going to get our first true taste of Fall weather this weekend.

The high temperature tomorrow (Saturday) will be in the middle 50’s and there is a low chance for rain. Temperatures tomorrow night will fall to the middle 30’s. Tomorrows high at Mount Leconte will be in the middle 30’s, with rain and snow predicted.

Sunday will be warmer, with a high in the upper 60’s and a low around 40. It will be sunny with almost no chance for rain.

Little River is flowing at 60.3 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.40 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 85 cfs. The water temperature is 64.4 degrees this morning.

Most streams in the Smokies are flowing slightly higher or about even with median flow for this date. Little River and the West Prong of the Little Pigeon are flowing slightly lower. Little Pigeon in Sevier is flowing slightly higher than median flow. Oconalfutee, Tellico, Cataloochee and Davidson River are flowing about equal to median flow.

Though stream flows are very close to normal, water temperatures are warmer. You might encounter warm water in the lowest elevations today though I don’t think that is likely. Today will be much cooler than yesterday. If you do find the river you are fishing exceeds 65 degrees, it would be better if you moved upstream a mile or so to find cooler water.

Tomorrow and through the weekend will be completely different. Water temperatures tomorrow and Sunday will be cool, even in the low elevations. Fishing will probably be best after the water temperature bottoms out and starts to climb later in the day.

Nymphs and dry flies will likely work fine today. You might want to start with nymphs then change to dries later. Or, use a dry and dropper rig. Hopefully we will get enough rain today and tonight to make a significant difference in stream flows. We don’t want too significant.

Nymphs and weighted nymph or Euro-nymph rigs will certainly work best tomorrow, especially early. The same holds true for Sunday.

If you are fishing for smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish in the lowland rivers, nymphs, streamers, crayfish patterns and possibly foam floating flies will work today. Tomorrow, I would use nymphs or streamers. I think the crayfish will be somewhat inactive due to the cooler water. I don’t think we will see much terrestrial insect activity on the surface so foam floating flies might not work. You never know for sure.

Nothing in fishing is absolute.

I am looking forward to this Fall-like weather. The fly tying department business is picking up. Anglers are considering the possibility of spending more time at home in the near future.  

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

Byron Begley
October 16, 2026

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