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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:03 am, the temperature outside is 62.6 degrees.
A deadly storm with heavy rain, wind and tornados moved through the south yesterday. It passed through here last night. Rainfall amounted to 3.14 inches at the Knoxville Airport which is a record for the date. 3.38 inches fell in Townsend during the past 24 hours. The storm has passed and is moving toward the Atlantic coast where people there are under a high wind advisory and a tornado watch.
Little River is flowing over flood stage and rising. Currently, the river is flowing at 9,450 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 9.4 feet on the gauge. Flood stage is 8 feet. Little River peaked at 11.33 feet in February, which was one of the worst recent floods. The worst flood occurred in 1994.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 13,700 cfs or 9.37 feet on the gauge. The river is rising quickly. The river peaked at 13.9 feet during the February flood.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 11,500 cfs or 9.73 feet at the Birdtown gauge. The river is rising slowly.
Tellico River has peaked at 18,100 cfs or 13.71 feet at the Tellico Plains gauge. The river is flowing higher than it did at the peak during the February 2020 flood at 12.36 feet.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 3,520 cfs or 7.02 feet.
The West Prong of Little Pigeon River at Gatlinburg is rising quickly and flowing at 2,500 cfs or 8.74 feet on the gauge. The river peaked at 8.9 feet during the February flood.
Little River at the Maryville gauge is rising quickly to flood stage. Flow there is 7,450 cfs or 14.17 feet on the gauge. The peak at the gauge during the February flood was 22.85 feet.
Most rivers in our area are at flood stage.
Access to Townsend may be limited or blocked from Maryville temporarily this morning. We may or may not be open today. Little River is still rising quickly and it will rise much higher, especially further downstream from Townsend.
The wind is strong right now. It will be windy all day with gusts up to 45 miles per hour. It will be partly cloudy later today with a high temperature in the low 60’s.
TVA and the Corps of Engineers have cut back the flows at many tributary dams today. I suspect they are holding back water due to flooding in the Tennessee River Valley. You may be able to fish on a tailwater today, but be aware that flows are subject to change under these conditions.
Lake fishing is not advised today.
We are changing our opening hours, limited to phone orders, curbside pickup and online purchasing, back to our old schedule. We will now be open 9 am until 5 pm Sunday through Thursday. We will be open 9:00 am until 6:00 pm on Friday and Saturday. That may not apply today due to the flood.
UPDATE 6:47 AM - LITTLE RIVER HAS PEAKED AND IT IS RECEDING QUICKLY. FLOW IS NOW 7,710 CFS OR 8.51 FEET ON THE GAUGE.
ACCESS TO TOWNSEND IS FINE.
THERE ARE FOUR OF US HERE TODAY. CALL 865-448-9459 IF WE CAN HELP YOU.
Please be safe and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 13, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |