What is Delayed Harvest?
Many of our fly fishing wade trips take place on Delayed Harvest streams around Asheville, but many of our clients don’t know what that means. These are generally trout streams that are easy to access(close proximity to roads/parking areas). As of the writing of this post there are 33 Delayed Harvest streams in 18 North Carolina Counties. Our favorites are The Laurel River, Shelton Laurel Creek, The West Fork of the Pigeon, The North Mills River, The Green River, The Tuckaseegee River, and The East Fork of the French Broad. These waters offer catch and release fly fishing, artificial only from Oct 1 until the first Saturday in June. The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission stocks these streams with brook trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout the first week of Oct, Nov, Mar, Apr, May. They give us great opportunities to teach beginners to fly fish and sharpen skills for intermediate anglers in areas with a very high trout density. They aren’t always easy, but they are some of our most productive streams in the area. We mourn the arrival of bloody Saturday every June, and as I write this in August I can’t wait to get out on some of these rivers come Oct. If you are ever unsure of trout regulations in NC just look at the trees along parking areas and if the land is public you will see plastic diamonds similar to the one above. They represent different regulations and are color coded. If you don’t know the colors yet look at the fine print. It will be out lined for you. To book your trip visit our Book a Trip Page.