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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:54 am, the temperature outside is 74 degrees.
Scattered thunderstorms dropped rain in several locations yesterday. The Knoxville Airport reported .61 inches while only .16” fell at our house.
It will be cooler for a while, even close to normal. Expect high temperatures in the low to mid 80’s today and through the weekend. Lows at night will be in the 60’s. Scattered thunderstorms are likely today and tomorrow. There is also a 50% chance for thunderstorms Sunday.
The Little River watershed was affected by storms yesterday, but the water level now is fishable and safe to wade. The river is flowing at 307 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.25 feet on the flow gauge. Little River peaked at 3 feet yesterday, which is too high to safely wade in many spots. The water temperature is 69.6 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River was also affected, flowing now at 666 cfs, 2.38 feet, compared to median flow of 278 cfs. The river is receding.
Oconaluftee River is flowing slightly above median flow. Flow at the Birdtown gauge is 372 cfs, 1.66 feet, compared to median flow of 300 cfs.
Tellico River rose slightly yesterday. It is flowing at 114 cfs, .99 feet, compared to median flow of 132 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 83.2 cfs, 2.48 feet, compared to median flow of 64 cfs.
Expect some streams to be flowing well this morning, while other are not. You may find some streams flowing very high. And, there is more rain in the forecast today. So, you can’t be sure what you will find. I think the chances are good you will do well fishing today.
Watch for rising water. There have been some storms with very heavy rain, causing flooding in Anderson County, but nothing like that happened here or in the Park that I know of. I guess it is a possibility. The National Weather Service is warning us this morning of the possibility of flash flooding in our area today and through the weekend.
Fishing will be good today in most areas of the Park, unless heavy rain blows some streams out.
I would probably use nymphs, fished deep. Green Weenies are a good choice. Any reasonable nymph will work. My favorites are Prince, Pheasant Tail and Hear’s Ear. Foam beetles are a good choice for a dry fly.
Lowland River fishing may be good. Flows are good. Some could be stained. I would use poppers or streamers for smallmouth bass, rock bass and sunfishes.
Lake fishing is good but be prepared to run to the ramp, while being chased by a storm. Go early or late unless it is overcast, which it is not right now. Poppers, streamers and Rubber Legged Dragons are good choices.
Many of the dams are churning today. Some are not. Check the TVA website from the links below if you plan to fish on a tailwater today.
Some lakes in Kentucky are overfilled and the dams are releasing a lot of water. They are generating full time at Wolf Creek Dam. I talked to my sister yesterday. She has a home on Laurel River Lake and she told me the lake level is very high and above Summer pool.
Norris Lake is currently above full pool. Cherokee Lake is below full pool. Douglas Lake is 3.19 feet above Summer pool this morning. Center Hill Lake is 14.5 feet below full pool. Dam repairs are the reason for that. Lake Cumberland is actually 3.19 feet below pool. That surprised me. Maybe they will finally decrease the discharge at Wolf Creek Dam. I know a lot of people in Kentucky who would be happy about that.
It looks like a great fishing day at this point. We’ll see what happens later.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
July 12, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |