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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. It is a cloudy morning here in the Smokies. Rain is in the forecast for later in the day. There was rain last night but it didn't have a significant impact on the streams. We'll have to wait and see what today brings.
River levels in the Little River system are great right now. The gauge is giving a reading of 2.13 feet or 249 c.f.s. This is just barely above the daily normal of 226 c.f.s. Stream temperatures are a nice 60F. Always remember that this temperature reading is taken at the Park boundary so water temperatures in the higher elevations where you will be fishing are cooler.
Fishermen have been having good success with dry fly patterns. The Yellow Sallies are hatching in the evenings. This is one of our biggest hatches....one of the few you can count on. I like fishing yellow sallies. The best part is that the bright colored flies are easy to see on the water in the waining light of evening.
Local guide, Clay Aalders of Mountain Gillies, stopped in yesterday after his trip. They were fishing Yellow Stimulators in a size #14 and also a little nymph Clay calls the Just Add Water which is a version of a bead head pheasant tail. That combination is hard to beat.
I enjoy fishing the stimulator type flies. They are heavily hackled so they float high and are good in rough water. This is an advantage as we get into the warmer and months and the trout move into the fast water. We used to sell a fantastic fly. It was a Rubberlegged Stimulator from Umpqua. I have probably caught more fish on that fly than any other (mostly because I would fish it more than any other). We stopped selling them a couple of years ago because the price got so ridiculously high. It is a great fly but I couldn't justify selling it for as much as we would have to sell it for. Not when other flies work just as well. Neversink Caddis, Rob's Hellbenders and the classicly tied Yellow Stimulator really work just as well. We've cut out quite a few flies for that very reason.
Stimulators and Pheasant Tails must have been the recipe for success yesterday. Mark Brown of Chota Outdoor Gear snuck away after work and caught some pretty rainbows on stimulators and a pheasant tail dropper. Check out this beautiful trout.
Keep an eye on the weather today. Thunderstorms can definitely cut a trip short. Thanks for reading the Fishing Report and thank you for being here with us.
Daniel Drake
May 12, 2017
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