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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 4:42 am, the temperature is 27.3 degrees.

We are under a freeze warning, obviously. It will be sunny today with a high temperature in the middle 50’s, falling to the freezing mark or colder tonight. Monday will be sunny again with a high in the low 50’s.

Part of Laurel Creek Road and the Cades Cove Loop Road will be closed this morning between 5:00 am and 11:00 am. Friends of the Smokies is hosting a 5K and 10 mile race, as a fundraiser.

Little River is flowing low and clear at 98.1 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.62 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 132 cfs. The water temperature is 46.8 degrees this morning.

Streams that have USGS gauge sites are flowing near or above normal. Little River is flowing lower. Water temperatures are cold in the high elevations and dropping this morning. The Cataloochee Creek gauge site is reporting a temperature near 40 degrees and falling.

Fish a low elevation stream today, where the water is warmer. Plan to fish later in the day when the water is warmer. Weighted nymph rigs will work best.

Lowland rivers are flowing low. Smallmouth bass fishing will be slow. Trout, where they are stocked may be active later today. Use streamers, nymphs or egg patterns. Squirmy Worms may get strikes as well.

There are breaks in the generation schedules at Center Hill, Norris, South Holston and Watauga dams today. I don’t know if you can work with those schedules. If you are boating, you may have more options.

This is probably not a good lake fishing day. It will be sunny all day and breezy at times. Fish may be holding too deep to reach with a fly, unless you are using a sinking fly line. I never fish the lakes during the cold months, so I really don’t know what to expect.

I spent all day yesterday, entering fly tying items into our inventory control software. Those items were ordered and will arrive at the shop this week, with two orders coming tomorrow. That is common for me on Saturdays. It takes so much time because there are hundreds of items to enter. The fly tying department is very labor intensive. Today, I will re-order again from our suppliers. I do that every Sunday. Most of what I order today will arrive by the end of the week or early next week. Then we have to get them out for you.  After that, the process starts again.

I order over 500 items from our largest supplier every week. The problem is, I usually don’t know what I am going to get, so I have to wait until the order is shipped, when they email an invoice to me. Then I know what we will receive. Those items are entered so the computer knows they are coming, then I order again so the supplier can start filling the order while the other order is on its way here.

We order from some of our suppliers online, knowing what they have in stock. Those companies are easier to work with. I know in advance what will ship, then I can enter the items immediately.

Basically, I am trying to replenish everything that sold, every week. Fly tying season has begun and will last until next Spring.

Think about this. Every fly tying item that is spooled, is packaged by us for display though some are stored unpackaged, for mail order customers.

I love it! I can’t wait to get to the shop this morning and start again. My satisfaction comes from all the customers who visit our fly tying department or order online.

Most people would not believe what goes on behind the scenes at a fly shop that has a large fly tying department. It takes the same amount of time to order a $1,000 fly rod, as it does to order a package of dubbing.

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

Byron Begley
November 14, 2021  

WALTER BABB MADE BAMBOO FLY RODS FOR SALE – CLICK HERE

Walter is selling a selection of over 50 bamboo fly rods. All but one was made by him. The other one was custom made for Walter by Walton Powell. Read the description of each rod on the list and contact him if you are interested in buying one or more than one. Even if you are not interested in a purchase, this web page is very interesting to read. Walter has made over 285 bamboo rods over the past 20-years. You will be working directly with Walter on a purchase and you can test cast the rods before you buy one at his home. Or, call him and he will ship a rod to you. His contact information is on the web page he and I created.

Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com