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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:25 am, the temperature outside is 49.6 degrees.
This is going to be another beautiful day in the mountains and foothills. The high temperature will be in the mid-70’s falling to the low 50’s tonight. We do have a 20% chance for showers early. Tomorrow will be almost identical, except for a slight chance for thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Little River is flowing at 336 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.31 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 353 cfs. The water temperature is 53.4 degrees this morning.
The mountain streams are flowing at or slightly above normal this morning. Water temperatures are excellent in the lower elevations.
Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. They are actively feeding.
Lowland rivers are flowing near normal which is on the high side. Water temperatures are good for smallmouth bass and trout. Nymphs and streamers will catch both.
TVA and the Corps are generating all day today at most dams. The turbines have been off at Douglas Dam this morning. They will be generating soon.
I have seen a lot of vehicles pulling boats in town. Anglers are fishing on the lakes. They are probably doing well, though I have not talked to anyone during the past week about lake fishing. Right now, I would be using streamers, likely a large weighted black Wooly Bugger to catch smallmouth and largemouth bass.
From what I have heard, bluegill are fairy deep in lakes and ponds. Try a Rubber Legged Dragon. Let is sink then slowly retrieve.
I can tell by what we are selling at the shop, a lot of people are home and tying flies.
We are still operating our mail order and curbside pickup at the shop. We have been pretty busy. Our sales are similar to what we normally have during the Winter months. There are usually only three or four of us working each day right now. Nobody has been laid off.
The Park is temporarily closed to keep people from violating social distancing guidelines. Try fishing in the Cherokee National Forest. I would wait to go on a weekday. I have heard there are a lot of people there on weekends.
I began adding beads to the online store yesterday. You can see what I have done so far by CLICKING HERE. This is just the beginning. There are more Cyclops beads to add and slotted beads for tying on jig hooks.
I have also added fly tying hooks from Umpqua, Mustad, Gamakatsu and Hanak. I still have Tiemco and Daiichi hooks to go. You can see what has been done in the hook department by CLICKING HERE.
Customers have been ordering Renzetti vises and tools. I photographed and set up that department a while back. You can see the Renzetti tool department by CLICKING HERE.
Many customers are calling us to order fly tying materials that we do not have on the online store. My goal is to have that whole department online for ordering in about two months. You can still call us to order anything not shown on the online store.
We can also special order jut about anything for you that we do not keep in stock. So far, none of our supply chains have been interrupted except TFO, as far as I know.
Paula and I have been riding around our property on the Gator in the evenings, looking at wildflowers. Yesterday, she lightly tilled part of an area along our private road to sew wildflower seeds. She plans to do more of that today.
If you walk into the forest right now and look, you will see them. Wildflowers are blooming and they are spectacular. The forest is coming to life. Redbuds are in full bloom. Dogwoods are beginning to bloom. May apples popped out of the ground early last week. Turkeys are mating. Bears are roaming.
Jimmy sent me an e-mail yesterday telling me the bears are very active where he lives which is close to us. They are also opening unlocked cars and trucks. We are locking our vehicles now. I totally forgot about doing that this Spring. A bear can open your doors and climb in. They can destroy the interior of your car or truck. A friend of ours had that happen to his brand new pickup truck last year.
So far this year, we have not seen one bear at our house. That is unusual. One did push over a buried 4 x 4 post that held bird feeders, last week. Our bird feeders are retired now, until late November.
Be safe and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 5, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
