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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:33 am, the temperature is 58.5 degrees.

It will be mostly cloudy today with a high temperature in the low 70’s, dropping to the upper 40’s tonight. We have a chance for scattered rain showers this afternoon and tonight. The chance for rain continues tomorrow. Expect highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 50’s. Sunday will be more of the same, a chance for showers and a high in the middle to upper 60’s.

Little River is flowing at 256 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.11 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 344 cfs. The water temperature is 50.5 degrees this morning.

Streams in the Smokies are flowing lower than normal but at good fishable levels. The streams have warmed to the trout’s preferred range in the lower elevations. Fishing should be good today.

Quill Gordons and other aquatic insects are active but hatches are sporadic. Be prepared with nymphs, wet flies and dry flies.

I have talked to anglers who are catching trout but I did not talk to any who fished and returned yesterday. I am hopeful you are going to enjoy good dry fly fishing. Today will be a good day to find out. It will be overcast.

I suppose there is a chance for stained or higher water at some point through the weekend and beyond. I hope that doesn’t happen.  

Lowland river fishing where trout are stocked is good. The rivers are flowing at excellent levels and water temperatures are warm enough for trout feeding activity. Nymphs, egg patterns and streamers will work. I would not count on good dry fly fishing but that is possible too. Smallmouth bass fishing will be slow to maybe fair in some rivers. Smallmouth bass will be more active when the water warms further.

They are generating aggressively at most dams today. I did not see any tailwater wade fishing options. View the TVA website from the links below to see if you can find an opportunity somewhere.

It is nice to see some of our long-time friends and customers from other states return to Townsend for Spring fishing. Danny was here yesterday from Mississippi. I talked to David from Kentucky. Many of our local friends and customers ventured out this week, to enjoy this beautiful weather.

I talked to several customers yesterday who drove long distances to shop in our fly tying department. I will spend the next two days receiving fly tying material and tool orders. I am also adding more materials to our online store. That will continue through the year.

I saw a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) enforcement officer in town yesterday. They have new black pickup trucks. That leads me to believe the scheduled trout stocking for this week has been done or they will stock today. The stocking of lowland rivers seems to be starting earlier this year.

Daffodils popped out of the ground and bloomed yesterday. Wild turkeys are roaming around our house continuously. I see a flock of about 30 every morning in the field by our house when I drive to work. They like to hang around our bird feeders too, waiting for a seed to drop. Bird feeding will be over here this weekend. We don’t want a bear destroying the feeders.

Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. We can fish longer after work.

It looks like Spring is here folks, at least for now. I could not be happier.

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

Byron Begley
March 12, 2021     

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com