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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:36 am, the temperature is 69.3 degrees.

Rain fell overnight, off and on, with very heavy rain at times. I checked some personal weather stations around Townsend this morning. Fox Hollow reported 1.59”, Old Tuckaleechee 1.31” and Kinzel Springs 1.19”. It appears on the radar, the rain has about moved out  and to our east for now.

The weather forecast calls for more showers and thunderstorms this morning, with possibly more heavy rain before clearing by tonight. The high temperature today will be around 80 degrees, falling to the middle 50’s tonight. Tomorrow through Monday will be clear with no rain expected. High temperatures will be in the low 80’s tomorrow, middle to higher 80’s Sunday and in the low 90’s Monday.

Little River is flowing at 267 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.18 feet on the gauge and rising quickly. Median flow for this date is 123 cfs. The water temperature is 69.1 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 605 cfs, 2.36 feet, compared to median flow of 249 cfs. The river is rising very quickly.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 430 cfs, 1.78 feet, compared to median flow of 310 cfs.

Tellico River is flowing at 331 cfs, 1.69 feet, which compares to median flow of 119 cfs. The river is rising.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 70.1 cfs, 2.44 feet, compared to median flow of 58 cfs for this date.

I can’t tell you this early what to expect today. The rivers are rising and likely stained. I have no idea when they will crest and begin to recede or how far they will rise this morning and possibly later. My best guess is at this point, fishing in the mountains will be slow today due to high water. It is also possible the streams will peak sooner and recede to a fishable level later today.

If you intend to fish in the mountains today, watch the stream gauges. If Little River peaks and begins to recede at 2.5 feet on the gauge or lower, fishing will be possible later at least on that river. Fish the higher elevations where the water is cooler if you go.

Lowland rivers are flowing fairly high and rising. Most are probably stained. Further staining downstream where muddy tributaries enter is very likely. Today is probably not going to be a good lowland river fishing day.

Tailwater fishing may be good today. You could find stained water where smaller creeks enter the tailwaters.  At the dams I checked nearby, there will be short intervals of pulsing early, then longer periods of generation later today. Visit the TVA website to see what tailwater fishing options you have today.

This may be a good lake fishing day. It will be overcast early. Winds will be light. You might get wet. It is still raining lightly at our house now. I see a small storm heading toward Townsend on the radar. So, you could also encounter a thunderstorm. If you go, launch early and hit the banks with poppers or foam floating flies. Switch to streamers or swimming nymphs if the top water fishing is slow.

It is 5:59 am and I just re-checked the stream flow gauges in the Smokies. All streams are still rising and that may occur for a while. We’ll see what happens later. The Fishing Gauge is set at Fair because fishing conditions may improve later today or they may not. It’s an unknown at this point.

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

Byron Begley
July 2, 2021

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com