Targeting Trophy Trout near Asheville, NC

Targeting Trophy Trout

It’s late winter in Western North Carolina. Although the days are getting longer, the spring sun has not fully rounded out the edges of winter nor brought with it its day-long warmth igniting early spring hatches. Those awaited emergences will reach fruition a few weeks in the future, but for now conditions leave the current’s quarry clinging in their nymphal states to the submerged rocks and riverbed, patiently awaiting the gentle chide of warming water. For most trout enthusiasts, there is nothing quite as satisfying as watching a well-placed dry fly being eagerly swallowed by the cresting beak of an engaged trout. This spectacle coupled with the authoritative bend in the rod, the twisted intermingling of line and chattering reel, prompts anglers to get up pre-dawn on the weekends after enduring a five-day laborious stretch of work-week sunrises. To satiate my desire for aggressive springtime slurps out of season, and pass the time before their likelihood, I regularly find myself engaging in the cold weather, high-risk, frequently unrewarded gamble of targeting trophy trout.

The Whens

I firmly subscribe to the old angling adage that, “The best time to fish is when you have time to fish.” That being said, when the odds are slanted against you, you may want to stack as much in your favor as possible. A lot of big fish are caught during the cold weather seasons, since they are more easily goaded into aggressively engulfing a streamer when they’re hoping to fill their bellies with a calorie-rich winter meal. During pre-spawn periods when larger trout become aggressive, their temperament may also encourage them to strike a large fly that resembles a smaller trout or any other egg-eating baitfish inhabiting the river. During those times of the year, it’s important to be mindful of reds and to leave any actively spawning fish alone. When I’m chasing a big bite from trout, you can assume I’m bundled up and expecting to deal with less than favorable weather. I also tend to get more streamer-happy during or following a rainstorm when the rivers are high and a bit off color. All that sediment and silt discoloring the water may help to hide heavy leaders and cover up any casting or presentation errors that are made, in turn fooling otherwise weary trout . Also, the increased flows may force a fish to decide without hesitation whether or not to attack a bait before the water carries it out of reach. Large trout also tend to be a bit more snappy during low light periods, so I prefer to target them in the mornings and evenings.

The Wheres

Another angling adage, regularly recited by my father during the fishing follies and disappointments of my youth was, “He didn't get that big by being stupid.” This comment usually followed some angling chagrin, which I, even at an adult age, take very poorly. I was most commonly exposed to this quip following the loss of a large fish, after witnessing the ejection of my hook from its mouth, or after watching a fish reject my offering subsequent to a scrutinous inspection. I definitely didn’t and don’t appreciate any comment after a major fish-fail, but nevertheless, the air of the statement rings true: Big trout are smart. You’re most likely to find them stealthily stowed in the tightest crisscrosses of a gnarly log-jam, dwelling in the deepest recesses of pools, tucked underneath root riddled undercut banks, or in inconspicuous crevices and cracks beneath and between large rocks. In these environments big trout stay safe from predators, including you, and use the cover to ambush prey. At any given moment a fish can be anywhere in the river and I often deploy casts to cover lesser holding water but I focus the bulk of my time targeting the aforementioned habitats and plying those areas with extra regard.

The Arsenal

If I’m investing my time in big trout, I’m likely going to wager on a big bait to fool it, and I'm going to need stout gear to land it. Leave the delicate rods at home. I usually throw 6 through 8 weight rods, coupled with reliable reels, and sinking line or sink tips connected to 4- 9 foot lengths of 10 to 20 lb fluorocarbon. These vary depending on river conditions and sizes, as well as the size of the trout I expect to find in a particular river system. Leaders should be substantial enough to bully that trout away from cover and withstand an aggressive strip-set. The majority of streamer-eaters aren’t leader shy. I most often want my fly swimming deep near the river bottom. For situations in which I worry about the trout seeing the sinking line or sink tip, I generally employ a long leader with a heavy fly and maybe a couple nodes of well-placed spit shot to keep my offering at its desired depth. As far as flies go, there are no shortages of colorfully named streamers gracing fly shop displays or on sale online. I generally recommend finding some that match the forage fish in the river you are targeting and then grabbing a few that stand out and look a little less natural. Some streamers look nothing like baitfish but move and flash in a way that peaks the curiosity of apex trout. I also favor a slow, erratically cadenced retrieve incorporating pauses, but I regularly experiment with it and speed it up to see what presentation elicits the most aggressive response. It’s never a bad idea to head to a local fly shop for advice or to hire a guide and pick his brain for the morning.

