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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:42 am, the temperature is 37.2 degrees.

Welcome to Dogwood Winter! It will be short lived. Today will be partly sunny with a high of 64 and a low tonight in the low to middle 40’s. We have a chance for rain tomorrow with a high in the low 60’s. Sunday will be mostly sunny and warmer, in the middle 60’s.

Little River is flowing at 199 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.01 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 285 cfs. The water temperature is 53.1 degrees and plunging this morning.

Most streams in the Smokies that have USGS gauge sites are flowing closer to normal than Little River is. That’s OK, water levels are fine. Water temperatures are falling early this morning.

Fishing may be slow early but will hopefully improve later today when the water temperatures begin to rise. Nymphs will probably work best due to the colder water.

Lowland rivers are flowing well for the most part. Fishing will be better as the day progresses. Fishing for trout where they are stocked should be good. Nymphs and streamers are good fly choices.

TVA and the Corps of Engineers are cutting back the flows at a few dams. This appears to be a pattern. Check Norris and South Holston Dams today. It is almost time for the agencies to begin raising the lakes for the Summer boating recreation season. It looks like that is what they are doing at Norris and South Holston as the lakes are rising. Click on the operating guides on the TVA web pages where they occur. I am hoping this is good news for tailwater anglers.

It will be chilly on the lakes this morning but it will be warmer later. Winds will be calm. I would fish the rocky banks with streamers. Mine would be a large black weighted Wooly Bugger, fished slowly and allowed to fall into deeper water during the retrieve.

In a few weeks, lake dwelling fish will be taking surface flies. Our shop is loaded with poppers for you, waiting for their day and yours. I really enjoy making my own poppers and hair bugs.

I spent the last couple of days photographing popper making components and adding them to our online store. I named the category, “Popper Making Store”. You can see the beginning by CLICKING HERE. I’m planning to add more of what we stock, then look for more to add in the next few weeks. Click on the text on the page to see an old tutorial I wrote on the subject, years ago. I’ve been making my own poppers using foam cylinders for 20 years. They are very easy to make and they work.

I learned to make these poppers from Bob Clouser. Bob and I have been friends for a long time. Bob invented the Clouser Minnow, a fly that has endured as a staple streamer, used in freshwater and saltwater with amazing results, for decades. Almost every fly anger has heard of a Clouser Minnow.

Bob was giving a fly tying demonstration at the shop years ago. He was tying a Clouser Minnow. People were gathered around, sitting in chairs and standing, watching him tie. A fella spoke up and said, “That’s not the way Clouser ties it”. Bob just smiled and kept on with his demonstration. The man did not know it was “Clouser” who was tying.

You can read more about the Clouser Minnow on Wikipedia by CLICKING HERE. Lefty and Bob were very close friends. Lefty encouraged Bob to pursue making a living by guiding for smallmouth bass in Pennsylvania. Lefty recounted that conversation to me. I got a big laugh out of it. Lefty always made people laugh. He had a serious side too, but most people did not see that often.

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

Byron Begley
April 16, 2021

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com