It’s a new week here in East Tennessee but the weather forecast looks pretty familiar. We’ve got more rain forecast for the coming week, but hopefully the rain won’t be so heavy and the streams can absorb it without another blowout. June and July are thunderstorm season in the Smokies, but it’s virtually unheard of to see the water this high for this long.
The mountain streams are fishable now, but not all were blown out last week. You just had to pay attention to find the good water. While most of the national park was hit hard last week, the Tellico River basin to the south in the Cherokee National Forest had much better flows. We expect more of the same this week but you never know where the rain will fall.
This is one reason we’re optimistic about our tailwater flows this week.
The tailwaters look like they’re getting back in shape. TVA is continuing with work on the weir dam below Norris Dam on the Clinch River this week. This means we can expect good flows on the Clinch this week. The South Holston and Watauga also look like they’ll begin to resemble the rivers we usually expect: perfect for floaters or waders.
Or biggest worries this week concerning the tailwaters have less to do with the volume of water and more to do with the color of the water. Coal Creek on the Clinch can muddy the river if it’s running high. A small tributary on the South Holston just downstream of the weir has a similar effect after heavy rains.