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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:30 am, the temperature outside is 19.2 degrees.

Today will be sunny and breezy, with a high temperature in the low 40’s and winds gusting to 20 miles per hour. It will be cold and dry the remainder of the week. Expect highs in the 40’s and lows in the low 30’s and the high 20’s through Saturday. No rain or snow is expected during the period. Sunday will be warmer and rain is predicted.

Little River is flowing at 129 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.78 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 266 cfs. The water temperature is 37 degrees this morning.

Fishing is slow in the Smoky Mountains, due to the cold water temperatures. You might tempt a post spawn brown trout to eat your fly. Some anglers have been successful lately. But, overall, the trout will be sluggish.

A tailwater, such as the Clinch River can be a good Winter option right now. I drove over the river yesterday, and noticed TVA was not generating. During periods of low flow, you can wade and may do well using nymphs and midges.

I spent a few days with some of my buddies in Kentucky. We fished Hatchery Creek Monday. Fishing was very good. We all caught trout on nymphs. I didn’t have a thermometer with me, but the water seemed to be perfect to the touch. The trout were very active. At times, the water became turbid, because the hatchery upstream was being cleaned. That didn’t seem to bother the trout at all. We saw a few fishermen but for the most part, we had the stream to ourselves.

We had a great time. Our friendship dates back 50 to 60 years. Frank and Mouse live in Kentucky, where I grew up. Wayne lives in Nashville, but grew up with us. We rent a cabin at Lake Cumberland State Park. That is a nice place for us to meet.

I talked to a woman fly fisherman on Hatchery Creek. She was fishing with her husband. That is good to see. It’s not unusual to me, because Paula, my wife, fly fishes. She is good at it too. She loves fly fishing as much as I do. I fly fish with her more than anyone else.

According to an article in the New York Times, “women are now the fastest growing demographic in fly fishing”. From what I’ve read and I look for that information often, fly fishing is not a growing sport. You can read the article by CLICKING HERE.

We have many women fly fishing customers at Little River Outfitters. I hope to see more.

The Park Service is looking for the person or persons, who set fire to some cabins at Elkmont on November 29th. You can read the short article on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE. If you were in that area on that date, please contact the Park Service. Your information might help them find the culprit. The contact options are listed in the article.

Some cabins were damaged but not destroyed. They are slated too be restored to preserve the history of the area. Some buildings have been restored.

If you go fishing today, don’t fall in. It is cold out there. It’s a good idea to keep a change of warm clothes in your vehicle, in case you do.

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

Byron Begley
December 13, 2017

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com