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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:53 am, the temperature outside is 64.8 degrees.

A small but powerful rain cell hovered over Townsend yesterday and dropped .46” of rain near our house. I checked the USGS Gauges at Little River, Little Pigeon, Oconaluftee, Tellico and Cataloochee Creek this morning, and they are all flowing above median flow.

There is a 60% chance for thunderstorms today, and every day through Monday according to the National Weather Service. There is also a high chance for thunderstorms each day Tuesday through Thursday of next week. A tropical storm is forming in the Gulf of Mexico. I saw models this morning that indicate a chance for very heavy rain next week, throughout the Southeast United States. I think it is too early to tell what is going to happen with that storm. If named, it will be Alberto.

Little River is flowing at 260 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.13 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 188 cfs. The water temperature is 66.7 degrees this morning at the gauge site, which is at the lowest elevation inside the Park. Yesterday that number topped out at over 70 degrees.

Fishing is good in the Smokies. Most streams have plenty of water, but none seem to be running too high, except for possibly Oconaluftee. I am not familiar with that gauge and how it relates to fishing. Those who fish there often, probably know.

Trout are taking dries and nymphs. They are taking just about any food they can find. Their metabolism is in high gear. They are looking for food.

I would use my favorites, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Yellow Stimulator or Light Cahill dry patterns. For sub-surface fishing, I would use a Bead Head Pheasant Tail, Green Weenie or Pink Weenie. Many other flies will work, including terrestrials, Thunderhead, Parachute Adams in grey or yellow or any other Yellow Sally Stonefly pattern. Elk Hair Caddis in olive or yellow will work this time of the year.

These scattered afternoon thunderstorms are capable of dropping heavy rain in a short time span. Watch for quickly rising water over the next few days. If you see the stream you are fishing turn turbid and rising, get out.

I think this will be a good fly fishing weekend in the Park. I hope so. It all depends on how much rain we get over the next four days. If you plan to fish here this weekend or next week, watch the weather and gauge readings.

I am also hoping for good tailwater flows this weekend. The tailwaters below many of our impoundments, of which there are many thanks to TVA, offer a huge fishery for us. Some have trout and others do not. We have some exceptional smallmouth fishing on some of the tailwaters, especially during the Summer months. June, July and August are great months to fish for smallmouth bass on the tailwaters.

I would love to be lake fishing for smallmouth bass, but I don’t go on weekends. The lakes will likely be very crowded this weekend, unless the chance for thunderstorms curtails recreation boating. After this weekend, we will be fishing the lakes on weekdays.

I plan to work all weekend. Of course, I will be writing the daily fishing report. I am also photographing fly boxes and building a new fly box department on our online store. You can watch the progress by CLICKING HERE. Right now, there are 19 boxes in that department. When I’m finished, there will be about 50.

You will see there are multiple photos of each fly box. It’s the photography that takes time. Photographing is not a big deal. We have a studio at the shop. I load the images on a hard drive and bring them home to process for the web.

The time to cut the box from the background in Adobe Photoshop, makes creating one page take hours. Also, since many boxes are clear or partially clear, glare is an issue. I think good photography on an online store is essential.

Check our our fly selection on the site. There are about 300 different flies. That took me forever to photograph and there are more to be done. Photographing flies is something I enjoy, more than any other product photography.

I am meeting a friend and customer at the shop today, to discuss setting up his new boat for fly fishing on the lakes. I’m looking forward to meeting with him. I’m sure he is excited to be getting involved in a fly fishing activity that is new to him.

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

Byron Begley
May 25, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com