The Outcome

Another adage that my father lovingly tortured me with after failed fishing endeavors during my childhood was, “Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.” Getting skunked is something that then and even now, in my forties, I’ve seldom taken gracefully. I’ve heard that the tolerance for it comes with age, but I’d be a liar if I claimed that I expected that to change in my 50’s or 60’s. In that aspect, I shamefully admit that I’ll be forever 12. Sadly, if you’re playing the big trout game, you're going to have to accept a stern skunking, even if you don’t like it, and afterwards somehow summon the fortitude to attempt it again and again. I think one way to endure this is to trick yourself into enjoying the process, and even if it includes a mouthful of sour failure, never give up. Rivers have been the settings for the bulk of my fondest memories. I’ve rarely fished a day in my life where I didn’t learn something new and that knowledge has usually been bestowed on me with or without fish and often unsolicited. It could be a subtle nuance in your favorite river, where a trout might hold, but somehow you’ve never noticed it. Or the way the abdomen of a specific river nymph in one river is slightly lighter in hue than in the river you fished in last week. Two lessons that I've learned in the past few decades on the water are that well-iced beer is still cold no matter how many fish you do or don't catch and that failure is made more tolerable with company. So, if you decide to bundle-up and go galumphing into a river to hunt for your trophy, it probably isn’t a poor idea to take along a friend and having a six-pack waiting at home. Besides, you’re going to need someone to snap a grip and grin when you net that 25 incher, right? Good luck out there.

BY: Anthony Lohr

Asheville Fly Fishing Company

Full Time Fly Fishing Guide

Asheville, NC

BOOK A GUIDED TRIP with Tony by clicking the button and requesting him on the reservation form or CONTACT US button.

The Angling Report: Watauga River

Long-time subscriber W. Kirkland filed this report on a trout trip to the Watauga River in Tennessee with lots of ancillary comments about smallmouth opportunities and other nearby trout opportunities in the Asheville area. Enjoy!

My brother, usually three other friends, and I make at least two trips a year to Western North Carolina to fish. We have been doing this regularly for the past 10 years, and we usually headquarter in Waynesville, which gives us a pick of several rivers within an hour or so driving distance. Having cut my teeth on cold water fly fishing in the Delaware River system in the Catskill region of New York, and now living on the Gulf Coast in Fairhope, AL, I look forward to these outings with great excitement.

This past spring, due to the pandemic, we initially had to call off our trip entirely. But everything worked out when my Fairhope buddy, Rick Wallace, decided to buy a house in Barnardsville, NC, which is only about a half an hour north of Asheville.  Having not fished in that region of the state in the last 20 years, I was eager to try out some new water.

For years I had heard about the Watauga, South Holston, and Nolichucky fisheries in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. The Watauga and South Holston are noted for their trophy wild browns and rainbows, which are stream-raised and wild as hell. The Nolichucky, a beautiful freestone river, is renowned for its summertime smallmouth bass fishing. Most of our fishing around Waynesville had been in rivers that were designated Delayed Harvest – Catch and Release only.  Fishing those waters was productive, relatively easy and fun. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission does an excellent job of stocking browns, rainbows and brookies, some of which are over 16 inches.  But the difference between these hatchery raised trout and the stream-born wild ones is like the difference between Pop Warner and NFL football. The wild ones are older, stronger, faster, and smarter. Give me a 14-inch wild brown over an 18-inch stocker any day.   

Asheville Fly Fishing Company, (www.ashevilleflyfishingco.com) headquartered in Asheville of course, is a fly fishing guiding company. They do not have a fly shop.  AFFC offers professional guided fishing trips for trout, smallmouth bass and musky in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. They offer lessons for beginners, float trips via drift boats and rafts, backcountry trips, wade trips and multi-day trips based out of a safari camp or a cabin. I called AFFC and spoke to proprietor, Galen Kipar.  I had heard about the incredible smallmouth fishery on the Nolichucky, and queried Galen about a smallie trip in November.  He advised me that summertime was the primo season for smallie fishing on the Noli, but that trout fishing on the Watauga or the South Holston should be productive. I booked a day of floating on the either the Watauga or South Holston, whichever the guide preferred on the day of fishing. 

