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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:54 am, the temperature is 49.8 degrees.

Today, and every day this week will be fairly warm and comfortable, with highs in the mid-50’s to low 60’s every day. Temperatures will drop to the mid to high 30’s, tonight and tomorrow night. Then the nights will be warmer until Saturday, with lows in the 40’s. We have a slight chance for rain every day with a high chance Saturday.

Little River is flowing at 205 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.06 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 139 cfs. The water temperature is 51.3 degrees this morning.

The water temperature is fair today in the low to mid elevations. Fishing will be fair and possibly good at times this week. Flows are great. Water temperatures will bounce around all week, being in the fair to good range most days.

I would still start with nymphs. Get them down using extra weight.

You may see aquatic insects on the water and trout feeding on them. Blue wing olives, black stoneflies and caddis may be active. If you see that happening, switch to a dry fly that mimics what you are seeing.

Depending on where you are fishing, brown trout and brook trout may be spawning and on their redds. It is best for the new generation if you leave those fish alone. And, please be careful not to walk on their redds.

Post spawn trout will be hungry and feeding.

Fishing will be best later each day, after the water has warmed.

This may turn out to be a fair to good fishing week in the Smokies. It will certainly be a good week to spend in the mountains, though there is a slight chance for rain most days.

Our first large shipment of the new Fishpond 2018 gear will arrive at the shop Wednesday. I talked to Daniel yesterday, and he is pumped about that. I am too. I set up a new category on our online store, featuring only the new items in the collection for the coming season. You can see it by CLICKING HERE. There are 19 new items for the 2018 selling season. We will send out thousands of e-mails tomorrow, to draw attention to the new gear.

There, you can also see the entire Fishpond collection by clicking to other Fishpond categories.

Daniel asked me to remind you about the new Sage Foundation fly rods. We have some in the shop right now. These are USA made fly rods, crafted in the Sage factory in Washington. They sell for $325. You can read more on our online store by CLICKING HERE. I took the time to cast these fly rods and they are impressive. If you have thought about upgrading to a Sage fly rod, and the cost has kept you for doing it, the Foundation may be your opportunity to do so.

Feedback about Fly Tyers Weekend has been huge and positive. Everyone we have heard from, including the fly tyers, and their organizer, Anthony Hipps, wants to do it again next year. It was a very impressive weekend for our store, for our customers and for the fly tyers themselves. Some of the fly tyers traveled from as far as Michigan and Louisiana.

The event was held in a 3,200 square foot tent, erected behind our shop. We rented all the tables, chairs, heaters and the tent. We didn’t need the heaters, the weather was wonderful. That is not always the case, in early November. Dave and Daniel arranged for off premises parking, so we had plenty. About 40 fly tyers demonstrated in shifts both days. Fly Tyers Weekend is free, like it always has been.

The folks at Casting For Recovery, set up a restaurant in the shop during Fly Tyers Weekend. It was perfect. Profit from food sales benefit the organization and they were happy with their success. Casting for Recovery holds fly fishing retreats for women who have or have survived breast cancer. They do good work, it takes money, and many volunteers to hold these retreats. I think they have provided food at three of our past Fly Tyers Weekend events.

Non-profit organizations had free booth space. Among those were Trout Unlimited and the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians. Check out the museum’s website by CLICKING HERE. It is located in Bryson City, North Carolina. They are building a new structure, that will be the home for their new Aquarium.

I think Dave, Daniel and Anthony have decided to hold the event again next year. I believe that is a wise decision.

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

Byron Begley
November 13, 2017   

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com