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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:15 am, the temperature outside is 60.8 degrees.
I rained again last night, amounting to .66 inches in Townsend and .53 inches at the Knoxville Airport. A low chance for rain remains in the forecast early today. Light rain is falling now. The high temperature today will be in the upper 60’s. Showers and thunderstorms are likely tomorrow and tomorrow night. There is also a chance for rain Sunday. It will be warm Saturday, in the low 70’s. Sunday will be cooler, with temps in the low 60’s.
Little River is flowing at 485 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.61 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 238 cfs. The water temperature is 55.0 degrees. The river is rising slowly this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 1,230 cf or 2.93 feet at the Sevierville gauge, compared to median flow of 532 cfs.
At Birdtown, Oconaluftee River is flowing at 1,260 cfs, 2.81 feet, which compares to median flow of 532 cfs.
Tellico River is flowing at 592 cfs, 2.39 feet, compared to median flow of 293 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 240 cfs, 3.07 feet, compared to median flow of 117 cfs.
The West Prong of the Little Pigeon River at Gatlinburg is flowing at 158 cfs or 3.76 feet on the gauge.
All streams in the Smokies that have USGS gauge sites are flowing much higher than normal. Some are swift. The lowland rivers are flowing higher than normal and some are swift. Be careful wading.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is closed at least until April 30th. I have heard the Park will re-open May 1st, though I can’t verify that.
Around the clock generation is planned today at all dams I checked in our area. Additionally, there is sluicing at some dams. I do not see any wade fishing opportunities in our local tailwaters today.
We are getting some heavy rain now. We may see streams rise further and some may be temporarily stained early today.
Yesterday, I read a story about a bear, hanging around in Townsend, in the city limits. Our police department officers scared the bear off. Yesterday, when I was driving home from work, a large bear was standing in the road, in my lane. I slowed to almost a stop, before it walked off the road. I was very close to the city limits at that point. Maybe it was the same bear.
It is rare to see a bear in town. We live two miles from Townsend. It is common to see bears at our house. We live in a sparsely populated area. We have been living with these animal for almost 27 years.
Bears avoid intentional close human contact unless there is food involved. People who live here know, you can’t leave anything outside that could be considered food by a bear. If you do, those critters will quickly become a problem.
We are locking our vehicles now, and we will continue to do so until next Winter. Bears will open the doors, get in, and tear the interior to shreds.
A tree blew over onto Old Cades Cove Road near the entrance to our road yesterday. It blocked both lanes. Paula was going to town to run some errands. She saw what happened, turned around and drove back to our house to get her chain saw. When she arrived back at the scene, where several men were standing around, one commented, “The only person around here with a chain saw is a girl”.
She handed her saw to him and they quickly cleared the road as she watched. I gave her that chain saw for Christmas last year. I gave her a weed eater as an anniversary present one year and a gas powered limb saw as a gift on another special date. I think that might have been her birthday. She got a small rototiller as an anniversary present this month.
What a thoughtful, loving and practical husband I am.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
April 24, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
