Fly Fishing in North Carolina

A regional note specific to this state: the trout fishery here is concentrated in a single river corridor with multiple public access points, and the state agency has invested heavily in that corridor, and the most productive water is the section of the river that runs through the state park and the national forest. North Carolina trout fishing is a small but technically diverse fishery built on the cold-water streams of the Appalachian Mountains and a few tailwaters in the central part of the state. The state has about 2,000 miles of fishable trout water, including the famous Davidson River, the South Mills River, the Nantahala, and dozens more. The most famous trout river is the Davidson, a freestone that runs through the Pisgah National Forest and produces wild browns and rainbows averaging 12 to 16 inches. The state's trout program is administered through the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and the agency stocks the put-and-take rivers and lakes in the spring and fall while managing the wild trout water through a combination of slot limits and Trophy Trout designations. A regular North Carolina fishing license is required, and the cost is $25 for residents and $45 for non-residents, and the daily limit is 5 trout combined in most waters with a 2-trout limit on the Trophy Trout water. The unique regional quirk is that North Carolina requires a special trout stamp for trout fishing, and the daily limit is 4 trout in the inland trout-stocked waters.