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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:22 am, the temperature outside is 41.2 degrees.
It will be partly sunny today and warmer, with a high in the low 50’s dropping to the upper 30’s tonight. We have a 50% chance for rain tomorrow and a high temperature in the low 50’s. The chance for rain continues Friday night and Saturday. It will continue to be much warmer than normal through the weekend.
The little River USGS gauge is not reporting data. This has been happening fairly often recently. I will call the Knoxville Field Office this morning to let them know which is what I always do. Data transmission is usually restored quickly, once they know.
My best guess is, the water temperature at the Townsend gauge is probably around 46 degrees, based on the number reported at Oconaluftee River. Little River is usually two or three degrees warmer than Oconaluftee.
Stream flows continue to recede in the Smokies.
Fishing may be fair in the lower elevations where the water is warmer. Though the streams are flowing lower each day, they are still higher than median flow. The water will be swift in some areas.
I would plan on using nymph rigs with plenty of weight to get them down.
TVA and the Corps plan to generate at most dams today. I didn’t see any angler friendly flows in our area. You might want to check the dams in upper East Tennessee. You may have some opportunities there.
January ends tomorrow. As we creep into the new month, we are anticipating the coming of the Spring hatches, which have begun in February fairly often recently.
When the water temperatures reach near 50 degrees, and that is sustained for a few days, the aquatic insect reproductive cycle begins. We see Quill Gordon, Blue Quill, Blue Wing Olive and other insects on the water. The trout become active. Fishing is good. We all love that.
I check the long term 14-day forecast almost every morning. According to the forecast, temperatures in February will be significantly warmer than normal this year through February 13th.
The historical average temperatures in Townsend during February, are a high of 53 and a low of 28 degrees.
What I read this morning indicates we will see highs during the day between 48 degrees and 67 degrees with most days reaching the mid to upper 50’s to the low 60’s.
Lows at night, if the predictions are correct, will range from the mid-30’s to 50 degrees with most nights being warm, in the low 40’s.
I didn’t compute the averages, but it is safe to say that early February will probably be much warmer than normal, especially at night.
If this trend continues and the predictions hold true, we should enjoy an early fly fishing Spring once again.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
January 30, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |