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Welcome to the Fishing Report form Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:42 am, the temperature outside is 68.9 degrees.
Heavy rain fell in the Townsend area late yesterday, dropping .58 inches of rain at our house. Light rain is falling now.
It will be cool today with a high temperature in the upper 70’s. Scattered thunderstorms are possible this afternoon. It will be mostly cloudy today. More scattered thunderstorms are possible tomorrow and Sunday. The high will be around 80 degrees both days.
The high temperature today will be around 60 degrees at Mount LeConte and 70 degrees at Newfound Gap.
Rain pretty much missed the Little River watershed in the Park yesterday. Flow is currently 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.56 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 117 cfs. The water temperature is 68.2 degrees this morning.
Water levels at Oconaluftee River, Tellico River and Cataloochee Creek are higher than normal, but they are fine for wading and fishing right now.
Dry flies and nymphs will work.
Most lowland rivers exiting the Smokies are flowing at or slightly above normal. It should be overcast today, making for a perfect fishing day. Fish the deeper pools with hair bugs, foam floating flies or poppers.
Tailwater wade fishing options are limited today. Boating will give you more opportunities. TVA is lowering all of the lakes I checked this morning. They are close to the same level as last year. It is normal for TVA to begin lowering the lakes around Labor Day, when the heavy recreation boating season is about over. They seem to be doing that now.
This is a perfect lake fishing day if you don’t mind dodging possible thunderstorms. It is supposed to be overcast, giving those of us who use fly rods and floating fly lines better shallow water fishing opportunities. I would cast hair bugs, foam floating flies or poppers to the banks from your boat, kayak or canoe. It that is not working, switch to streamers or swimming nymphs.
This should be a good day to fish, thanks to the cloud cover that is predicted. It will be cool and comfortable today. It will be especially cool in the mountains. There is a chance the stream you are fishing could rise and become stained.
Business is good at the shop. August is usually slow. The fly tying department is performing especially well. That is why we are expanding the department by 31% this Fall. During the lockdown this Spring, more people stayed home and tied flies, driving the fly tying business to levels not seen by our suppliers or us.
I am not crediting our growth in fly tying to Covid 19. Last year, the department grew by over 27% compared to 2018. It will finish this year better than that. We are giving that department a whole lot of attention. That is why it is growing so quickly, for three years in a row.
You can’t sell out of an empty wagon. If we run out of something in that department, I am sick about it. And, if we do, that item is probably in route to Little River Outfitters.
I’m still working on improving spinning and stacking deer hair bass bugs. Last night, I was on my way to tying my best bug ever. That thing was looking really good. However, during the last phase of trimming, I accidently cut off one of the darned rubber legs. It was too late to do anything about it, so I cut off the others and I’ll try again tonight. Maybe this legless bug will teach me a lesson. “Be careful trimming.” It is laying on my fly tying desk in plain view, as a reminder.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
August 21, 2020
NOTICE: FLY TYERS WEEKEND HAS BEEN CANCELLED THIS YEAR.
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
