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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:19 am, the temperature outside is 66.7 degrees.

Today is going to be another hot one, with highs in the low 90’s. No rain is predicted today. Thunderstorms are likely Tuesday and Wednesday.

Little River if flowing at 51.8 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.43 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 115 cfs. The water temperature is 72 degrees this morning.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 146 cfs, 1.36 feet, compared to median flow of 257 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 201 cfs or 1.32 feet at the Birdtown gauge. Median flow for this date is 268 cfs. The water temperature is 68.2 degrees this morning.

At Tellico Plains, Tellico River is flowing above normal at 110 cfs, .97 feet, compared to median flow of 105 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 53.1 cfs, 2.31 feet, compared to median flow of 57 cfs. The water temperature is 63 degrees this morning.

Some streams in the Smokies are flowing at near normal, while others are not. And, the water is warm in the low elevations.

My advice remains the same. Fish the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Stealth is most important now, as some streams are flowing low and the trout are spooky. Don’t let the trout see you. Use fine tippet. Fish the broken, choppy water, in riffles, deep runs and plunge pools.

I would use a dry fly with a dropper. My first choice would be a black foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper. Other fly patterns will work well.

Fishing is probably fair for most anglers, but good for others. I overheard a customer telling Daniel, he had a great day yesterday. He is a good, seasoned Smokies angler. He was not fishing in the backcountry. I’m not sure where he was but I did hear him say he was fishing near his truck.

Lowland river fishing for smallmouth bass and other warmwater species is probably fair. Go early or late. Fish the shaded water. Poppers and foam floating flies are what I would use.

Go to your favorite lake early or late. I would cast foam floating flies and poppers to the shaded banks for smallmouth and largemouth bass. If you are targeting panfish, cast Rubber Legged Dragons to the banks. Let them sink deep, then begin a slow retrieve. The bigger bluegill are going to be deep.

After a quick check of some of the generation schedules, I see only a few tailwater fishing opportunities today and some of those are limited. Click on the links below to visit the TVA website, to find out what options are available for you.

We hosted the Tennessee Council of Trout Unlimited at the shop yesterday, for a meeting held in our classroom. I think there were 27 attendees. I saw a lot of friends and met some new folks from around the state.

In preparation, I started working early. By 8:00 am, the TU folks started arriving. I cleaned bath rooms, blew off the parking lot and washed some windows before they arrived. I also watered some flowers. All of that will be repeated today. I do that every day.

Frank and I are going fishing with Josh Pfeiffer this week. We will be floating a tailwater, fishing for smallmouth bass. I am really looking forward to that. I have not had a day off since mid-May. We have had a very busy year at the shop.  

I ordered and received many new body materials for midges yesterday. I’m going to re-arrange the fly tying department, to feature midge tying materials on their own display, this morning.

We have never had a better selection of fly tying materials in the shop, dating back over 24 years.

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

Byron Begley
August 18, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com