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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 6:56 am, the temperature outside is 70.2 degrees.
Today will be mostly sunny and warm, with a high in the upper 80’s. No rain is expected today. We may get some scattered thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon and evening. High temperatures will be in the upper 80’s through the weekend, with only a slight chance for rain Saturday.
Little River is flowing at 98.1 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.68 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 136 cfs. The water temperature is 70.0 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing below normal too. Flow is currently 280 cfs, 1.70 feet, compared to median flow of 329 cfs.
Oconaluftee River, Tellico River and Cataloochee Creek are flowing above median flow this morning.
The lowest elevation streams are warm. Fish the mid to high elevations where the water is cooler. In the Little River watershed, I would fish above Elkmont on the East Prong and the upper Middle Prong, including Lynn Camp Prong and Thunderhead Prong. The West Prong will be cooler from the road to Campsite 18.
Most streams in the Smokies will be fine today.
Though the streams are not extremely low, they are flowing at or slightly lower than normal. Normal in August is low. You can catch trout. Fishing is still good. You just have to stay hidden. Dress to blend. Stay low. Don’t wade unless you have to.
I would use dry flies, nymphs or a combination of both. The trout are hungry and looking for food. This time of the year, terrestrials are an important source of food for them. Beetles, ants and inchworm patterns are ideal choices. Other flies will work. Present them well, without spooking the trout and get a good drift. You will catch trout.
Lowland river fishing is probably fair. I would go early or late when the sun is off the water. Poppers and foam floating flies would be my choice.
It will be sunny today but partly cloudy through the weekend. Clouds bode well for lake fishing with flies. Hopefully it will be cloudy often this weekend. Use poppers, foam floating flies, streamers and Rubber Legged Dragons for bass and bluegill.
There are breaks in the generation schedules at some dams. Check the TVA website from the links below to choose your times and spots to fish today. Maybe you should be out there right now.
Last night and this morning I started tying some Pat’s Rubber Legs Variation nymphs. I saw the tutorial on the Fly Fish Food website. I am tying mine on Hanak competition nymph hooks with large tungsten beads. These will be used as anchor flies on a Euro nymph rig. Mine do not look as good as those on the website, yet. And, I am adding a wing case made from Loon UV coatings.
Rob Fightmaster pulled into the parking lot yesterday morning while I was blowing leaves and debris off the pavement. I do that every morning. Rob was meeting a client, for a guided trip. Rob told me a coyote crossed the road right at the Visitors Center, about a quarter of a mile from the shop. I know it sounds odd, seeing wild animals in town. We’ve seen deer, bear, turkeys and some people have seen elk. Townsend is a narrow corridor, flanked by massive amounts of forested land. There are plenty of wild critters living out there.
Well, I hope you have a successful fishing day and weekend.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
August 8, 2018
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |