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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 56.8 degrees.
Heavy rain fell in the South yesterday as a strong system moved north from the Gulf of Mexico, affecting Alabama and other states including Tennessee. It rained here too, with heavy rain beginning around 5 PM. The Knoxville Airport reported 1.17 inches while in Townsend, 1.25 inches was reported by personal weather stations.
Today will be mostly sunny and breezy, with winds increasing to 15 to 20 miles per hour this afternoon. Wind gusts as high as 30 miles per hour are possible in the valleys. The wind will be stronger in the mountains where a high wind warning has been issued by the National Weather Service. At Mount LeConte, wind gusts could reach 70 miles per hour.
More rain is predicted tonight. New rainfall amounts up to three quarters of an inch is predicted in the valleys, while in the mountains, we may get 1 to 2 inches.
The heaviest rain yesterday appears to have missed much of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The streams are flowing higher, but not what I would expect in some cases.
Little River is flowing at 235 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.05 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 80 cfs. The water temperature is 56.7 degrees this morning. The river has peaked and is receding.
Little Pigeon River is flowing at 331 cfs, 1.74 feet, compared to median flow for this date of 138 cfs. The river is still rising.
Oconaluftee River just peaked and is flowing at 594 cfs, 2.09 feet, compared to median flow of 197 cfs. The river is somewhat stained but clearing at this time. The water temperature is 54.5 degrees this morning.
The Tellico River watershed appears to have been affected by heavier rain. Flow is currently 517 cfs, 2.23 feet, which compares to median flow of 80 cfs for this date. The current flow barely set a record for this date which was 514 cfs in 1978. The river is receding.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 83.2 cfs, 2.50 feet, compared to median flow of 41 cfs. The water temperature is 52 degrees this morning.
Some streams are flowing much higher than others. Little River is not blown out at all. We consider high water to be at 2.5 feet, while the current gauge hight is 2.05 feet.
The problem later today is going to be the wind. Sometimes wind predictions can be wrong. That happens often. Today, I expect it will be windy in the mountains.
If you go, and it becomes windy, you may want to go home. Fishing may be good this morning in some streams, including Little River.
Lowland rivers could be stained this morning, temporarily. I have no way of knowing right now, but I suspect you may encounter stained water in Little River and Little Pigeon River. I may be wrong. That could also depend on where you plan to fish. Small lowland tributaries may be muddy.
Some states in the south will be getting more heavy rain today from Tropical Storm Olga. Flood alerts have been issued for Louisiana, Mississippi, western Alabama, eastern Arkansas, southeast Missouri and west Tennessee. And, we will likely get more rain here tonight, with possibly heavy rain in the mountains. We’ll see what the conditions in the Smokies look like tomorrow morning.
Fishing on a tailwater might be a good option today. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with their generation schedules.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
October 26, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com |
