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 4:36 am, the temperature is 28.9 degrees.
According to the Park’s Roads Twitter page, Little River Road is still closed due to snow and ice. The page indicates the road has been closed since January 21st. Most roads have re-opened since the last snow event. Maybe the road is open. Or, there could still be downed trees blocking the road.
Newfound Gap Road is reported to be open, as well as Laurel Creek Road to Cades Cove.
It will be sunny today, with a high around 40 degrees and a low tonight in the low 20’s. Tomorrow will be sunny again and warmer, with a high near 50 degrees and a low in the low 30’s tomorrow night. Rain and snow showers will turn to rain Friday with snow in the early evening. Temperatures will fall to near 10 degrees overnight. Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high temperature in the upper 20’s.
Little River is flowing at 235 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.12 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 361 cfs. The water temperature is 41.0 degrees this morning.
Most streams in the mountains are flowing below normal with some flowing quite a bit below normal. Water temperatures are warmer this morning than they have been, but the water is still cold. Trout are sluggish and fishing is slow. We will see some warming tomorrow, then water temperatures will drop beginning Friday.
Fishing in the lowland rivers flowing out of the Smokies will be slow today, especially if you are fishing for smallmouth bass. Fishing will likely be slow for stocked trout too but you may want to try later today when the water has warmed somewhat. I don’t think the rivers will warm enough today to increase stocked trout activity. Maybe tomorrow.
I clicked on the most popular tailwaters and found only a few that have angler friendly flows today. There are long breaks in the generation at South Holston, Watauga and Chatuge dams. There may be others. Visit the TVA website from the links below to see if you can find suitable flows on your favorite tailwater.
We can expect warmer days and nights early next week, the first week in February. Last year, we enjoyed warm water conditions and good fishing in the Smokies during the first week in March. Hopefully it will play out that way this year. There is a chance, Spring fishing will arrive in late February. That has happened in some recent years.
Remember March of 1993, when several feet of snow fell in the Smokies? Some areas saw three feet of snowfall in 24 hours. A large group of backpackers, who were here for Spring Break became stranded in the mountains. They were all rescued, mostly by Army helicopters.
I was renting a home in Maryville and finishing the construction of this house. When the roads were finally cleared, I drove to Townsend to check on the unfinished home. I parked on Old Cades Cove Road and tried to walk a quarter of a mile to the home site. That proved to be impossible. The snow was up to my waist. I didn’t own snow shoes back then. We have two pair now. I gave up, drove back to Maryville, and waited for the thaw.
That was the blizzard that will never be forgotten.
I found a good story about the blizzard of 93, with lots of video and photos on the WBIR website. You can learn more about this storm my CLICKING HERE.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
January 26, 2022
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
|
