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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:09 am, the temperature outside is 69.1 degrees.

Today will be hot, with a high temperature in the mid-90’s. Yesterday’s high temperature was 97 degrees at the Knoxville Airport, which was a record for the date, last set in 1939.

Tomorrow will be hot again, then we’ll see somewhat cooler temperatures through the weekend with a chance for scattered thunderstorms each day.

Little River is flowing at 29.7 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.27 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 85 cfs. The water temperature is 72.1 degrees. Yesterday, the water temperature rose to over 74 degrees.

Little Pigeon River is flowing at 107 cfs, 1.22 feet, compared to median flow of 170 cfs.

Oconaluftee River is flowing at 160 cfs, 1.19 feet, which compares to median flow of 207 cfs. The water temperature is 68.2 degrees. Yesterday, the temperature at the Birdtown gauge rose to near 73 degrees.

Tellico River is flowing at 70.5 cfs, .74 feet, compared to median flow of 79 cfs.

Cataloochee Creek is flowing near normal thanks to a scattered thunderstorm that affected the flow there yesterday. Currently, the creek is flowing at 40.1 cfs, 2.24 feet, compared to median flow of 47 cfs.

Little River is flowing very low. Some streams are flowing closer to normal. Normal this time of the year is low. The trout are spooky. You should take stealth and concealment from the trout seriously to catch them. Fish the shaded and broken water in riffles, runs and plunge pools.

Also, the streams are very warm in the low elevations. Fish the higher elevations where the water is cooler. Look for water temperatures in the 60’s.

I talked to two anglers yesterday and I will tell you, not many came into our store. These guys fish here often. They had a very slow day at a high elevations stream, after hiking over two miles into the backcountry.

Fishing is slow to fair, depending on which stream you fish. Try dry flies or nymphs.

Rob Fightmaster had some clients fishing with him in the Park yesterday. I don’t know how well they did. If you are fishing with a guide, your results will probably be much better. They are out there almost every day, and they know where to go, and how to fish, when the water is this low and warm.

I think fishing in the lowland rivers will be slow to fair. Little River, through town, is extremely low. Deeper pools are probably your best option. Cast foam floating flies in the shaded areas.

Wading in a cold water tailwater sounds pretty good today. Boating on a coldwater river might be fine. There are some choices, if you can time your day correctly. Check the TVA website from the links below and give that a try.

Today through Friday is going to be very hot. Heat indexes will be high. Drink plenty of fluids.

Jerry and I are floating a tailwater tomorrow with Josh Pfeiffer. We will be fly fishing for smallmouth bass. The heat index will probably be near or over 100 degrees in the shade. We will be out in the sun all day.  I’m going to keep an insulated jug of ice water next to me and drink it. I bet we jump in the river at times too. I suggest you do the same.

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

Byron Begley
September 11, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com