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Welcome to the Fishing Report form Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:28 am, the temperature outside is 71.1 degrees.

We got some rain yesterday in the mountains but not much in Townsend. Rain is likely today and heavy rain is possible in some isolated thunderstorms. The high temperature today is predicted to be around 80 degrees, dropping to the mid 60’s tonight. It will be sunny tomorrow with a high in the low 80’s.

Little River is flowing at 127 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.67 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 109 cfs. The water temperature is 70.5 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 290 cfs, 1.77 feet, compared to median flow of 249 cfs.

Oconaluftee River got two shots of rain yesterday. The river is flowing at 579 cfs, 1.95 feet, which compares to median flow of 249 cfs for this date.

Tellico River is flowing at 144 cfs, 1.13 feet, compared to median flow of 107 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 73.7 cfs, 2.46 feet, compared to median flow of 54 cfs.

So, the streams are certainly not blown out at all. More rain today, should help keep the streams flowing above normal.

The water is warm in the low elevations. Fish higher where the water is cooler. Though streams are flowing higher than normal, they are still at low levels. Staying hidden from the trout is essential to your success. Dry flies and nymphs will work. I would use a foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper. Fish the broken water where the trout will be hiding.

Lowland rivers are flowing higher than normal but still at low levels right now. It will be mostly cloudy today, which is beneficial. Cast poppers, foam floating flies and hair bugs in the deeper pools. This may be a good lowland river fishing day.

There are some trout and smallmouth bass tailwater fishing opportunities today. Check the generation schedules at the dams on the TVA website and plan your tailwater fishing day accordingly.

This is an ideal lake fishing day if you don’t mind dealing with rain and scattered thunderstorms. Overcast skies make for a good lake day. I would be excited to be headed to the ramp this morning with our boat in tow.

I would definitely start with a foam floating fly. My favorite is a Byron’s Knucklehead, but others will work. That fly is the only unique pattern I have come up with on my own and I started tying flies in 1962. They land soft on the water and smallmouth bass love that. A Stealth Bomber is another favorite of mine. Poppers and hair bugs will work too. Hair bugs land lightly on the water. I don’t use them often because I am not good at spinning deer hair. Spinning hair is something I want to become better at doing and I have been thinking about that often recently.

We stock deer belly hair in many colors in our fly tying department. I may buy some today and begin a new journey. I made a note to do that. Maybe I’ll get a discount! I have LRO gift cards to pay for small purchases without writing a check. I don’t use a credit card because we are charged fees for every transaction.

If the fish are not taking your top water offerings, switch to a streamer or swimming nymph.

I read an article and watched a video on the WBIR website this morning that kind of explains why we are seeing so many bear this year. They are hungry! This has not been a good soft mast year, with few berries to eat. That, combined with the fact that some people who live not far from us are not careful with garbage, compounds the problem. You can see what I saw on the website by CLICKING HERE.

We have six different bears roaming around our home and two of them are not afraid of people. We can identify them because we see the animals up close.

Paula’s sister, her husband and our niece and nephew were at our house this week for dinner. David was sitting with his back to the glass doors. I was telling him about all of our bear encounters this year. Then I said, “There is one right behind you”. David turned around and sure enough, ten feet away, was a bear. That was not staged but the timing was perfect.

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

Byron Begley
August 15, 2020

NOTICE: FLY TYERS WEEKEND HAS BEEN CANCELLED THIS YEAR.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com