Fly Fishing Guide to North Carolina mountain trout streams
The trout streams in the Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Great Smoky mountains of North Carolina from Cherokee to Asheville to Boone make North Carolina a premier fly fishing destination. North Carolina hosts some of the best fishing streams there are in entire South Eastern United States. Some of our neighboring states like Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia contain great fly fishing trout waters also. In the trout streams and rivers of North Carolina you can catch all three types of trout; Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Brown Trout. The wild trout tend to be smaller in NC, compared to stocked trout, but it takes more a little more stealth to catch the wild trout when fly fishing. The stocked trout are easy to catch at first, but harder as the season progresses. North Carolina mountains are a great fly fishing & trout fishing destination with over 3,000 miles of the best trout streams in the Appalachian Mountains. All these streams are teaming with fish and enjoyed by many beginners and old timers alike. Once the fly fishing addiction grabs you it will make you think about Fly Fishing All The Time.
This website was made as a guide to Fly Fishing North Carolina Mountain Trout Streams, you'll find; Pictures of fly fishing trips with in North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. There is photos flies you use to catch these trout, entomology to help you understand the insects that trout eat, plus a Hatch Chart to see what is hatching in the Southern Appalachian streams. The site has interactive maps with to help you find fly fishing streams in NC. It has a trout stocking schedule for all North Carolina trout streams, and GPS coordinates on how to get to streams you want to fish. There are links to all Fly Fishing shops & guide services in North Carolina including Fly Fishing shops & guides in Tennessee and Fly Fishing shops & guides in Virginia. The website has Fly Fishing Reports with lots of pictures.
People Also Asked
Trout fishing in North Carolina is the most popular destination in the Eastern United States for trout fishing. The western mountain region of North Carolina has the best trout fishing. Trout fishing is great in the Great Smoky Mountains region including Asheville, Highlands, Bryson City, Cherokee, Maggie Valley. The other top trout streams are in the Pisgah National Forest. Trout fishing destinations like Boone, Blowing Rock, Morganton North Carolina. All these places are home to a variety of trout streams teeming with fish.
You do not need a special fishing license for trout fishing in North Carolina. All State Inland Fishing fishing licenses in North Carolina include fresh water trout fishing everywhere in the state.
FISHING LICENSE
- Choose here License Types & Fees. *All State Inland Fishing licenses in North Carolina include fresh water trout fishing everywhere in the state
- Order online NCWRC Online License Center
The best place is in the mountains of North Carolina in the western part of the state. North Carolina has several designations for trout fishing to help you catch trout.
- Stocked Trout with Catch & Keep regulations require the designation Hatchery Supported trout streams.
- Stocked Trout with Catch and Release regulations require the designation Delayed Harvest or Catch and Release Artificial Flies/Lures Only
- Non-stocked Trout are all wild natural trout. North Carolina has several designated Wild Trout streams to catch trout
Spring and fall season is the best time to go trout fishing in North Carolina. The state stocks brook trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout during those seasons. North Carolina has the best trout fishery of the entire South East USA in the Appalachian mountains. Thanks to the NCWRC and their trout stocking program.
- State record biggest brown trout caught in North Carolina waters is 24 pounds, 10 ounces, from the Nantahala River. Macon County NC
- State record biggest rainbow trout caught in North Carolina water is 20 pounds, 3 ounces, from Horsepasture River. Jackson County NC
- State record biggest brook trout caught in North Carolina water is 7 pounds, 7 ounces, from Raven Fork River. Swain County NC
Brook Trout
Salvelinus fontinalis
Average Size
Length: 6 in. to 8 in. Weight: 1/4 to 1/2 lbs.
The brook trout is regarded, as one of North Carolina's most beautiful native fish species. In the Southern Appalachians, locals call them "specks." Recent genetic studies suggest that the native brook trout found in the Southern Appalachians, including the mountains of western North Carolina, may be a separate subspecies of the brook trout found farther north.
Brown Trout
Salmo Trutta
Average Stream Size
Length: 8 in. to 14 in. Weight: 2 to 4 lbs.
For centuries before the discovery of rainbows, cutthroats, and brookies, when people went "trout" fishing, they went brown trout fishing. Native to Europe, browns were first formally stocked in the United States on April 11, 1884 in Michigan's Pere Marquette River. Today they can be caught in the Northeast, the Appalachians, the Upper Midwest, and the mountainous regions of the West.
Rainbow Trout
Oncorhynchus Mykiss
Average Stream Size
Length:10 in. to 16 in. Weight: 2 to 6 lbs.
Rainbow trout are native to the Pacific Ocean and fresh waters of western North America. They naturally range from Mexico to Alaska and inland to the Rockies. However, they have been widely introduced throughout the world, and now occur across central North America to the eastern coast. Rainbow trout were first introduced to Atlantic Canada in the late 1800s.
