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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:13 am, the temperature outside is 65.5 degrees.
Strong wind blew as storms moved through the area last night. Heavy rain fell at times. We got .85 inches of rain overnight in Townsend. So far, no road closures due to downed trees have been reported by Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That may change later.
Showers are possible this morning. It may be breezy at times today. Temperatures will fall into the upper 30’s by 5 pm. There is a slight chance for snow showers tonight. Expect a low in the mid 20’s. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the low 40’s, dipping to the low 20’s tomorrow night.
Little River is flowing at 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 3.31 feet on the gauge. The river is rising sharply. Median flow for this date is 269 cfs. The water temperature is 54.0 degrees this morning.
Little Pigeon River is rising quickly too. Flow is currently 1,480 cfs or 6.25 feet at the Sevierville gauge, compared to median flow of 301 cfs.
Oconaluftee River is flowing at 1,810 cfs, 3.37 feet, compared to median flow of 421 cfs. The river is rising quickly.
Tellico River is rising fast. Flow at the Tellico Plains gauge is 1,240 cfs, 3.73 feet, compared to median flow of 195 cfs.
Cataloochee Creek is flowing at 539 cfs, 3.80 feet, compared to median flow of 80 cfs. The creek is rising quickly.
The way it looks right now, wading the streams in the Smokies will not be safe today. All the streams that have USGS gauge are rising and will rise much further this morning. We will probably see a lot of whitewater kayakers driving through Townsend today.
Most lowland rivers in the area are probably blown out.
All of the tailwater flows I looked at this morning are high and will be over the next 24 hours. Check the TVA pages from the links below and you may find a fishable tailwater somewhere to fish today. I kind of doubt it but you never know until you look.
Something is killing freshwater mussels in the upper Clinch River and in other rivers. Scientists are trying to find out why they are dying. They are looking on the Clinch River in Tennessee near Virginia for answers.
One 200 meter sample site on the Clinch, contained 94,000 Pheasantshell Mussels in 2016. The most recent sampling there showed only 14,000 are present this year.
I read an interesting article on the subject on the ABC News website. You can read it by CLICKING HERE.
I remember a spot on the Kentucky River, where my parents would tie up and anchor our houseboat for the night, when I was a kid. We did that often back then, in the 1950’s. I loved going out on the deck at night with a flashlight, shining it down on the shallow water, looking at all of the mussels. They were everywhere. The mussels hid during the day, and emerged at night. Some were huge, several inches across the shell.
I have spent my life thinking, reading, watching and wondering about all creatures that live in our rivers, lakes and the ocean. You probably do too.
Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.
Byron Begley
December 17, 2019
Respond to: byron@littleriveroutfitters.com
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