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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:52 am, the temperature outside is 42.4 degrees.
It started raining at 3:04 am this morning. So far, .32 inches has fallen. Snowfall amounting to an inch or two is predicted for the higher elevations this morning. Rain will continue early today. The high temperature is expected to be in the upper 40’s. Tomorrow will be sunny and slightly warmer.
Warm air will move into the region Thursday, and remain through the weekend. High temperatures will be in the upper 50’s Thursday, mid to upper 60’s Friday, low 70’s Saturday and in the mid to upper 60’s Sunday. We will see rain once again Friday night, with more rain and thunderstorms Saturday.
Laurel Creek Road, from near the Middle Prong and West Prong confluence to Cades Cove is scheduled to be closed today and through most of February. Repairs are being made to the Bote Mountain Tunnel. That is the only route to Cades Cove.
Little River is flowing at 479 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.66 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 290 cfs. The water temperature is 46.0 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 928 cfs, 2.67 feet, compared to median flow of 524 cfs for this date.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 968 cfs or 2.57 feet on the gauge at Birdtown. Median flow for this date is 524 cfs. The water temperature is 43.9 degrees.
Tellico River is flowing at 522 cfs, 2.11 feet, compared to median flow of 271 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 253 cfs, 3.08 feet, compared to median flow of 124 cfs. The water temperature is 41.5 degrees.
Rivers in the mountains are flowing above normal. Some anglers prefer higher flows while others do not. Most of the USGS gauge readings this morning indicate the rivers are beginning to rise. You may find swift water in some areas so be careful wading. I would use nymphs or streamers. Add plenty of weight to get them down or use weighted flies. I would fish the lower elevations where the water is warmer.
Fishing may be fair in some low elevations streams. If we somehow avoid heavy rain later this week, fishing may be good this weekend thanks to the warming water temperatures.
TVA and the Corps are generating and in some cases sluicing at the nearby trout tailwater dams today. They are also spilling at the dams on the Tennessee River. They are anticipating rain later this week and it may be heavy at times. This has been a very wet January so far.
Paula and I drove to Nashville early yesterday morning and returned last evening. We were there to attend a buying show for the shop.
After we left the show we drove to Fly South, a super fly shop in Nashville. There, we spent time with the owner, Jim Mauries. Jim and I have been good friends for about 35 years. When I lived in Nashville, he was one of my fishing buddies. I learned much about fly fishing and fly tying from Jim. He has been in the fly fishing industry for 30 years and an avid fly fisherman most of his life.
We laughed about old times and old friends. And, we talked about business, of course. If you live in Middle Tennessee or you are visiting Nashville, you should go to Fly South. Jim runs one fine fly shop, one of the nicest I have seen. The fly tying department is awesome.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
January 7, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
