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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:11 am, the temperature outside is 68.5 degrees.

Showers and thunderstorms are predicted today with a high temperature in the low 80’s. The forecast continues to be about the same each day through Monday and beyond. Subtropical Storm Alberto will likely affect our area later next week. I saw one model that indicated from 2” to 4” of rain could fall here as a result of this storm. The bottom line is, we are probably going to get a lot of rain between now and next weekend.

Not much rain fell yesterday in Townsend, though scattered thunderstorms did drop rain in the Smoky Mountains. Little River is flowing at about normal. The Little Pigeon and Oconaluftee are flowing fairly high. Tellico River is near normal. Abrams Creek above the Falls Trailhead is flowing low.

Little River is flowing at 199 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.95 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 191 cfs. The water temperature is 65.8 degrees this morning.

Fishing was good yesterday, and it has been for a while. I talked to some friends at the shop who reported good fishing, but they could not catch trout on dry flies. That seemed odd to me and to them. Thunderstorms were about, so maybe that caused the trout to feed below the surface.

Fishing today and this weekend is in question. It could be good, or it may not. That all depends on how much rain we get and where. Wherever you go in the Smokies, watch for quickly rising water, which is usually preceded by stained water. If that happens, get out of the stream. Also, if you hear thunder, go to the truck. If you hear thunder in the backcountry, well, there is not much you can do about that.

None of the weather websites are predicting heavy rainfall amounts, but possible high rainfall amounts in thunderstorms.

If you go fishing, you might do well. Just be careful.

I would still try dry flies, a Yellow Neversink Caddis, any Yellow Sally Stonefly pattern, Light Cahill or yellow Parachute Adams and a Yellow Elk Hair Caddis. Add a yellow Stimulator to that list. Below the surface, I would use a Bead Head Pheasant Tail, Green Weenie or Pink Weenie.

The shop was very busy yesterday and I was too. I worked almost 12 hours, with no break for eating at all. I did shave and shower, quickly. I was talking to a customer at the shop and he mentioned he heard I was “Semi-retired”. I hear that a lot. It could not be further from the truth. I do most of my work at my home office. Maybe I don’t get credit for that.

Townsend is busy. I was at the IGA at 6 pm and that store was packed. I stopped at the Townsend Shopping Center too. Jean said they had been very busy.

This is the start of Tourist Season in the Park and the gateway towns. More people than ever are visiting the Smokies. Last year set a record. I’m sure most businesses will have a good year.

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

Byron Begley
May 26, 2018  

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com