If you do not see today’s Fishing Report, please refresh your browser to empty your cache.

Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:57 am, the temperature outside is 72.5 degrees.

It will be hot today and through the weekend with high temperatures around 90 degrees each day. It will be mostly sunny today with only a slight chance for thunderstorms later. The chance for thunderstorms increases tomorrow, through Sunday.

Little River is flowing at 71.0 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.41 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 154 cfs. The water temperature is 71.8 degrees this morning.

Some streams in the Smokies are flowing at normal levels. Others are flowing lower, including Little River. They are all flowing low. Water temperatures are warm in the lower elevations. For the health of the trout you catch and release, please fish in the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for temps in the mid-60’s.

To catch trout successfully under these conditions, you have to stay hidden. You can do that by dressing to blend with the forest and stay low. Fish the broken water in pockets, plunge pools and faster deeper runs.

A dry fly with a nymph dropper rig is a good choice. I would probably use a foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper. Other combinations may work. You may also do well fishing weighted nymphs. Try a heavy weighted fly for your anchor with another nymph or wet fly tied in above the heavier nymph.

Tie in a piece of tippet using a double surgeons knot with one tag end left long above the anchor fly. Tie your unweighted nymph or wet fly to that. Drift this rig through broken water. When you see of feel something, set the hook. Also, set the hook at the end of a drift. A lot of trout are caught that way.

Low water conditions are affecting the lowland river fishing negatively. You have less options. Under these conditions, try fishing the shaded deeper pools with top water flies, nymphs or streamers. Fishing will be best early or late when the sun is off the water.

Tailwater fishing opportunities are available today. There are breaks in the generation at many dams, especially earlier in the day. Whether you are wading or boating, you can plan ahead and get in some fishing time. Check the TVA website from the links below.

I would go early to fly fish the lakes. By early, I mean daybreak. As the sun rises, shaded water will be hard to find. Try poppers, hair bugs, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs. It is going to hot out there over the next few days. If cloud cover is predicted, I would choose that day to go. You could also go late and fish until dark. The same is true when fishing ponds.

There is an area I drive through every day, commuting from home to work and back. It is located on Old Tuckaleechee Road, from Tuckaleechee Methodist Church to the Campground Methodist Church. One specific spot is heavily wooded and grown up with low cover. Wild animals love that area. Three or four weeks ago, I almost hit a deer. I always drive slow through there.

Yesterday, when driving to work, a medium sized bear ran right out in front of me. This was the closest I have ever come to hitting a bear in my truck. It happened quickly. I slammed on the brakes and even heard a tire skid on the pavement. When I got my truck stopped, the bear was about 4 or 5 feet in front of me. It seemed closer than that. He looked my way, then took off.

I don’t know how many times bear have run out in the road causing me to hit the brakes. It is never a good experience. This one was especially bad, though it ended well for me, my truck and the bear.  

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

Byron Begley
July 16, 2020    

NOTICE: FLY TYERS WEEKEND HAS BEEN CANCELLED THIS YEAR. WE ARE PLANNING FOR THE EVENT TO BE HELD IN 2021.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com