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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 7:09 am, the temperature outside is 67.5 degrees.

It is overcast this morning. I am running late because I tied some flies this morning, then I talked to Rob Fightmaster. Rob is meeting a client in a few minutes, in our parking lot. He has been guiding in the Park almost every day. He said fishing has been good, and it is nice to be able to fish in the low elevations in July.

They say it will be partly sunny today with a high temperature in the low 80’s. We have a 50% to 60% chance for thunderstorms this afternoon, and every day through Friday. These scattered thunderstorms are a blessing. Stream flows are great because of them and we want that trend to continue.

Little River is flowing at 212 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.99 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 129 cfs. The water temperature is 66.7 degrees this morning.

All streams in the Park that have USGS gauge sites are flowing above median flow today.

Fishing is good. Trout are taking nymphs and dry flies. Terrestrial imitations are hard to beat during the Summer months. A black foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper is a super combination right now. Other dries and nymphs will work. Trout are actively feeding a searching for food.

Reports from returning anglers this weekend ranged from good to excellent.

Lowland River fishing is good, thanks to the higher than normal flows. Another weather related benefit, for all fishermen, will be partly cloudy to cloudy skies. We may have those conditions all week long. I would use poppers and foam floating flies for smallmouth bass and sunfishes.

Cloud cover will also benefit those who fly fish on the lakes. Poppers, foam floating flies, streamers and Rubber Legged Dragons are what I would use.

If it is overcast, early or late, watch for game fish attacking threadfin shad on the surface, in the “jumps”, as we used to say. When that happens, a Puglisi Threadfin Shad is my favorite pattern. I tie most of mine about 1 ½ inches long. Threadfin shad have a yellow tail. I always have colored the tails on mine with a chartreuse marker. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I’ve always done it.

There is plenty of generation going on at some of the dams today. You should check the link below for Norris Dam. You may have fishing opportunities there. Our friends in Kentucky are getting a break today at Wolf Creek Dam. I haven’t seen this in a while. You need to be launching your boat early to take advantage of this occurrence. I hope this is a sign of better flows in the future on the Cumberland River.

Our neighbor’s cattle got out early last evening. We herded then back using our gator, John’s 4 wheeler and our hands and legs. John had some cardboard boxes next to his garden last night and I don’t know why. They were clearly marked “bread”. A bear tore into them overnight. That animal made a mess. I had to drive around what was left of the boxes this morning on my way to work. Bears are plentiful in the foothills this year.

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

Byron Begley
July 30, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com