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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:10 am, the temperature outside is 42.3 degrees.
Today will be sunny and warm with a high in the mid-70’s. No rain is expected today. Tomorrow will be warm, in the mid 70’s. Wednesday will be much cooler, with a high in the mid-60’s, dipping to the upper 30’s at night.
Rain moves into the region late tomorrow, continuing through Wednesday. The chance for rain through the period is as high as 90%, depending on which weather website you believe.
Little River is flowing at 24.6 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.09 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 86 cfs. The water temperature is 61.5 degrees this morning.
All streams in the Smokies that have reporting USGS gauges are flowing low.
The streams are all much cooler than they have been recently. That trend will continue. Looking forward to late October, there are no indications that the water temperatures will rise much. Fishing in the low elevation, larger rivers is now possible. In fact, that might be a very good idea.
Dry flies and nymphs will work. Stealth and presentation are of greater importance than fly selection due to the lower than normal flows. The trout are actively feeding but they are also spooky. They are hiding in broken water or near other cover.
Dress in muted clothing, stay low, don’t let your fly line land on top of the fish, get a good drift, and you will catch more trout.
Hopefully, we will get some rain tomorrow night and Wednesday, resulting in higher stream flows and better fishing. I talked to a friend of mine yesterday, who was driving back from the Florida Panhandle. He said he drove through some heavy rain. I looked at the radar, and sure enough, a swath of storms were passing through Alabama and Georgia, in areas that are affected by this drought. I hope you folks down there got some relief.
I haven’t see much generation below Center Hill Dam lately. The river is now constantly flowing at 250 cfs. The Corps of Engineers is keeping Center Hill Lake 20 feet below normal for dam repairs. With little water flowing in, I suppose there will be little water flowing out. I hate to see this. The Caney Fork is one of my favorite tailwaters. Hopefully we will see the river return to normal soon.
There appears to be an opportunity below Norris Dam today. Check the TVA website to see if the generation schedule works for you.
Fly Tyers Weekend is about two weeks away. It won’t be long now. We have been working on this with Tremont Lodge for almost a year. There will be about 50 fly tyers demonstrating at the event, in shifts. People in the know tell me, this is the largest fly tying event in the Southeast.
Fly Tyers Weekend is free. It lasts two days, Saturday and Sunday, November 2nd and 3rd.
We are holding the event at the conference center at Tremont Lodge, right in the middle of Townsend.
Even if you don’t tie flies, you will learn from these excellent demonstrators. You can move around at will, from tying stations to others. Chairs will be set up in front of the tying stations, for your comfort. Food will be sold by Casting for Recovery, to help fund their retreats. Once you are there, you don’t have to leave.
This is our big show of the year. Please try to attend and enjoy the Fall weekend in Townsend.
You can learn more by CLICKING HERE.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
October 14, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |