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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:53 am, the temperature is 32.5 degrees.

It will be sunny today with a high temperature in the low 50’s, falling to the upper 30’s tonight. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the middle to upper 50’s and a low around 39 degrees.

Some roads were closed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park due to snow and ice but several have re-opened, including Little River Road, Laurel Creek Road and the Cades Cove Loop Road. Newfound Gap Road, Wears Cove Road and possibly others are still closed.

Little River is flowing at 396 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.37 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 306 cfs. The water temperature is 39.9 degrees.

Most streams in the mountains are flowing near normal today. Some are flowing higher. If you go fishing, you will find strong currents in some streams so be careful wading.

Water temperatures are cold now, but we will see some warming over the next few days. There is snow in the mountains that will melt, and it may cause the streams to warm slower. Water temps will likely fall later this week and through the weekend.

Weighted nymph rigs are good choices now. Fishing will improve later each day as the water warms. Fishing may not be good but catching trout is possible.

Lowland river fishing will be slow for most species. Fishing for stocked trout will improve some as the waters warm over the next three days. Nymphs, egg patterns and possibly streamers will probably work best for you.

Tailwater fishing options may be very limited today, especially if you are wade fishing. TVA and the Corps will be generating often at most dams in the area. The year has been drier than normal so far. I can’t help but wonder, if this continues, will Spring tailwater fishing be better than it has been in a while? I hope it will.

We have had three very wet years in a row until now. We have experienced long term and excessive generation at the TVA and Corps dams each Spring. Maybe this year, tailwater anglers will see the benefit of normal rainfall, with more fishing opportunities below the dams.

With more fly fishers enjoying the tailwaters, there should be less fishing pressure on the freestone streams. What we need now is “normal” or something close.

Anglers are preparing for Spring. Though customer traffic was low in the shop during the first week of February, as usual, business was good. Mail order was strong. Though fishing is slow in the free flowing rivers, we all know Spring is coming soon. I don’t see that happening here, at least through February 22nd on the long term forecast I refer to often. But, that can change, and it may.

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

Byron Begley
February 8, 2021

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com