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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:21 am, the temperature outside is 67.1 degrees.

A tiny rain cell hovered over a small area where we live yesterday afternoon. I watched it on radar. In less than an hour, .84” fell near our house. .84” and .96” were reported at two personal weather stations in Kinzel Springs. 1.53” and 2.37” were reported at stations in Laurel Valley. I drove to the shop afterwards, which only takes me ten minutes to do, and found they did not get much rain at all there. As far as I could tell, there was no rain in the Park from that cell.

That is the weather pattern we are in, scattered thunderstorms or rain storms every afternoon.

We should expect the same today, showers and then thunderstorms with a high temperature near 80 degrees. The same should be expected almost every day this week and through the holiday weekend. In fact, that is predicted through June 5th.

Little River is flowing at 127 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.68 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 193 cfs. The water temperature is 65.8 degrees this morning.

Though Little River is flowing below normal, other streams in the area are not. Cataloochee Creek, Tellico River, Oconaluftee River and the Little Pigeon River are all flowing slightly above median flow. Those are the nearby mountain streams that have USGS flow gauges.

Fly fishing in the Park was excellent this weekend. I saw Jeff at the shop yesterday. He has been fly fishing for a long time, in the Smokies. He told me, he has not seen fishing this good in a while. Fishing reports from others indicate the same thing. The trout are active and feeding.

Success depends on being able to stay hidden from the trout and paying attention to your fly presentation. Dress to blend with the forest, don’t wade much where you plan to fish, and get a good drift. Keep your fly moving at the same speed as the current, as much as you can.

Less important is fly choice right now. If it looks like food, they will eat it. However, I would recommend the following flies for reference, though you might do better with something else.

Yellow Neversink Caddis
Rob’s Hellbender
Yellow Stimulator
Yellow Parachute Adams
Yellow Elk Hair Caddis
Bead Head Pheasant Tail
Green Weenie
Pink Weenie

Most of the dry flies should be in sizes #14 or #16, especially since the water is flowing lower than normal in Little River. The same is true of most nymphs. The Weenies are tied in size #12.

If you are fishing this week, there is a chance the stream will become stained during rain events. If that happens, move to another stream that was not affected.

Smallmouth bass fishing is good on the lowland rivers, lakes and tailwaters. Trout fishing is good on the tailwaters. Lake fishing for many warmwater species is good. Fishing is just plain good right now. It is May!

You won’t catch me on a lake this weekend, not on a holiday. Actually, I never fish on weekends. Recreational boaters will be out in huge numbers. People will be tubing and swimming in the Park streams. If you go this weekend, plan on hiking to get away from the crowds. Or, go early or late for solitude.

Three bears, a mother and two cubs were euthanized this weekend in Gatlinburg. The bears were destroying property and chasing people. I’ve seen a lot of bears here, and I’ve never been chased by one. I have to admit, that would be a harrowing experience.

Those bears in Gatlinburg were looking for food. They had been humanized. They learned to associate humans with food. They had been fed by humans, accidently or possibly on purpose. When bear become humanized, they are often finally euthanized.

Bears visit our home frequently. They don’t stay long. They know there is no food here. I feed birds, but only during the Winter months. Therefore, we have no problems with the animals. We also try to keep our distance. When we get close to a bear, it is by accident.

You can read the sad story about the Gatlinburg bears by CLICKING HERE.

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

Byron Begley
May 22, 2018  

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com