This will be another beautiful day, sunny with a high temperature in the upper 70’s, falling to the middle 50’s tonight. Showers are likely tomorrow, with gusty winds, as the high temperature will reach about 70 degrees.
Little River is flowing at 96 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 1.61 feet on the gauge. Median flow for this date is 78 cfs. The water temperature is 55.4 degrees this morning.
Other streams in the Smokies that have USGS gauge sites are flowing slightly higher than normal, which is low. Water temperatures are very good at most elevations.
With low and clear water stream conditions, stealth is essential to your fly fishing success. Dress to blend with the forest, stay as low as you can, and fish the broken water in plunge pools, riffles and runs. Trout are taking dry flies and nymphs. Weighted double nymph rigs are a good choice if you are not doing well with dry flies.
Lowland rivers continue to recede to low levels. Smallmouth bass should still be active until the water cools further. Streamers and nymphs will likely work best for smallies. Where trout are stocked in these rivers, fishing is very good. Use nymphs, egg patterns or streamers.
There are breaks in the generation schedules at several dams today. You may need to go early and position yourself in the right spots to avoid high water if you are wade fishing. If you are boating, there are more tailwater fishing options for you. Check the TVA website from the links below to plan your day.
This will be a very pleasant lake fishing day. It will be warm later and winds will be calm. I would launch early when the sun is low and fish the banks with streamers or swimming nymphs. As the sun rises higher, and shaded banks are hard to find, try using heavily weighted streamers to get down deeper.
More fly anglers are using euro nymphing techniques. The trend continues to surge. Though “high sticking” nymphs has been an effective technique for decades, more anglers seem to be learning to do it.
Competition fishermen around the world learned this is an effective way to win. They have shared their techniques with us, by writing books and producing fly tying and fly fishing videos.
We have sold many more fly rods that are specific to nymphing in the last few years. We stock and sell a lot more euro nymphing flies. Fly tyers are buying more barbless jig hooks and slotted beads at the shop and from all over the country from us by mail.
This is not a fad. This is real. It works and more people are learning.