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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:50 am, the temperature outside is 65.5 degrees.

It was very foggy on my morning commute to the shop. Today will be mostly sunny with a high temperature around 87 degrees. There is a 30% chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. There will be a higher chance for thunderstorms, 50% to 60% tomorrow through Friday. Temperatures will be cooler tomorrow through Friday.

Little River is flowing at 235 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.06 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 133 cfs. The water temperature is 66.0 degrees this morning.

All streams that have USGS gauges are reporting higher than median flows this today.

Fishing conditions in the Smokies are excellent, especially for late July. Flows and water temperatures are good.

I did not hear any great reports from customers yesterday, like I did Saturday, but fishing continues to be good. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. I would use terrestrials, beetles and Green Weenies. Other dry fly options are, Yellow Neversink Caddis, Parachute Adams, Yellow Stimulator and Elk Hair Caddis. I would use a Pheasant Tail or a Green Weenie for my sub-surface offering. Other nymphs and dry flies will work.

Stay hidden from the fish, get a good drift, and you will catch trout. I would fish choppy water in the shade. Angler traffic was light this weekend, though the Park was crowded with hikers and swimmers/tubers. Later this week, we will see a noticeable decline in Park visitation. The kids are going back to school soon. Young family vacations are about over for the Summer.

Lowland river fishing should be good today. Fish the shaded areas with poppers, foam floating flies and streamers, for smallmouth bass and sunfish.

Lake fishing will be fine too, early or late, when the sun is off the water. I would use poppers, foam floating flies, Knuckleheads, Wooly Buggers and Dragons.

Tailwater fishing options are limited today by excessive generation at some dams. You might be able to work with the schedule on the Clinch River, early today. Check the links to the TVA website below to plan your day.

Rangers and other searchers are trying to find a lost man in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He was last seen Saturday on the Cataloochee Divide Trail in North Carolina at 3:20 pm. I hope they find him today. You can read the story on the WBIR website by CLICKING HERE.

I got up at 4:30 am and tied thee Pheasant Tail nymphs this morning. I have been tying purple PT’s. I’m using purple pheasant tail fibers, purple thread and purple died peacock herl. I am going to switch to red for a couple of days. I love tying Pheasant Tail nymphs and more than that, I enjoy fishing with them. They work. I’ve probably caught more trout on them, than any other nymph.

What I’m tying now are nymphs intended to be tied to the tag, above the anchor fly, on a Euro rig. They are tied on barbless Hanak hooks. I’m tying everything on Hanak hooks these days. They are really nice hooks.

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

Byron Begley
July 29, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com