Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:56 am, the temperature is 66.5 degrees.
Today will be mostly cloudy with a high temperature in the middle 80’s. There is a chance for thunderstorms again today and tonight. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high in the upper 80’s.
Heavy rain fell overnight in several watersheds in the Smokies. Water levels in some streams are high and still rising quickly. Other streams were not affected by rain.
Little River at the Townsend Gauge – 2.94 feet or 657 cubic feet per second (cfs). Median flow for this date is 142 cfs. The water temperature is 71.8 degrees this morning. The river is rising at the Townsend gauge. Some prongs of the river may be fine for fishing today, depending on where the heavy rain fell in the watershed.
Little Pigeon River at the Sevierville Gauge – 8.27 feet or 10,600 cfs which is a record for this date. The river just peaked a few minutes ago.
Oconaluftee River at the Birdtown gauge – 3.71 feet or 2,230 cfs which is also a record for this date. Median flow for this date is 307 cfs. The river just peaked.
Tellico River at the Tellico Plains gauge – 1.24 feet or 172 cfs. Median flow for this date is 139 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek – 2.90 feet or 173 cfs. Meidan flow is 61 cfs. The creek has peaked and is receding.
West Prong of the Little Pigeon River at Gatlinburg – 4.93 feet or 607 cfs. The river peaked and is receding.
You may find fishable streams in the mountains today. Some of the streams are blown out and are not safe to wade and fish. Other streams may be fine. Unless we get more rain, some streams may become fishable later today.
Some lowland rivers are flowing very high. Little River and Little Pigeon River are flowing too high to wade and safely fish. You may be able to fish Little River later today but the water will be high.
This may be a good lake fishing day. It will be overcast which is a beneficial condition. It may be breezy at times with winds reaching 10 miles per hour. You won’t need to worry about finding shaded banks to fish. Cast poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs to the banks. Be watchful for game fish attacking shad on the surface. If you see that happening, move toward the school slowly and quietly. Cast Puglisi Threadfin Shad, Wiggle Minnows or small Clouser Minnows into the school.
If you are hoping to fish on a tailwater today, check the generations schedules. You will find the turbines will be off in the morning and running this afternoon at the dams I checked which are several. Plan on going early and pick the right spot to be at the right time.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
July 13, 2022
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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