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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:49 am, the temperature outside is 30.7 degrees.

Today and tomorrow will be sunny and warm, with high temperatures near or above 60 degrees. The temperatures will drop to the low to mid 40’s at night.

Showers and thunderstorms are likely Thursday.

Little River is flowing at 1,200 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.62 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 315 cfs. The water temperature is 46.4 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River, at the Sevierville gauge is flowing at 2,510 cfs, 4.02 feet, which compares to median flow for the date of 604 cfs.

At Tellico Plains, Tellico River is flowing at 1,210 cfs, 3.67 feet, compared to median flow of 324 cfs.

Oconaluftee River at the Birdtown gauge is flowing at 2,660 cfs, 4.05 feet, compared to median flow of 608 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 675 cfs, 4.05 feet, compared to median flow of 134 cfs.

The streams in or near the Smoky Mountains are slowly receding from days of rain leading up to much heavier rain Saturday. They are all still flowing high. Wading is dangerous in most areas.

Most roads in the region have re-opened. Some roads were flooded while others were stricken by rock and mud slides. Some schools are still closed today. Interstate 40, near the North Carolina and Tennessee border remains closed due to a rock slide.

Many areas remain under a flood warning, due to flooded roads and unstable river banks.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is now releasing water from the tributary dams. They are sluicing at Norris Dam, where the lake above is currently higher than normal Summer pool. They are generating large volumes of water at other tributary dams, including Cherokee and Douglas.

TVA is spilling at the larger dams on the Tennessee River, including Fort Loudoun, Watts Bar and Chickamauga. Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River in Kentucky is spilling and generating at the rate of 58,000+ cfs.

We have an abundance of water and that has once again affected fly fishing in our region.

Now, we will wait to see what happens later this week, when the rain returns.

We are preparing for Spring fishing at the shop. Orders that were placed last Fall are arriving. I am ordering like crazy to keep the fly tying department stocked. Fly tying materials and tools arrived from several of our suppliers Friday. I received them, and started ordering again yesterday.

I ordered about 130 pair of polarized sunglasses and magnifiers week before last. A new sunglasses display arrived, along with 86 pair to fill it up. I hope to get them out and displayed over the next two days. They are all new models, so it will take longer the first time around to get them out. The balance of those ordered should arrive today.

All we need is a break in the weather. We wait for the water to recede. We’ve done it before, many times over the past 25 years. This is nothing new.

I walked out of the house last night, looked up, and saw something I have not seen in a while. I saw the sky lit with bright stars. That was a welcome sight. It seems like it has been overcast all year.

I lived in Nashville before moving to Townsend 27 years ago. I bought this land, where our house now stands years earlier. My fishing buddies and I used this 10 acres as our own, private campground for several years. We would meet here to fly fish in the Smokies.

Back then, I was always amazed at the sight of the stars, so clear and vivid, like they are here now. On clear nights the stars are bright, unlike where I lived before. We don’t have the light pollution I was accustomed to. If you live in a city, you forget what it is like to live away from a city, until you visit sparsely populated areas. One thing you notice quickly, are the stars.

Jack Gregory and Walter Babb will be tying at the shop Saturday between 10 am and 2 pm. The event is free. All you have to do is show up. You don’t want to miss this.  

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

Byron Begley
February 26, 2019

NOTICE: Great Smoky Mountains head fisheries biologist Matt Kulp will be giving the State of the Park Fisheries Address at the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited's February meeting. Date: Tuesday February 26th.

The chapter meetings are held at Barley's Restaurant in downtown Maryville, Tennessee. Social hour begins at 6 pm. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm. You do not have to be a TU member to attend. Newcomers are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited has partnered with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, voluneering and raising funding, since 1993.

Fly Tying Classes January, February and March 2019 Taught by Walter Babb and Brian Courtney Beginner to Advanced CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Respond to: info@littleriveroutfitters.com