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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:57 am, the temperature outside is 60 degrees.
Scattered thunderstorms moved through the Smokies early last night. They will continue today. We may get between one half to three quarters of an inch today, then again tonight. The chances for rain range between 80% to 100%.
It is beautiful outside right now. There are some scattered gray and pink clouds hovering over the mountains. Sunrise is coming shortly. The view from my office at the shop offers me some beautiful sunrises while I’m writing this report. It looks like this is going to be a good one.
It will be warm throughout the week, with highs in the 70’s and lows dipping to the 50’s. Rain is in the forecast again tomorrow and Friday morning.
Little River is flowing at 299 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.26 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 367 cfs. The water temperature is a perfect 57.7 degrees this morning.
The Little Pigeon River must have received more rain than Little River last night. The gauge is reading 2.76 feet, 988 cfs, which compares to median flow of 642 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is flowing right at median flow, 663 cfs compared to median of 657 cfs. The gauge reading is 3.11 feet. The water temperature is 55.6 degrees at Birdtown.
Tellico River is rising, with a gauge reading of 2.11 feet or 490 cfs. That compares to median flow of 376 cfs. A thunderstorm dropped rain in the Tellico Plains area this morning.
Not much rain fell in the Cataloochee watershed. Flow is currently 118 cfs, compared to median flow of 158 cfs. The water temperature is 52.7 degrees this morning.
Water temperatures are going to be perfect this week. Trout and aquatic insects will be very active.
We may see high water at times, specifically later today or tomorrow. If we get the high prediction of 1.5 inches of rain today and tonight, some streams may be flowing high and stained tomorrow. These storms may be scattered, affecting some watersheds and not others. Only time will tell.
I would go prepared with dry flies and nymphs. Dry fly selection should include Parachute Adams, Light Cahills, Hendricksons and caddis. You may also need some small Blue Wing Olive dries.
A Head Pheasant Tail, Tellico, Hare’s Ear, or Prince Nymph are good sub-surface choices.
Except for the possibility of high water, fishing should be excellent today in the Smoky Mountains.
Check the TVA website generation schedules. You may be able to squeeze in some fly fishing for trout or smallmouth bass on some of the tailwaters today. Check out Norris Dam.
Warmer water is driving improvement on the lowland rivers. Smallmouth bass and rock bass are much more active than they have been. Fishing won’t be perfect yet. But, it is getting better by the day.
We are going to have a very good fishing week again. Late today and tomorrow is iffy in the Smokies. It might turn out to be fine here too. It is almost sunrise now. The sky looks good, no thunderstorms to the East. They may be sneaking up on us from the South and West. Yep, I looked. They are.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 8, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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