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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:53 am, the temperature outside is 69.3 degrees.

Today will be warm. Now, the forecast includes rain today. It will be windy in the higher elevations. Rain will be even more likely tonight. Tomorrow will be much cooler, with highs in the lower 70’s in Townsend, and cooler in the mountains. Tomorrow night’s low will dip to the mid-40’s or cooler, especially in the higher elevations. Heavy rain is likely tomorrow. About 1 inch to 1 ½ inches of rain is expected today through tomorrow night.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTED HIGHS AND LOWS TODAY

Little River is flowing at 109 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.64 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 78 cfs. The water temperature is 68.0 degrees this morning.

Most if not all streams in the Smokies are flowing above median flow.

We may see high water tomorrow, especially later in the day. The current forecast may change, like it has since yesterday. Though there are no flash flood watches issued now, they may be possible tomorrow.

Fishing could be good today. It should be overcast. Dry flies and nymphs may both work for you. It is hard to determine how the trout will react to the approaching weather front. The Smoky Mountains are supposed to be missed by the heavy rain and wind attributed to Hurricane Michael.

Friday and through the weekend will feel like Fall. It is going to be cool during the day and chilly at night. Depending on how much rain we actually get, fishing may be very good.

So, we will wait and see what happens.

We are seeing steep increases in prices for some fly tying materials, especially fur and feathers. I have already seen some costs from our suppliers increase 10% or much more. Some of these costs went up October 1st.

This is occurring due to the trade war with China. Companies in China buy fur and feathers to be used in the clothing and decorating industry. If they buy from the United States, those imports are now subject to a tariff imposed by China.

Fly tying companies in the US buy fur and feathers from China, to be dyed and packaged for sale here.  Also, some of our suppliers send fly tying materials to China to be packaged, saving labor costs. Packaging in small quantities is a large part of the cost of fly tying materials.

On January 1st, a new import tariff on these goods will be imposed by the United States. I think that tariff is 25%.

I talked to Marcos, who runs Hareline Dubbin yesterday. He explained a lot of this to me during that phone call. All orders we place with Hareline will be subject to the new higher prices right now. I will be adjusting our prices on those items later this Fall. Any new materials, that we do not currently stock, will be priced using the newly raised prices.

Our other suppliers will probably do the same thing, by the end of this year.

I was working away in my home office yesterday. Wendy and Paula were talking in the living room nearby. Paula told me a bear was behind our house. I looked out the window, and there he was. That bear was big. I would not call him a “10” but at least a good solid “8”. As they always do, he walked slowly past, sniffing the air and looking around.

We see bears frequently at our house. We either have to be outside or looking out a window to see one. I think we saw this same bear two weeks ago, in the same location. I bet they walk by every day, especially at night. Most times, we don’t see them.

I was packing the boat before daybreak to go fishing with Jack week before last. I don’t drink alcohol on our boat, since I am in charge of safety. But, I always have some beer in the cooler for my guest. I poured a bag of ice in the cooler, and there were some huge chunks. So, I grabbed a screwdriver and broke up the ice. I heard a noise and looked inside. I had punctured a beer near the top of the can, creating a tiny hole. I took it out and put it on the concrete pad outside the boat house.

I showed it to Jack before we left to go fishing. We joked about me wasting a perfectly good beer. Most of the beer was still in the can.

I forgot to throw away the beer. A couple of days later, I noticed the can was laying on the ground and crushed. There were teeth holes in the can. Some animal, likely a bear, smelled the contents, bit into the can, and drank the beer. I can’t imagine drinking a warm stale beer myself. And, I would never have thought a bear would have either.

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

Byron Begley
October 10, 2018

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com