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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:16 am, the temperature outside is 58.8 degrees.
It will be mostly cloudy today with a high temperature in the low 60’s. We have a 40% chance for rain today and a 70% chance tonight with a low temperature in the upper 50’s. It is windy and we may see gusts to 20 miles per hour in the valley with the possibility of stronger wind in the mountains.
Tomorrow will be warm and wet again with a high in the low 60’s, and rainfall amounts near half of an inch. It will be cold tomorrow night, dropping to the low 30’s with light snow expected in the valley.
Little River is flowing at 218 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 2.00 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 231 cfs. The water temperature is 48.9 degrees this morning.
Fishing in the Smokies was fair this weekend. We should see improvement today was the water warms.
Nymphs and streamers will probably work best but you might see some surface activity at times. Watch for blue wing olives and midges drawing trout to the surface. Fishing may be good tomorrow, depending on how much rain we get.
Fishing will be good in the lowland rivers that are stocked with trout.
TVA and the Corps of Engineers continue to generate at most dams in the Tennessee Valley. I didn’t see any wade fishing opportunities in the local tailwaters that I checked this morning. You might check the TVA website and find a suitable generation schedule further from here. I didn’t check all of them.
I don’t think anyone doubts that yesterday’s Townsend Christmas Parade was the largest and most attended ever. Some of the staging was done on the street in front of our store. Rick Myers and his beautiful draft horses pulled the wagon with Santa Clause riding in the back. They waited at our parking lot entrance while antique cars and trucks drove by for what seemed like an hour, to enter the parade.
Those horses were patient, breathing auto fumes as the old vehicles drove by the wagon. It was very warm. I petted the horses and talked to Rick before talking to Old Saint Nick. Santa told me he was burning up in his red suit. I was in shirt sleeves and he was dressed to be at the North Pole, not Townsend, Tennessee. I offered to get him something to drink but he had cold water in the wagon. Finally, Santa and Rick’s wagon pulled into line. I heard Santa say Ho, Ho, Ho and away they went.
I was involved in city government for a time, and remember being shocked at how much candy was bought to throw to kids in the parade. I think it was several hundred pounds, but I could be wrong. Back then, the City of Townsend bought the candy for the parade. That is probably still the case.
Business was slow at the shop yesterday. Ace Hardware closed all day. The street was lined with people, enjoying the parade. It was a perfect parade day and everyone seemed to have a great time, including Santa.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
December 9, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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A bamboo fly rod made by Walter Babb and 10 dozen flies tied by him will be auctioned off on Saturday December 14th at about 5:30 to 6:00 pm. This auction benefits the Needy Family Fund of Sweetwater Tennessee. This organization is made up of 20 area churches and raises money to buy food for families in need for Christmas. The auction will be held at the Sweetwater Primary School located at 500 Highway 322 East in Sweetwater.
You do not have to be present to bid on the rod or the flies. Call Phil Roy beforehand, at 423-337-1212 to register. You will be given several phone numbers to call in your bid during the live auction.
Below is what Walter told me about these auction items:
“The rod I made for the Needy Family Auction this year is a seven foot, 2 Piece, 4-weight Wayne Cattanach taper. Wayne is the author of Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods, one of the teaching books for me. This is a flamed single tip rod with a Hormigo Negro wooden spacer. In Spanish it is called an ant tree. Reel seat, spacer and ferrules are made by Baily Wood of Classic Sporting Enterprises. Also, the rod bag and rod tube are made by REC.
The box of flies are 10 dozen of my favorite nymphs. They include, three types of Tellico Nymphs, the Gray Squirrel nymph, George Nymph, Bead Head Peasant Tail, Atherton’s Medium Nymph, Bead Head Prince Nymph and Mr. Rapidan Emerger. This is my core group of nymphs that I use in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee National Forest and in Western North Carolina. I carry a few others for special occasions or hatches.” |
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