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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:47 am, the temperature is 59.7 degrees.

It will be mostly sunny today with a high temperature in the middle 80’s and a slight chance for showers. It will be warmer tomorrow, in the upper 80’s with a greater chance for thunderstorms. The chance for showers and thunderstorms is at about 50% on average every day next week but that is subject to change.

Little River is flowing at 134 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.74 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 121 cfs. The water temperature is 66.4 degrees at the low elevations USGS gauge site near Townsend.

Most streams in the mountains are flowing at or near normal today. Normal is fairly low this time of the year. The streams are warm in the low elevations. Fish higher, in the middle to high elevation steams where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the middle 60’s or cooler.

Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. The fish are actively seeking food as their metabolism in running high, due to the warmer water temperatures. Try your favorite searching pattern, including Yellow Sally Stonefly dries. Terrestrial dry flies are a good choice, like beetles or ants.

Small bead head nymphs or Green Weenies are working. Presentation and stealth are probably more important than fly choices right now. The trout are looking for something to eat that is presented naturally, drifting without drag along with the flow in the stream. Fish the broken water in riffles, plunge pools and deep runs.

It will be sunny most of the day. Go early or late when the sun is off the water if you plan to fish on the lowland rivers for smallmouth bass and other species. Or, pick a river that is shaded. I would use poppers or foam floating flies fished in the deeper pools and runs.

If you plan to fish for trout or other gamefish on a tailwater, and you check the predicted flows, you will likely find periods of less generation in the morning and early afternoon, then longer periods of generation later today. You can plan around those schedules whether you are wade fishing or boating.

I bet the lakes will be crowded today with recreation boaters. Go early or late when there is less boat traffic and the sun is off the water. Try top water poppers and foam floating flies. If that is not working, switch to sub-surface offerings, streamers or swimming nymphs. Wind should not be a problem today.

I re-arranged the popper making area in the fly tying department yesterday, and began adding new products. We are now stocking all colors of popper bodies with the hooks and eyes offered by Flymen Fishing Company. The Double Barrel Surface Seducer popper bodies and associated components make awesome bugs for warmwater fly fishing. I should have all of these components on the online store by tomorrow afternoon. Making poppers is very easy to do, even if you are not a fly tyer. CLICK HERE to see a short Flymen video on how this is done.

We also sell these assembled “ready to fish” Double Barrel poppers and other flies from Flymen in the fly department.

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

Byron Begley
June 26, 2021

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com