Shortly after booking my trip, I received via email a questionnaire from AFFC. The questionnaire was designed to provide information to the outfitter that would help him make our outing more enjoyable. I have booked many trips with professional guides, but this was the first time a guide asked anything about his prospective client. After answering several questions about height, weight, age, lunch requests, etc., there was a comment section. I commented that we were experienced fly fishers and just wanted a chance at some nice fish, knowing that there was a difference between fishing and catching. My major ask was that we be assigned an affable, knowledgeable guide. We would not tolerate an old fashioned, critical hard ass.  The guide he assigned us, I wrote, had to know that he was first and foremost in the customer service business. 

We arrived in Barnardsville on November 8 and had the float trip scheduled for November 11. The first couple of days we fished the Shelton Laurel Creek, a Delayed Harvest stream near Marshall, NC.  As expected, it was very productive. This was wade fishing in a stream that was at most 20 yards across. Our group averaged about 15 trout a day, some of which were up to 16 inches. I fished a two weight, 6X flouro tippet, double dropper rig (usually an egg pattern on the bottom and a small 18-20 size midge pattern above) with a strike indicator.

On November 9, I got a call from AFFC telling me that there was a strong chance of a rain blowout on the 11th and they asked if we could go on the 10th.  We agreed to going a day early.  We were told to meet our guide at 8:00 am in Elizabethton, TN at the Ingles Grocery Store on US 321. Rick and I arrived right on time and had no trouble finding our guide, as there was only one truck with a drift boat attached in the parking lot. 

We would be fishing the Trophy Section of the Watauga, which is just downstream from Wilber Dam. This section of the river holds anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 fish per mile, 85 percent of them wild brown trout. There is a variety of river habitat and structure that makes it ideal for ambushing trout, he told us. 
 
It did not take long for us to realize there were plenty of fish in the river. Standing in the bow, I could see hundreds of them scampering away from us as we floated downstream. The guide rigged us up with a double dropper rig, both flies being very small, size 18 – 20 midges. We were past the prime hatch seasons.  The Watauga is mostly a caddis hatch river with the first black caddis rising in March, followed by tan caddis in May and some sulphurs that emerge in June.  Surface bug activity in the winter is usually limited to blue winged olives, so it’s mostly nymphing and streamer fishing in the cooler months.

We spotted some really big fish from time to time and made valiant attempts to get them to eat, but never connected on a true trophy. That being said, in the morning we each managed to haul in about 10 nice trout , all in the 14- to 16- inch range. We were fishing with 5 weights, and the trout we hooked gave an admirable fight. If we had latched onto a true trophy, I’m not sure a 5 weight would have been adequate. 

We broke for a shore lunch, which turned out to be my idea of a dream meal – North Carolina style barbecue! Don’t get me started on any other kind of barbecue. I went to UNC Chapel Hill and have been intolerant ever since of any barbcue other than hickory smoked pulled pork with vinegar sauce.  In fact, my love for North Carolina barbecue could be the reason I landed my wife, who spent her childhood in Jacksonville, NC, and who has an even greater passion for the pulled pig. After out meal, we fished until about 4:30, and landed another 5 or 6 fish per person.  Again we had some shots at some really big hogs, but no takers.

The Watauga is not a remote, wild and scenic river, at least not the section where we fished. It is pretty, though, and the water is pristine. There are camps, parks, and access areas all along the route we drifted. We saw a few wade fishermen, but for the most part this section of the river is best fished while drifting. It is productive year-round, and as mentioned earlier, the water temps are maintained, by appropriate releases from the Wilbur reservoir, at favorable, healthy levels, even in the middle of summer.

Our cost for the day’s outing was $475, not including gratuity or Tennessee fishing license, which was around $40. Upon completing our trip and leaving the guide, I complimented him on being the experienced, affable and customer-oriented guide that we were hoping for. I also told him to watch out for us in the summer when we would get with him for a smallmouth bass trip.