There is no excuse for not taking the family on a picnic and do some trout fishing on July 4th. On July 4 from 12:01 a.m. until 11:59 p.m., anyone—resident and non-resident—can fish in any public water in North Carolina, including coastal waters, without the purchase of a fishing license or trout privilege license.
There is no shortage of places where anglers of all ages can go to reel in a variety of fish — from largemouth bass and catfish in coastal rivers to striped bass, crappie and sunfish in Piedmont reservoirs to trout and smallmouth bass in cool, mountain streams
To make finding a spot to fish easier, the Commission provides a list of free fishing-access areas across the state. The agency’s Public Fishing Areas offer free access from the banks of many streams, rivers and ponds across the state. Staff maintain these areas by clearing banks of underbrush, and in some cases, by constructing universally accessible fishing piers and graveled or paved parking lots, installing fish attractors, or baiting the areas with fish feed.
Many of the community fishing sites have provisions for the disadvantaged fisherman and many locations have loaner programs that can provide equipment. To learn more about the loaner program go to FISHING TACKLE LOAN AND ADAPTIVE GEAR PROGRAMS
Big Elkin Creek Fishing Pier
To locate some trout fishing areas, to to Fishing Maps/Locations and scroll down to the mountains regions and click on Rivers and Streams. Here you will find locations of streams in the Western parts of North Carolina. They may not be listed as trout streams, but for the most part, trout can be found in many of them.