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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:40 am, the temperature is 37.0 degrees.

Rain is likely again this afternoon with a high temperature around 50 degrees. Rain will continue tonight and possibly changing to snow or sleet. Little or no accumulation is expected. There is a chance for light snow tomorrow morning before clearing. It will be cold tomorrow with a high in the low 30’s dropping to the low 20’s tomorrow night. Wednesday will be partly sunny and warmer, in the upper 40’s. Rain will move in once more Wednesday night.

Little River is flowing at 809 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.10 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 312 cfs. The water temperature is 44.2 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 1,750 cfs or 3.49 feet at the Sevierville gauge. Median flow for this date is 666 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 1,360 cfs, 2.92 feet, compared to median flow of 565 cfs.

Tellico River is flowing at 639 cfs, 2.40 feet, which compares to median flow of 335 cfs for this date.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 342 cfs, 3.32 feet, compared to median flow of 135 cfs.

Most streams in the Smokies are flowing much higher than normal but they are receding. Safe wading will be limited in some streams. Water temperatures are fairly warm and they may warm further today.

I would stand in safe water and cast heavily weighted nymph rigs. This is an opportunity for you to hone your Euro Nymphing skills, if you are inclined to do that and many people are fishing this way. It is very effective at catching trout. You can do the same with any longer trout rod and reel, using long leaders with built in colorful sighters to help you detect strikes.

Wading in lowland rivers is limited due to the high water. The streams are fairly warm and warming. I would choose areas where trout are stocked and use straight line Euro nymphing techniques or fish with a combination of weighted nymphs and strike indicators.

Trout are not going to be very active but as the water warms further, you may catch a few.

I did not see any wade fishing friendly flows below the dams today for tailwater fishing around here. It does appear they water will be off at South Holston Dam later today. There may be other options so check the TVA website from the links below to see what they are. If you are boating, you have more options.

The long term weather forecast changes almost daily. I am always looking for a glimmer of hope, that Spring fishing is coming soon this time of the year. What I am seeing now is, the last few days of February will be warmer, with highs in the upper 50s, falling to the 40’s at night.

What we are waiting for are sustained water temperatures close to or above 50 degrees. When that occurs, everything changes. We will see aquatic insects hatching and much better trout feeding activity.

I am hoping, as you are, we are only two weeks away from that big change. I also hope that big change will occur earlier than that. Nobody knows for sure. We will know when it happens. The big change is driven by water temperature and those numbers are now readily available.

In the past, before we had all of this data we could read on our computers, tablets or phones, we did not know until we were there, standing in the stream. I remember when good luck, along with some good guessing, were the only way to be in the right place at the right time.

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

Byron Begley
February 15, 2021   

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com