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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:10 am, the temperature outside is 62.4 degrees.
We have a low chance for showers today and tomorrow. The chance for rain increases Monday. High temperatures will be in the mid-80’s through Monday.
Little River is flowing at 479 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.60 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 193 cfs. The water temperature is 57.2 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 1,280 cfs or 3.05 feet at the Sevierville gauge. Median flow for this date is 407 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 875 cfs or 2.37 feet at Birdtown. Median flow is 420 cfs.
Tellico River is flowing at 741 cfs or 2.68 feet at the Tellico Plains gauge. Median flow is 227 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 178 cfs, 2.87 feet, compared to median flow of 88 cfs.
West Prong of the Little Pigeon River at Gatlinburg is flowing at 170 cfs or 3.86 feet on the gauge.
As you can see, most streams in the mountains are flowing above normal. Some streams or some areas of streams are swift. Be careful wading. Other streams are close to good fishing levels, including Little River. The water should recede over the next two days. Water temperatures are excellent for trout feeding activity.
Choose dry flies, nymphs or a combination of both. Nymph choices should include Tellico, Hare’s Ear, Pheasant Tail, Green Weenie, Pink Weenie, Squirmy Worm or Prince patterns. Your dry fly selection should include any Yellow Sally Stonefly patterns, Yellow Stimulators, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Light Cahills or other Sulphur patterns.
Access to some streams will improve this morning as more secondary roads will open.
CLICK HERE to see the information pertaining to closed and newly re-opened roads on the Park’s website. Scroll down to “What roads will open May 23rd to see the newly revised list.
Lower and upper Tremont Road will open today, giving you more parking and access to the Middle Prong of Little River, Lynn Camp Prong and Thunderhead Prong. Elkmont Road will still be closed.
Some lowland rivers are flowing high enough that wading will be limited. Floating the rivers may be fine in some areas. Check the USGS gauges before going. Fishing is good for trout, where they are stocked and smallmouth bass. Nymphs and streamers will work for the stocked trout. The same is true for smallmouth bass but you should also try poppers and foam floating flies.
Some lake levels are rising in our area, causing dam activity that is releasing water into the tailwaters. I saw a couple of tailwater fishing opportunities in the area but most dams will be generating all day. Some are also sluicing or spilling. Visit the TVA website from the links below to see what is going on at your favorite tailwater today.
Lake fishing is good in some impoundments. The lakes may be very crowded with boaters this weekend. Go early or late. Scattered thunderstorms are possible tomorrow and Monday. Watch out for those. Streamers, poppers and foam floating flies should work. Surface temperatures are rising, which will improve the topwater fishing.
What we need is a break in the rain to get anglers back on the tailwaters. This has been an extremely wet year, well on the way to setting another rainfall record. I use the Knoxville Airport as a rainfall reference because so much data is available. Rainfall this year, so far amounts to 36.03 inches. Normal is 20.22 inches, creating a surplus of 15.81 inches in only five months. Last year on this date, rainfall was 31.59 inches. Last year set another rainfall record in the Tennessee Valley and we had a short drought during the year.
Now, we are entering a time when rain occurs in pop up thunderstorms frequently but scattered in nature. We should see more tailwater wade fishing opportunities soon, I hope.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
May 23, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |