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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:58 am, the temperature outside is 32.7 degrees.

It will be sunny and warmer today with a high in the mid-60’s dipping to the low 40’s tonight. Tomorrow will be warm again, but colder air will move in tomorrow night. Tuesday will be cold with a chance for snow showers and a high temperature in the mid-30’s. Temps will drop to the teens Tuesday night.

Little River is flowing at 151 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.77 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 156 cfs. The water temperature is 45.1 degrees this morning and falling.

Most streams in the Smokies are flowing near or above normal. Water temperatures are chilly in the low elevations and cold in the higher reaches.

We will see the streams warm some, later today. You will do best fishing the low elevations. Wait until later today to go, when the water is warmer. Water temperatures will probably continue to fall until later this morning.

I overheard a customer say he didn’t catch any trout yesterday. He was going home in the early afternoon. He would probably have done better, if he had waited until later to go.

I would use nymphs, weighted and fished deep. Good nymph choices are Tellico, Prince, Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear and other reasonable patterns. I would not use a strike indicator, so you can vary the depth of your flies with every cast. Just make sure your fly or flies are drifting at the same rate of speed as the current they are in. High sticking or Euro Nymphing will be good techniques to use today. You can use a strike indicator if you prefer and you may do well with them.

There is a chance you may encounter a blue wing olive hatch or midges on the surface. Be prepared for that, especially tomorrow.

We will likely see snow, with accumulations in the mountains Tuesday. Weather websites are predicting only a light dusting in the foothills, but that could change.

Fishing will be slow beginning Tuesday as water temperatures plunge causing the trout to be inactive for several days. Brown trout will remain active during this time. They are spawning or preparing to spawn.

You may see browns on their redds. I would leave them alone, so they can spawn and produce young fish for our future. You should also be careful not to wade through redds, which would crush the eggs.

There are fly fishing and wading opportunities on a few trout tailwaters today. Check the TVA website from the links below to see if you can work with their generation schedules on your favorite tailwater.

I am updating our online store in the Fishpond catagories. The new 2020 gear will be arriving at the shop any day. This is always an exciting time for us and our customers.

The colors are changing on their waxed cotton gear from brown to a dark olive. These pieces look great.

Fishpond has also added a new color to their Thunderhead waterproof bags and packs. The color is called Riverbed Camo. You will see many new fly fishing vests, among other new items.

This is going to be another big Fishpond year.

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

Byron Begley
November 10, 2019

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com