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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:18 am, the temperature outside is 68.4 degrees.
It was hot yesterday. The high temperature at the Knoxville Airport reached 94 degrees. That was a record for the date, last set in 1931.
Today, and through the weekend will be cooler, with a high in the upper 80’s. We have a 30% chance for thunderstorms today, 60% chance tomorrow and a 30% chance Sunday.
Little River is flowing at 30.8 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.28 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 87 cfs. The water temperature is 72.1 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 104 cfs, 1.21 feet, compared to median flow of 152 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is rising, due to rain that fell overnight. Flow is currently 181 cfs, 1.26 feet, which compares to median flow of 200 cfs for this date. The water temperature is 68 degrees this morning.
Tellico River is flowing close to normal at 69 cfs, .73 feet, which compares to median flow of 70 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 36.2 cfs, 2.21 feet, compared to median flow of 43 cfs. The water temperature is 63.7 degrees.
As you can see, the steams in the Smokies are flowing at or below normal. Normal is low this time of the year. We will hopefully see some stream level changes over the next three days.
The streams are very warm in the low elevations. Fish at higher elevation streams where the water is cooler. Look for water temps in the 60’s.
Stay hidden from the trout by dressing in muted clothing, staying low and hiding behind boulders and trees. Try casting further than usual, if you can do that and still get a good drift. Trout will be hiding in broken water or near cover. You may want to use 6X tippet and long leaders.
I would use a dry and a dropper. My first choice would be a black foam beetle with a Green Weenie dropper. Other dry flies and nymphs will work too.
Lowland rivers are flowing low. Fishing is probably fair. Poppers or foam floating flies will catch smallmouth bass, rock bass and sunfishes. Cast to the shaded areas of the river and you will do best going early or late.
Lake fishing will be best early or late when the sun is off the water. There may be times when the sky is overcast this weekend. That may extend your fishing time. Be on the lookout for approaching thunderstorms on the lakes this weekend.
There are some possible tailwater fishing opportunities today, though it looks to be limited, especially for wading. Visit the TVA website from the links below to see what options you have.
Jerry and I floated with guide Josh Pfeiffer yesterday. It was hot and the water was warm. Smallmouth bass fishing was good. We caught most of our bass on topwater flies. I used a BoogleBug popper almost all day. We had a wonderful day. I don’t know how many we caught. Josh is an excellent guide and a great guy to spend the day with.
We were often sight fishing, something I really enjoy. We spotted a nice smallie and Jerry drifted a popper perfectly toward the bass. The fish rose and sipped his popper like a trout taking a midge. That was the best “eat of the day”. He also landed the nice smallmouth. Of course, we got some refusals too.
Tennessee is the smallmouth State. We have a long fishing and growing season here. In my opinion, smallmouth bass fight harder, for their size, than almost any gamefish. You can find smallmouth bass in most rivers and lakes at the lower elevations in our state.
Paula and I have two Yeti 1-gallon insulated jugs. I filled one with purified water and kept it near me in Josh’s boat. I drank almost a gallon of water during the float. The water stayed cold all day, though the sun was beating down and the high temperature was in the 90’s much of the day. I drank almost a gallon of water yesterday and needed it. If you have easy access to cold water, you will drink more. There are many 1-gallon insulated jugs on the market. Some are reasonably priced and those work well too. You might want to buy one or two.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
September 13, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |