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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:46 am, the temperature is 68.4 degrees.

It will be mostly sunny today with a high temperature around 90 degrees and a chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. Tomorrow will be slightly cooler, in the upper 80’s. Showers are likely early tomorrow with thunderstorms very likely in the afternoon. Rain will continue Monday night through Tuesday night.

Little River is flowing at 85.7 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.53 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 137 cfs. The water temperature is 70.7 degrees this morning at the low elevation gauge site near Townsend.

All streams in the mountains that have USGS gauge sites are flowing below normal except Tellico River, which has received more than its share of rain during the past few weeks. Water temperatures are very warm in the low elevations. For the health of the trout, that are caught and released, fish higher where the water is cooler. Fishing in a stream where water temperatures exceed 65 degrees can be harmful to the trout.

Dry flies and nymphs are working. More important than fly selection right now is stealth and good fly presentation. Stay hidden, don’t spook the trout with sloppy casts and get a good drift. You will catch more trout. Though many fly patterns will work, because the trout are actively feeding, my choice would be a terrestrial dry fly with a Green Weenie or small bead head nymph dropper. A lot of anglers are Euro nymphing and doing well. I am hearing that often.

Fish the broken water where the trout are hiding.

Lowland rivers are flowing low in most cases, except Tellico River and possibly others. I would go early or late when the sun is off the water or fish rivers that have plenty of tree canopy. Smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish will be in the deeper water. Fish the shaded areas when the sun is higher later today. Poppers or foam floating flies are a good choice. If they are not working, switch to streamers or nymphs.

If you visit the TVA website you will see many tailwater fly fishing options whether you are wading or boating. In our area, you will probably see periods of low to no generation early today at the dams, with longer periods of generation later. Pick a tailwater and work with the generation schedules by planning where and when to be fishing.

I think the lakes will be crowded today with recreation boaters. I would go early, launch at daybreak, and hit the banks with poppers or foam floating flies. Streamers and swimming nymphs may work too, and they may work better for you. I don’t know. Try top water and sub-surface flies to find out. When the sun rises and shaded banks are hard to find, maybe it will be time to go home.

Yesterday was a tough one for me, trying to write and load this fishing report. Our internet service here at home was barely running at the speed of dial-up. When I tried to load pages to our server, the process timed out. I finally got the fishing report up and running for you.

At the shop, I contacted our provider via chat. The chat was not with a real person. I was talking to a computer. The computer suggested they restart the modem here, which I had already tried. Their re-start must have been different. After that occurred, I drove home and checked. Our internet connection was running at mach speed again.

I could not help but wonder, what if the internet actually stopped functioning in America or around the globe? The world as we know it would come to a screeching halt.

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

Byron Begley
July 25, 2021  

WALTER BABB MADE BAMBOO FLY RODS FOR SALE – CLICK HERE

Walter is selling a selection of over 50 bamboo fly rods. All but one was made by him. The other one was custom made for Walter by Walton Powell. Read the description of each rod on the list and contact him if you are interested in buying one or more than one. Even if you are not interested in a purchase, this web page is very interesting to read. Walter has made over 285 bamboo rods over the past 20-years. You will be working directly with Walter on a purchase and you can test cast the rods before you buy one at his home. Or, call him and he will ship a rod to you. His contact information is on the web page he and I created.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com