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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:52 am, the temperature outside is 48.0 degrees.

Today will be mostly cloudy with a high temperature near 70 degrees. Showers are likely tonight and tomorrow, with a low in the low 50’s both nights. High wind is expected tonight and tomorrow.

Little River is flowing at 271 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.16 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 251 cfs. The water temperature is 52.3 degrees. The water temperature peaked at 55-degrees yesterday.

Today should be an excellent fishing day in the Smoky Mountains. All the conditions are perfect. Flows are normal, the water temperature is well within the trout’s preferred range, and it will be overcast much of the day.

What else could you ask for?

The only negative I see is, there is a strong front moving in tonight. Sometimes, that alters trout behavior.

Dry flies and nymphs will produce for you. Nymphs may be best at times, or dry flies at other times. I good attitude would be, “I’m willing to fish either way”.

Fly selection could be simple, a Bead Head Pheasant Tail, Parachute Adams or an Elk Hair Caddis. You may want to have some blue wing olive patterns in your box. They like overcast days. They like bad weather.

When conditions are this good, the trout will be active and looking for food. If your fly looks like food, and it is drifting correctly, trout will be very interested. The trout’s metabolism is in high gear. When the water temperature is in the 50’s, the fish are hungry.

In this watershed, I would fish either prong of the river and its tributaries. Hike above Elkmont, or fish downstream to and below Metcalf Bottoms. Fishing may be good below the Sinks. The Middle Prong is a good choice, including Lynn Camp Prong if you are interested in a beautiful place with a big population of brook trout. Or, if you have time constraints, fish along the road on the West Prong or fish in the backcountry up to Campsite 18.

Fish Camp Prong, about 4-miles upstream on the East Prong from Elkmont, is one of my favorite streams.

They should all be fishing well.

If you want to enjoy the larger tailwaters, check the flow schedules on the TVA website at Norris Dam and Cherokee Dam. You should be able to work with those schedules today. You may have to move around, by driving upstream or down, if you are wading, to avoid high water. By all means, check the schedule yourself and make you own decisions.

The lowland rivers should be fishing better, for smallmouth bass, now that the water is warmer. I don’t know that for a fact, but the conditions are improving. It is time to try the lowland rivers.

We may see high water in a day or so, in all free flowing streams, depending on how much rain we get.

Go today if you can.

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

Byron Begley
April 22, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com