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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 66.7 degrees.
The sun will be shining every day this weekend and beyond. There is absolutely no rain in the forecast until later next week. High temperatures today and tomorrow will be in the upper 70’s to low 80’s.
Little River is flowing at 332 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.30 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 184 cfs. The water temperature is 62.1 degrees this morning.
Streams in the mountains are either receding or holding steady this morning. They will continue to recede over the next few days.
Fishing is very good in the Smokies thanks to much better angler friendly flows and good water temperatures. Trout are actively feeding. Dry flies and nymphs are working. We are telling customers in the shop to use yellow dry flies. Most mimic the Yellow Sally Stonefly though you may do well using Light Cahill and Sulphur patterns too.
Good choices for dries are, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Yellow Stimulator, any Yellow Sally Stones or Light Cahill patterns. Nymph choices should include, Tellico, Pheasant Tail, Green Weenie, Pink Weenie or Squirmy Worm patterns.
I would hike into the backcountry today to fish smaller streams to get away from traffic and visitors in the Park. It would also be hard to pass up fishing the Middle Prong of Little River on the gravel section of the road. Lynn Camp Prong and Thunderhead Prong are good choices. Actually, almost all streams are good choices.
Lowland rivers have receded to a good fishing level. I saw several fishermen wading in Little River through Townsend yesterday. The river looks great. Nymphs and streamers will work for trout or smallmouth bass. Poppers, hair bugs and foam floating flies will work for smallmouth bass too.
I was expecting and hoping for good wade fishing opportunities on the tailwaters today. I don’t see any this morning. I did not look at every generation schedule in the state, so you may find a fishable tailwater somewhere. Click on the TVA links below.
The lakes will be crowded today. Go early or late when the sun is off the water and there are less pleasure boaters. Fishing is good on the lakes. Streamers and topwater flies are working well.
We are busy at the shop. Everyone wants to go fishing and they are going.
I left Townsend for the first time since March and drove to Maryville and Alcoa yesterday. I stopped to get the oil changed in my truck though I only have driven 2,500 miles since the last change.
Why? It has been 7 months. I have not been driving much, just to and from work. Traffic in the towns was light. That seemed unusual to me. I commented on that to the guy who owns the oil change shop. He told me, “You should have seen it here 6 weeks ago”.
Traffic in Townsend is heavy. We have lots of out of town visitors and many local people flocking to the mountains. I am seeing way more than usual bicycle traffic too. Bicycling is one of the outdoor activities that is very popular right now.
Americans are enjoying the outdoors more than ever. That is good to see.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
May 30, 2020
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |