Matthew, Tommy, Brian, Dan, and I headed up to the mountains again for our ritual Black Friday trout fishing trip. Many fishermen have already put away their equipment for the colder months, but here at troutu, the only offseason is December, which is ordinarily too busy to go fishing. Typically, the day after Thanksgiving is a great time to get out into the backcountry and hunt for some big brown trout.
This trip, which was a repeat of a previous excursion a few years ago, led us back to some of the most rugged water in North Carolina. Navigating around the deep pools, huge boulders, and the long uphill hike out is tiring, but well worth it. The scenery in the NC mountains can be spectacular, and a great chance to catch trout without competing with other fishermen. If you don’t want to walk all the way into the backcountry, try the Delayed Harvest streams that are well stocked this time of year.
We saw very few trout throughout the day; however, the party I fished with had what I would consider a 100% slugging percentage. We caught three trout, all of which were in 16-19” range, which is very large by North Carolina standards. Also, I had an even larger trout follow my lure on 6-8 casts in one pool, even briefly lipping it.
All fish were caught on spinners or lures; the streamers didn’t garnish any interest.