Once again, I was able to take my two year old son trout fishing last Saturday. The challenge, then, becomes finding a stream that's accessible, full of hungry fish, and not overrun with fishermen. In this case, I chose the Upper Catawba River near Old Fort, NC. This portion of the river, which forms the headwaters for a river which eventually becomes enormous and feeds an entire chain of lakes and municipal water supplies, is tiny and pristine. The upper portions of the creek, which flows within sound of the traffic on I-40, features a tall waterfall in its upper stretches. The land aound the Upper Catawba River was purchased by the Foothills Conservancy a few years ago, and now it is part of the Pisgah National Forest. Parking is currently quite limited, but it appears that there is a much larger sized parker area under construction.
The portion of the stream along the road on the way to the headwaters in considered Hatchery Supported, and as such, is closed for fishing in March. However, the portion upstream in the backcountry is designated as Wild trout waters, meaning only artificial lures with a single hook can be used.
Winter was extremely mild, and spring sprang early this year in our area, so we have been enjoying warm weather for some time. The first part of the morning was slow, with no trout biting at all. However, once we had worked up to the first tributary feeding the creek by late morning (where the stream's gradient becomes steeper, creating better pooling), there was a slight hatch of Quill Gordons, and the trout were starting to take the dry fly with gusto. Virtually every small pool had a fiesty rainbow trout, and the fishing was good. Even my son was able to tangle with one of the trout on the line (before he got off), and he was able to see one of mine up close and personal. By the time we worked upstream to a small dam across the creek, the rain storm was descending on us, and it was naptime for the little guy. All in all, we caught three trout and saw several more, in the short time we had from the tributary to the creek.
Visit our hatch chart page for more information on what insects will be available to the trout when you go.