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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:47 am, the temperature outside is 41.4 degrees.

Rain fell yesterday and last night. Combining yesterday and overnight, a local personal weather station is reporting .65” has fallen.

Today will be cooler with more rain predicted. The high temperature today and tomorrow will be in the mid-40’s. Lows at night will dip into the mid to upper 20’s. Wednesday will be about the same. Warm air and sun will move into our area Thursday, and last through the weekend.

Little River is rising. It is currently flowing at 311 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.26 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 345 cfs. The water temperature is 48.4 degrees this morning.

I bet fly fishermen did fairly well in the Smokies yesterday. Flows were great. The water was warm enough for increased trout activity.

Beginning today, water temperatures will decline. Fishing will slow at least until Thursday or Friday. Fishing may be good this coming weekend. There is a chance for rain Saturday and Sunday, with more rain expected next week.

The long term forecast indicates warm days and nights through March 26th, after we get through the cold spell this week.

So, get ready. I think fly fishing Spring is just days away, once again.

Tennessee Valley Authority continues to generate and sluice at Norris and Cherokee dams, and others. We’ve got a lot of water running through the Tennessee River valley.

Whitewater canoeists and kayakers are loving this. I found a great article and video on the WBIR website, showing us the paddling opportunities on the Tellico River. You can see it by CLICKING HERE. This video is well done, as is always the case at WBIR.

Brian Bell, from South Carolina, sent me a link to a very interesting article. The story describes a trout fishery, with, spawning trout, on the lower Saluda River. I’ve crossed that river on I-26 dozens of times, near Columbia. I always thought it was beautiful, but never in my wildest dreams would have imagined it being a wild trout fishery, or even a trout fishery at all.

The lower Saluda is a tailwater, created in 1930, when Lake Murray Dam was built. The power company has improved the fishery, by oxygenating the water, and providing flows that are more favorable to trout. Recently, it was discovered that trout are spawning in the river.

There is legislation, aimed at creating new trout regulations, including catch and release on the Saluda. The city of Columbia is building a river walk in town, meandering along the river. A local Trout Unlimited Chapter and other organizations are asking for regulations to protect the trout fishery. Currently, only 25,000 trout are stocked each year. The river contains populations of both brown and rainbow trout.

You can read the article by CLICKING HERE.

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

Byron Begley
March 12, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com