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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:07 am, the temperature outside is 66.4 degrees.
Yesterday set a heat record again at the Knoxville Airport. The high reached 95 degrees, beating the all-time record for the date of 92 in 1884. That may happen again today and tomorrow. This heat wave will end Friday. Only two days left.
Then we’ll see highs in the 80’s through the weekend, dropping to the low 70’s Monday with continued highs in the 70’s next week. We’ll see lows dip as low as the 40’s next week.
Rain chances improve next week too.
Little River is flowing at 30.8 cubic feet per second (cfs), 1.14 feet, compared to median flow for this date of 80 cfs. The record low flow for today was 16.7 cfs in 2008. The water temperature is 73.4 degrees this morning, at the low elevation USGS gauge site near Townsend.
All streams in the Park that have USGS sites are flowing below median flow.
The streams are very warm in the low elevations. For the health of the trout you catch and release, please fish the higher elevation streams where the water is cooler. Find water temperatures in the 60’s, throughout the day and fish there.
The trout will be concentrated in the broken water. They will be hiding in riffles, plunge pools, deep runs or near other cover. They are spooky and harder to catch. Stealth is paramount to your success. If you can hide from the trout, you will catch more.
Next week, conditions will be different. The lower elevation streams will be cooler. That will change our lives.
The lowland rivers are very warm. Agencies are not stocking trout in the warm water. You might catch some smallmouth bass, rock bass or sunfishes. Fish the deep pools.
Most lakes are lower than normal for this time of the year. If you go, make it early or late when the sun is off the water.
There are fishing opportunities on some tailwaters. Check the TVA website to plan your day.
At some point over the next few days, I am going to pull some Winter clothing out of storage and I’m looking forward to that. It is hard to believe, but on some days next week, I’ll be wearing fleece and down to work in the morning, to stay warm. Won’t that be nice? I wonder if the heater in my truck still works.
I’ll put a rain jacket in my truck and leave it there. Rain is predicted Sunday through Tuesday. I see more rain in the long-term forecast.
We will experience normal and soon.
We will all be fishing more often. Fall offers excellent fly fishing opportunities. This may turn out to be a great fishing Fall.
I can start writing more enthusiastic fishing reports every morning. I am looking forward to that too. Sometimes, this is not fun or easy to do.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
October 2, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |