f you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.

Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:54 am, the temperature outside is 23.4 degrees.

Snow fell again in the mountains yesterday with little accumulation. However, Highway 441/Newfound Gap Road from Gatlinburg to Cherokee is closed due to snow and ice. Snow accumulations are: 1” at Newfound Gap and 4” at Mount LeConte.

Today will be sunny with a high temperature around 50 degrees. Warmer air has arrived. The low tonight will drop only to the low 40’s. Expect highs in the low 50’s Saturday and Sunday. Expect rain too, beginning Saturday morning, continuing through Sunday. The low temperature Saturday night will be warmer, in the low to mid 40’s.

Little River is flowing at 299 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.23 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 379 cfs. The water temperature is 39.6 degrees this morning.

One limiting factor to good fishing in the Smokies this weekend, will be water temperature. The water is cold now. Stream temperatures will rise some today, and through the weekend. If the water temperature rises to the upper 40’s, fishing will improve. If that number hangs around the low 40’s, fishing will be slow.

The other limiting factor could be higher water, especially Saturday night through Sunday. We could get an inch of rain over the weekend. If we do, we’ll see the water rise.

If you go, try nymphs first. If you encounter a hatch, which would likely be Quill Gordons, Blue Quills or Blue Wing Olives, you might want to switch to dry flies or wet flies. A Quill Gordon wet fly is a good pattern to use in the early Spring, when the water turns cold, like it has.

The bugs may be on the surface, but the trout could be taking the emergers. That happened to one of our readers early this week. He used a Quill Gordon wet fly with a Bead Head Pheasant Tail dropper, and caught trout, during a hatch. The trout were not taking the adults. He tried dry flies first, then switched to the sub-surface combination, and it worked. He told me the hatch of all three species lasted about an hour. The water temperature was in the mid to upper 40’s.

The days are getting longer. Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday. Later next week, it will be warmer. Fishing will improve in the Southeast. Spring break has begun. We will be able to fish after work. More anglers will be traveling to the South to fly fish.

We know, this will improve our business at the fly shop. I was there yesterday, taking photographs of gear to add to our online store. I saw Daniel ordering more merchandise. The store is stocked well and looking good.

I’m still adding “fly fishing accessories” to the online store. So far, I’ve put 142 items there. And, there are probably 20 more to go. This is the little stuff for the most part, tools and gadgets you use on the stream or lake. Many hang from your vest, pack or boat bag. We have never had this many accessories on our online store, until now. You can see that department by CLICKING HERE. Ground shipping is free, even on the inexpensive items.

This is a new online store, one that replaced our older one. It requires larger photographs than the old one did. I worked on it most of the year in 2017, and we launched November 1st, though it was incomplete. It is a much better shopping experience for you.

The next big project will be fly boxes. I’m dreading that. Photographing clear fly boxes, or those with clear lids, is a challenge. I use studio flash. It is hard to control glare. The clear items blend with the background. We bought a new, large, light box last year. Maybe that will work better.

I mentioned yesterday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) installed a flow gauge on Abrams Creek. It is located above the confluence of Mill Creek, near the loop road, upstream from where the creek flows under the road. It does not have a temperature probe. You can view the web page with the live data by CLICKING HERE. There is a new link to this gauge in the USGS Stream Gauges list below.

While that is not the ideal location for anglers, it will serve as a reference and it will, in some cases, depict the flows of the larger stream, below the Mill Creek confluence. Much of Abrams Creek runs underground through Cades Cove. USGS is studying underground streams in our area, including one that runs under our property. They are physically going into the caves to survey and map the cavern. They are measuring flows, and determining where the water comes from, using dye.

I hope fishing improves for you this weekend. I know some of you are traveling here and others have arrived to fish. To be honest, I really don’t know what to expect. If I guessed, I could be wrong. Fishing will either be good, fair or slow. I’m sorry, that’s the best I can do.

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

Byron Begley
March 9, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com