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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:13 am, the temperature outside is 71.1 degrees.
It will be warm this weekend, with highs in the upper 80’s. We have good chance for thunderstorms both days. It will be partly sunny today and mostly sunny tomorrow.
Little River is flowing at 146 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.75 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 138 cfs. The water temperature is 69.4 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River, Oconaluftee River and Cataloochee Creek are flowing above normal. Tellico River is flowing slightly below normal.
Normal flows are low in July. Essential to your success is staying hidden from the trout. Fishing should be done in the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Fish the broken water in riffles, plunge pools and deep runs where the trout are hiding. Nymphs and dry flies will work. A dry and dropper rig is a good choice. Mine would be terrestrials, a beetle dry and a Green Weenie as the dropper. Weight nymph rigs are a good choice too.
Lowland rivers are flowing low, though some are flowing higher than normal. There will be a lot of swimmers and tubers this weekend on some of these rivers. Go early or late. Fish the shaded areas with poppers, hair bugs, foam floating flies, nymphs or streamers.
You have some tailwater fishing opportunities today, especially this morning and early afternoon. Visit the TVA website from the links below to see what your options are today.
The lakes will probably be crowded. Go early and fish the shaded banks with poppers, hair bugs or foam floating flies. If they are not working, switch to swimming nymphs or streamers. You may find fishing better a few feet beneath the surface. Watch for thunderstorm, especially this afternoon.
I photographed and added a couple of Firehole hooks to the online store yesterday. One is the 321 Scud and Pupa hook, which is shaped a little differently from the 320. The other hook is the Firehole 633, which is a long and wide nymph hook that is ideal for tying bead head nymphs. You can see them and all of our Firehole hooks and beads by CLICKING HERE.
Our fly tying department has been extremely busy. Materials were hard to get most of the Spring but our suppliers have adapted to operating with fewer staff. Maybe their business has slowed some. The supply chain is moving quicker and fulfillment has improved. I don’t think our fly tying department has ever been stocked this well. The fly tying business usually slows during the Summer months. That did not happen this year, at least not at our store.
Fishing activity has definitely slowed from what we have seen. You may find your favorite streams less crowded, especially in the Smokies. That is normal around August 1st, when the kids go back to school. This year, it happened earlier.
I hope you can get out there and go fishing this weekend and enjoy your time on the water.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
July 25, 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 |