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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:47 am, the temperature is 57.4 degrees.

It has been raining heavy since about midnight. The rain gauge is reporting 1.21 inches so far, this early in the morning.

Rain will continue until this afternoon. The high temperature today will be about what it is now. It will be windy today. Colder air will move into the area tonight, with temperatures dropping to the low 30’s. Snow is possible in the high elevations. It will be mostly cloudy tomorrow with a high in the lower 50’s falling to the middle 30’s tomorrow night.

Little River is flowing at 671 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.91 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 333 cfs. The river is rising quickly. The water temperature is 54.3 degrees.

Little Pigeon River is rising quickly at the Sevierville gauge. Flow is currently 2,050 cfs, 3.71 feet, compared to median flow of 588 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 1,290 cfs, 2.85 feet, which compares to median flow of 649 cfs. The river is rising.

Tellico River is flowing at 757 cfs, 2.64 feet and rising. Median flow for this date is 320 cfs at the Tellico Plains gauge.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 313 cfs, 3.27 feet, compared to media flow of 135 cfs for this date.

The ground is saturated from recent rainfall. Though the rain is expected to taper off this morning, streams in the Smokies will continue to rise for a while. We are not under a flood watch here, but some areas nearby are.

Streams in the mountains are or will be too high to safely wade and fish today. They are already flowing high. Many are likely stained.

Lowland rivers exiting the Smokies are flowing high this morning and they are rising quickly. Most are probably stained.

There are breaks in the generation schedules planned today at some dams, including Norris, South Holston and Douglas. There may be more. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with the generation schedules at your favorite tailwater.

It has been an hour since I took the first flow readings on Little River. Flow has increased to 3.15 feet and the river is still rising fast. I don’t see much hope for fishing in the Smokies today.

If the rain ends and the streams peak soon, stand in safe water and use weighted nymph rigs. Water temperatures are warm. Trout are active.

It is common knowledge, if water temperatures reach 50 degrees, for three days, the Spring hatches will begin. When the aquatic insects emerge, and the temperatures become cold, the hatches may continue. Anglers may have seen some of these aquatic insects on the water yesterday but I did not hear that from customers.

I have been in situations when bugs are hatching, but trout are not feeding on them. The water became cold and the trout were inactive. The insect activity continued, though the water was cold.

Cold nights are in the forecast through the weekend though it will be fairly warm most days. Water temperatures will fall this week from where they are now. Next week should be much warmer, day and night.

Spring fishing is almost upon us.

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

Byron Begley
March 1, 2021

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com