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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:28 am, the temperature outside is 35.2 degrees.
Today will be sunny with a high in the mid-50’s dipping to the mid-30’s tonight. Tomorrow will be sunny again and warmer, in the mid-60’s. Friday will be sunny again, with a high in the low 70’s. We have three very nice days in a row to look forward to. We have a chance for rain this weekend.
Little River is flowing at 946 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 6.25 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 302 cfs. The water temperature is 49.5 degrees this morning.
All streams in the Smokies are flowing above normal. They are receding though the rate they are receding has slowed, which is normal. For instance, Little River’s water level fell over five feet day before yesterday. The water level dropped almost a foot during the past 24 hours. That That probably won’t happen today. The rivers and streams will slowly recede for a while.
The Park is temporarily closed. Your options for freestone trout fishing around here are in the lowland rivers that are stocked, outside the Park, or in the Cherokee National Forest. Wading safely will be limited today but we will be seeing improvement over the next three days.
The lowland rivers are swift, so be careful if you go. I would stand in safe water and fish using nymphs, heavily weighted. Most of these rivers were near or above flood stage day before yesterday.
I checked some TVA generation schedules this morning and found almost no tailwater wade fishing opportunities today. Check your favorite river yourself and you may find a break in the generation you can work with.
You might try fishing on a lake in your boat, canoe or kayak. The water may be stained in some lakes, especially on the Tennessee River. TVA and the Corps are spilling at the dams on the Tennessee River. Stay away from those dams!
Fishing will improve by the weekend. We do have a chance for more rain this weekend.
We are fairly busy at the shop. We are filling orders for customers to be picked up curbside or shipped. Some customers are calling us and others are purchasing online.
I am continuing to build our fly tying department on the online store. This project began two weeks ago. It will last for months. You can see the progress by CLICKING HERE. The fly tying department is very busy right now, which is unusual in April when most people are fishing every chance they get.
I am going to order from our fly tying suppliers today and tomorrow trying to keep everything in stock. The fly tying department is going to become a full time job for someone, probably me. I hope it does. I will hire a helper.
More people in Tennessee will be fly fishing in the near future. This has been a tough Spring for many reasons. Rainfall amounts this year are higher than last year. Last year was the wettest year on record in the Tennessee Valley. Rainfall set a record here in 2018 as well.
We are waiting for the tailwaters to be fishable again. This week, we are waiting for the lowland rivers and mountain streams to recede. We are waiting for Great Smoky Mountains National Park to re-open.
When fishing conditions are favorable again, we are going to be out there fishing and I can’t wait. I’m sure you are looking forward to better fishing conditions too. We will all benefit by spending more time fishing. We always have.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 15, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
