If you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.
Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:28 am, the temperature outside is 10.8 degrees. Today will be cold, with a high temperature around 20 degrees. Tonight’s low will dip into single digits. Expect tomorrow to be a little warmer, with highs in the upper 30’s. This weekend will be nice. We will enjoy sun and high temperatures in the upper 50’s.
Little River is flowing at 205 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.05 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 255 cfs. The water temperature is 33.1 degrees this morning.
Snow began falling late yesterday afternoon. The Knoxville Airport reported 1.4”. I think we got about the same amount here. I read there are slick spots on roads this morning. Be careful driving.
Most roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed due to snow and ice. You can see updates on the Park’s Road Twitter page by CLICKING HERE.
Fishing will be very slow and access to the streams is almost impossible. Trout will be lethargic and hunkered down. They don’t need to eat when the water is this cold and they probably won’t.
The streams will warm some this weekend and next week. I don’t know if fishing will be good in a few days. It may. The long term weather forecast through the end of January looks pretty good. We will see some warm days, but temperatures dropping to the freezing point most nights after this weekend.
Yesterday, I talked about Spring fishing in mid-February, like it was last year and other recent years. That is hard to imagine this morning.
The Park Service announced plans to raise front country camping rates by a small amount this year. The fees are still a bargain. You can see the camping rates, at each campground, on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is seeking public comment about their Elk Management Plan. The herd is located in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area, also known as Royal Blue. The current herd is estimated to be between 350 to 600 elk. You can read the story on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE.
Another herd is thriving in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the Cataloochee area. I am still surprised that herd has not split, with some animals moving to Cades Cove. That will surely happen at some point. So far, none have been spotted in the Cove, as far as I know.
You can also read TWRA’s 2018 – 2027 Elk Management Plan by CLICKING HERE. I read some of it this morning. It is interesting.
The forest on our property is loaded with wild holly trees. Some are very large, while there are many small trees too. During the past few days, robins have arrived. I bet they are in shock this morning!
Yesterday, the robins were trying to cling to the holly trees, eating the berries. I never saw that before. Robins are not the most agile clinging birds. They struggled, trying to hold onto the smaller holly branches, where the berries are located. It was fun to watch. A lot of them fell into the snow. They did not give up. They got their berries.
Enjoy this cold day and dress appropriately. Wind chill factors are near zero.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
January 17, 2018 Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
