Fly Fishing Lessons in Asheville, NC
Dates for 2019
11/10, 11/11, 11/23, 11/24

This class is designed for the beginning angler who wants to focus on developing skills to use on their own. In this class we will have you fish nymphs, dry dropper, and streamers for about an hour and a half each, and then is designed to have a free period at the end for you to work on which ever one you prefer. The class begins with a stream side entomology session and a discussion of the river structure/riffle and pool habitat complex. You must bring your own equipment, but we provide lunch and drinks. The cost of the fly fishing lesson is $150 and is non refundable. A sample itinerary can be found in the photo above. The classes take place on a trout river to be determined later based on conditions. Typically the rivers we use are: Davidson River, West Fork of the Pigeon, Green River, Laurel River, North Mills River. All are about 20-45 minutes from ORVIS Asheville. Please call with any questions. 828-222-5020

Asheville Area Fly Fishing Report October 25 2019

Davidson River

The Davidson has been fishing ok the last week. We have had a lot of good rain fall and flows are great. The fishing has been somewhat technical. The best fishing window has been from 10-3 when the most sun is out. There are good midge hatches mid day for the small dry angler. And by small we mean small. 22-26 dry flies on 6x are necessary. The fish are very picky during that time period if they are rising. There are caddis and small may flies flying around and fishing a soft hackle and a small ptail should do best as droppers and on nymph rigs. More rain is coming this weekend. Enjoy!

Pisgah National Forest Delayed Harvest Rivers

The DH rivers are fishing surprisingly well. Crowds have thinned most likely due to the difficult fishing we had the first part of the month. The water levels are slightly lower than normal, but better than a few weeks ago. We are having to use small flies to get fish to eat, but eating they are. We are less than a week away from our second stockings and all of our rivers that didn’t get a full stocking should get the necessary replenishments. If the rain keeps falling we could erase the drought soon.

Watauga River Fly Fishing Report

The Watauga has been great and difficult. The lower half of the river has been fishing great since the rains last week. The water is starting to get low again but more rain is coming this weekend. The upper has still been tough. Small technical midges are ruling the day. The fish are pretty picky and the bugs that are hatching are pretty tiny. Keep an eye on the doe river. It is running about 200 cfs right now. A big jump could mean it will get muddy. If it gets just a little dirty it will be game on!

Asheville Area Fly Fishing Report 10/8/2019

Davidson River Fishing Report

The rain is falling as I write this so take that into consideration in the next couple days. Compared to to other streams in the area the Davidson is actually holding water pretty well. The usgs gauge levels have been tracking true to the long term average and are pretty good considering the drought we are in. The fishing on the Davidson is still hit and miss. We have really only had cold temps since Saturday so it is still hard to tell what effect it will have on fishing. I’d say with the rain, cold nights, and decrease in pressure due to Delayed Harvest opening that fishing on the Davidson should get really good soon. The next couple days we will be fishing worms, soft hackles, and some small hares ears and stoneflies. Its not rocket science you just have to find the fish that are feeding actively. This weather should get more feeding than we have seen in a while.

Watauga River Fishing Report

The Watauga has been producing lots of nice fish lately. Not a ton of fish, but the ones we are catching are larger. Lots of brooder rainbow trout, with some nice browns mixed in. This cloudy weather should get the blue winged olives moving and I’d expect to see some good dry fly fishing on the rainy days. Lets hope we continue to get rain. Watauga Lake is low enough that we probably won’t see any increase in flows without a big rain storm. Maybe we can get one more hurricane. Other wise we can expect good but technical low water fishing.

Delayed Harvest
Our local Delayed Harvest streams had some delays this week. All the streams down the blue ridge escarpment in Marion county were postponed. The Laurel had a reduced stocking and reports are that the fish stocked largely died due to warm water. A week in we finally have cold water so all the fish that were stocked after the first week should do fine. The mills river fish have survived but the flows are crazy low. The rain falling this week should help. The current rain is a nice long slow soaking rain. I think the worst is over. Even if water stays low it will at least be cold going forward. WE should see lots of little mayflies and midges in the next week hatching. Maybe not enough for dry fly fishing, but enough to get the fish active and up in the water column.