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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 7:03 am, the temperature outside is 39 degrees.

A warm front has moved into the Tennessee Valley. Today’s high temperature will rise to the upper 50’s, climbing to the upper 60’s tomorrow and then on to the 70’s by the weekend.

Rain showers are expected this morning. Rain returns Friday with a chance for more rain over the weekend.

Little River is flowing at 279 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.21 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 357 cfs. The water temperature is 46.8 degrees this morning.

Water temperatures will be trending up starting today. The water is a little chilly this morning. You may want to wait until later to go fishing in the Smokies. One thing is certain, fishing will improve throughout the remainder of the week.

I think fishing will be fair to good today, and much better tomorrow and Thursday.

You may do best using nymphs this morning and possibly even later today. But, dry fly fishing may be fair late today. Dry fly fishing will certainly get better tomorrow and into the weekend.  I would use a Parachute Adams for my dry, in sizes #14 to #16. A Bead Head Pheasant Tail is a great nymph to use in these conditions. You may fish them alone or in tandem. Or, drop a small bead head fly off your dry fly. A wet fly makes a good dropper this time of the year. I would use a Hare’s Ear wet fly.

By the weekend, smallmouth bass fishing in the lowland rivers will be much better. Try Little River, Abrams Creek or the Little Pigeon through Sevierville.

Lake fishing for smallies has improved. I saw photos of some nice catches yesterday. Evidently, the fish are still fairly deep but that may change later this week. I would at least try some floating flies for the bass. They may not respond but I would try anyway.

A heavily weighted black Wooly Bugger is an excellent choice for both smallmouth and largemouths bass in lakes or rivers this time of the year. I only use floating lines so I let the Bugger sink and retrieve slowly back to the boat. Work the banks that have large rock riprap, near roads. The sun will be heating the rocks, and attracting the bass to shallower water where we like to fish.

In some cases, releases at the area dams are becoming more angler friendly as the lake levels are closer to where they should be this time of the year. Tailwater fishing opportunities will be more frequent in the near future.

The stocked trout waters in Townsend, Gatlinburg and Cherokee should all be producing and they will improve over the next few days. I would use nymphs or Buggers.

The Corps and TVA are still spilling water at Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky. I talked to two friends yesterday who have homes below the dam. They told me about all the flooding problems they have had Iin the area. One cabin, Frank and I rent near the river was flooded to the eaves. I was there with my buddies about three weeks ago and I could not believe how much water was being released at the dam.

Lake Cumberland set a water level record this year. Now, the lake is just below full Summer pool. Water managers want it lower. The outflow at the dam is not nearly what it was over two weeks ago, but there is still plenty of water churning down that beautiful tailwater.

I grew up fishing often at Lake Cumberland. It is the 9th largest reservoir in the US. The lake is 101 miles long. The total surface area is over 65,000 acres. A lot of people will be glad to see the tailwater return to normal flows.

Overall, the fishing opportunities and conditions are looking much better right now. This break in the rainfall has been very helpful.

Paula and I have been married 25 years, today. The time has flown by. We have had a wonderful life together and I look forward to the future. Not long after we married, we got into the fly fishing business. The past 25 years have been my best 25 years.

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

Byron Begley
April 2, 2019  

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com

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