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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:38 am, the temperature is 69.6 degrees.

We have a chance for scattered thunderstorms this weekend but the odds are low, about 30%. Today will be mostly cloudy with a high temperature in the middle 80’s, dropping to the middle 60’s tonight. It will finally be mostly sunny tomorrow and warmer, in the upper 80’s. Monday will be sunny and warm with no chance for rain.

We have had quite a bit of rain this week so most streams in the Smokies are flowing higher than normal. Many streams are fishable this morning.

Little River is flowing at 341 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.36 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 155 cfs. The water temperature is 65.5 degrees this morning. At this gauge height, the river is flowing fine for fishing.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 1,220 cfs or 3.10 feet at the Sevierville Gauge. Median flow for this date is 305 cfs. The West Prong of the Little Pigeon is probably fishable.

Oconaluftee River is flowing fairly high and it is still rising. Flow is 859 cfs, compared to median flow of 370 cfs. Fishing there may be fine later, unless more rain falls in the watershed this morning.

Tellico River is flowing at 521 cfs, 2.14 feet, compared to median flow of 158 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek finally got a good shot of rain yesterday. Flow is 109 cfs, 2.65 feet, compared to median flow of 76 cfs.

Nymphs may work best today. I would use larger versions of Tellico, Hare’s Ear or Prince Nymph patterns. Green Weenies are also a good choice. If you find good dry fly conditions, choose something that resembles a Yellow Sally Stonefly. My favorite is a #16 Yellow Stimulator, which is easy to see and floats very well, even in strong currents like we have this morning.

It is hard to say exactly where to fish in the lowland rivers exiting the mountains. Some may be flowing too high to wade right now. It is possible you may find stained water in the lower reaches of some rivers. Conditions should improve today unless we do get more rain which is possible. It is supposed to be overcast today, which is helpful. Streamers or nymphs may work best for smallmouth bass in the faster moving rivers. Poppers and foam floating flies will work when the flows are closer to normal.

I checked the generation schedules at some dams and it appears there will be long periods of generation this afternoon. This may be a good early fishing day on the tailwaters. I didn’t check all dams so look at what is going on at your favorite tailwater and plan accordingly.

I love fishing the lakes on cloudy days and it appears this will be one. It should not be windy either except in an isolated thunderstorm. You may find stained water on some lakes. I don’t know for sure one way or the other. Some of the creeks that enter the lakes could be muddy. I know I would go today and fish the banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs.

It looks like we are going to enjoy drier conditions for at least a few days. Just yesterday, we were under a flash flood watch. Nothing significant happened here. We got less than a quarter of an inch of rain in Townsend. Other areas probably got more, especially to our north.

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

Byron Begley
June 12, 2021

On October 21, 2020, many of us lost a very good friend. John Thurman of Norris, Tennessee passed away. John was one of the most helpful and truly kind people I have known. He worked tirelessly teaching fly anglers to tie flies, running the TU Trout Camp for children at the Tremont Institute, and sharing his skills and knowledge as a fly fisherman and entomologist with fellow anglers. John bird hunted and fished all over the United States. He was an avid sportsman, a good friend and family man.

A memorial service for John will be held on Sunday June 13th at 2:00 pm, at the Norris Religious Fellowship Church in Norris, Tennessee. The church is located at the corner of East Norris Road and Dogwood Road across from the Norris Middle School. Park in front or behind the Norris Middle School. Handicap parking is located behind the church.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com