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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:59 am, the temperature outside is 40.2 degrees. That number was 39 degrees a few minutes ago.

It will be very warm today, with a high temperature in the mid-60’s. Rain will move in this afternoon. Tonight, we may get heavy rain, up to 1” with temperatures falling into the 30’s. Tomorrow will be partly sunny and much colder. The high temperature is predicted to be only in the mid-40’s. Temps will fall into the 20’s, tomorrow night.

Heavier rain, and snow tonight is predicted in the higher elevations of the Smoky Mountains. Mount LeConte may get 2” of rain and an inch of snow.

The big problem today and tonight will be wind. We are under a wind advisory. The National Weather Service alert indicates we should expect 15 to 25 mph wind and gusts to 40 mph. The wind advisory becomes effective at 10 am today.

Little River is flowing at 144 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.84 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 146 cfs. The water temperature is 46.6 degrees this morning.

If you go fishing today, in the Smokies, go early. When the wind starts blowing, go home. This will probably not be a good fishing day, like I hoped earlier this week. It is also colder this morning, than was predicted. So, the water is cooler than I thought it would be. The water will warm today which would be good for fishing.

This is a strong front moving into the Appalachians. Trout seem to sense the approach, which often affects their feeding behavior negatively.

If you are planning a long drive to fish here today, you may want to re-think your plans.

It is daybreak now. I’m looking at the trees outside my office. The wind is picking up a little, already. And, the air is warming quickly. It is 3 degrees warmer than the first reading I saw this morning and it is only 7 am.

This is going to be an unusual day.

If you go, use nymphs. Watch out for falling limbs and trees this afternoon.

Dwight McCarter is a local man who I have known since the late 90’s. He is a retired Park Ranger. He is a very interesting guy. I’m not sure, but I think he still hosts hikes at Blackberry Farm.

Dwight is known as an expert tracker. He led many searches in the Park, for people who were lost. In fact, he wrote a book named “Lost” which was published in 1998. We sold them in the shop at the time. He would deliver them to the store when we ordered from him. We all got to know Dwight well.

There is a sad and interesting story on the WBIR website this morning, called “Appalachian Unsolved: Dennis Martin, Missing in the Smokies”. Dennis became separated from his family near Spence Field in 1969. He was 6 years old. Dennis was never found. You can see the story by CLICKING HERE.

Dwight was there and appears in video, in this story. This was the largest manhunt in the history of the Park. An estimated 1,400 people assisted in the search, including Army soldiers and helicopters. You should read this and look at the photos and video.

The lesson learned was, too many searchers, destroy the signs, a tracker looks for. Now, when someone is lost in this wilderness area, only specialized searchers are used in the hopeful recovery. A young man was lost last year. The Park Service announced they did not want any help or volunteers. The young man walked out of the forest on his own, several days later.

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

Byron Begley
November 18, 2017

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com