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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:30 am, the temperature is 69.8 degrees.

The high temperature yesterday was 90.9 degrees in Townsend, while the Knoxville Airport reported 94 degrees. Rainfall totals for the month of July are well below normal. Normal for July at the Airport is 4.95 inches at this point in the month. This year in July, that number is 1.65 inches, down 3.30 inches from normal through yesterday.

The US Drought Monitor was updated yesterday, which is done every Thursday. No areas in the Smokies are listed as “Abnormally Dry”. However, a portion of our county to the north is listed as being abnormally dry.

It will be a little cooler today, with a high temperature in the middle to upper 80’s. One weather site indicates we have a 70% chance for thunderstorms today, while another thinks the chance is lower, 30%. Tomorrow will be hot, around 90 degrees with only a slight chance for rain. Sunday will be much cooler, in the low 80’s, with a good chance for scattered thunderstorms.

Little River is flowing low at 72.7 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.46 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 129 cfs. The water temperature is 72.1 degrees this morning.

All streams in the mountains are flowing low but some are flowing closer to normal than Little River is today. I drove from Cherokee to Sugarlands yesterday, then along Little River to Townsend. I thought Oconaluftee River looked pretty good though it is flowing slightly lower than normal. I saw some low water in the highest elevations. Tellico River is still flowing higher than normal. Tuckaseegee River at Bryson City has been flowing higher than normal this week, but it is now flowing slightly below normal.

Water temperatures in the low elevations are very warm. Fishing in streams where the water is warmer than 65 degrees is not good for the health of the trout you catch and release. Catching and releasing a trout in 70 degrees water can be fatal to the fish. Fish the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for high temperatures later in the day at 65 degrees or cooler. This would be a good day to hike into the backcountry in the higher elevations. Dry flies and nymphs will work. Fish the broken water in riffles, runs and plunge pools.

Flows in the lowland rivers that exit the mountains are very low in some cases, and not so low in others. They say it will be partly cloudy today, which will be helpful. Still, I would go early or late when the sun is low. Smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish will be holding in the deeper pools. Try poppers or foam floating flies, but be prepared to switch to streamers if the fish are not taking your top water offerings.

There are tailwater fishing options today, for wading or boating. Discharges at the area dams will be light early, with heavier prolonged generation later, at the dams I checked. View the generation schedules on the TVA website from the links below to see what your options are.

If you plan to fish on a lake today, be there at daybreak and cast to the banks with poppers, foam floating flies, streamers or swimming nymphs. If it is overcast, your fishing time may be longer. You could also go late and fish until dark.

Paula and I spent two days and nights in beautiful western North Carolina at a B & B in Dillsboro this week. We had a great time. We visited the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians in Bryson City. I saw a display I loaned to the museum. It is a large shadow box of Eddy George flies, given to me by Eddy long ago. The museum is awesome.

We visited all three Tuckaseegee Fly Shops in Sylva, Bryson City and the new store in Waynesville. I am impressed! We do not identify ourselves at first, to see how the staff react to a customer entering the shop. Tuckaseegee got an A+ in customer service at all three locations. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. They are all extremely knowledgeable about fly fishing. We were greeted as we entered as it should be done. The stores are beautiful too.

After we tell the staff who we are, the conversations are even more fun for me. We talk about the fly shop business. We met Shannon, Preston and another nice guy who I can’t for the life of me remember his name. Then, we met with Bobby Bennett, one of the owners. He was working that day at the Waynesville shop. He is very bright and nice to be with. We missed meeting the other owner, Dale Collins. I am looking forward to meeting him. I highly recommend Tuckaseege Fly Shops, all three stores. They are doing it right. They work and live in a great fly fishing destination!

Restaurants are having a staffing problem. Some are closed certain days because they do not have enough people willing to work in the food service business. But, we worked with their schedules and enjoyed the great food in the area. We ate lunch at a small restaurant in Silva. There was one young woman doing everything except cooking. She bussed tables, seated guests, took orders, served the food and collected proceeds entirely by herself. She served tables well, inside and out on the patio.

There is no way I could do what she did. She told us, if she didn’t, the restaurant would be closed and she loved that place. She was not the owner. When we checked out, I left her a $25 tip. Paula just told me this morning, we got an alert from our credit card company, that we left a 75% tip and that seemed suspicious. We could take action if it was a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a heartfelt gratuity for gratitude. We need to take good care of the food service folks right now.

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

Byron Begley
July 30, 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