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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:16 am, the temperature outside is 34.7 degrees.
Warmer air will move in today. The high temperature is predicted to be in the upper 60’s. It will be sunny today. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be warm, with highs in the low 60’s and lows in the high 30’s. There is a low chance for rain Wednesday. Expect a high temperature in the low 70’s.
Little River is flowing at 392 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.43 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 218 cfs. The water temperature is 47.7 degrees this morning.
Most if not all streams in the mountains are flowing above normal. Most stream are fishable, though you will find swift water in spots. Wade carefully.
Water temperatures are chilly this morning. The streams will warm by several degrees today. I would wait a while before going if your time is limited, to give the water a chance to warm.
Nymphs will work for sure. Dry flies may produce too, especially later today and early in the evening.
My nymph choices would be Tellico, Hare’s Ear, Prince, Pheasant Tail and other reasonable patterns. My first picks for dry flies would be Light Cahill, Elk Hair Caddis, Yellow Stimulator or Yellow Sally Stonefly patterns. Presentation is probably more important than fly choices. Get a good drift and do not spook the trout.
The Park opened yesterday for the first time since late May. Main roads were open but less traveled secondary roads are not. We heard yesterday, Tremont Road is closed at the entrance, not at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute as I suspected. Cades Cove was packed with vehicles and people. That was expected. The road to Elkmont is closed.
It is my understanding you can walk on these secondary roads. Hiking up the road to Elkmont and Tremont Road to fish would be my choice, if you can find a place to park. One of my friends fished the West Prong of Little River yesterday. I’m sure he did well. He always does.
Lowland rivers are fairly swift and wading will be limited. Try nymphs or streamers for trout and smallmouth bass.
TVA is generating at most dams today. I did see some breaks in the flows at a couple of dams, Apalachia and Douglas. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if your favorite tailwater can be waded today.
We are busy at the shop. There were five of us working yesterday. We limited the number of customers in the store to five and that will continue.
We are not selling fishing licenses. Instead, we are encouraging visitors to buy their licenses online. It is easy to do. Selling a fishing license is a slow process. In the past, we have had families waiting in line to get them. That will not work under the current guidelines.
We are doing everything possible to comply with social distancing mandates. We had to make some changes in our barriers and signs yesterday. People do forget. Yesterday I was walking down the stairs and a man started walking up the stairway toward me. I turned around, walked back upstairs and waited for him to reach the fly tying department. Then, I walked down the stairs.
We want to help customers in any way we can. But, we have to do it from six feet away. That can be hard to do. We are wearing masks. Some of our customers are wearing them too.
Though we limit the customers to five in the building, I did not see many people waiting outside for their turn yesterday. I think our customers understand this predicament, and limit their time in the shop so others can come in.
On a normal Saturday in May, we could easily have 10 to 20 customers in the shop at once. By not selling fishing licenses, there are less. We want this to work well and safely.
Happy Mother’s Day moms!
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
May 10, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
