Trout Drought

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has announced that its fall trout stocking will be curtailed due to low water conditions on mountain streams. Some streams will only see half of their normal numbers of stocked trout until rain brings Carolina streams back to normal levels.

We have been carefully monitoring water levels and aquatic habitat in delayed-harvest waters over the last eight weeks and have decided to reduce the number of trout stocked until conditions improve and available habitat increases,” said Kyle Briggs, fish production supervisor. “We try to match our stocking rates to the habitat conditions in individual streams.

“Because stream levels are extremely low right now, it makes sense for us to adjust trout stockings accordingly.”

When western North Carolina gets some much-needed rain and stream flows improve, biologists will stock 213,000 fish — 85,195 brook trout, 42,610 brown trout and 85,195 rainbow trout — as originally planned.

Maybe we should all go down to Florida for the opening of gator fishing season.

The end is near!

for lots of stockers holding up in North Carolina's Delayed Harvest streams.

Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters Open under Hatchery-Supported Regulations
RALEIGH, N.C. (May 22, 2007) –

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will open approximately 56 miles of stream and one lake of designated Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters in western North Carolina under hatchery-supported regulations at 6 a.m. on June 2.

Under hatchery-supported regulations, which are in effect through Sept. 30, anglers can harvest a maximum of seven trout per day, with no bait restrictions or minimum size limits.
From October to the first Saturday in June, delayed-harvest regulations allow only catch-and-release fishing, and anglers can fish only with artificial lures with one hook.

Delayed-harvest trout waters are posted with diamond-shaped, black-and-white signs. In the 15 years since its inception, the Commission’s delayed-harvest program has grown from four waters stocked with 18,000 trout to 18 bodies of water stocked with 213,000 trout. Many of the waters are now located on land that is privately owned and could be removed from the program at any time at the discretion of the landowner.

To maintain public access on these privately owned lands, the Commission urges anglers to respect private property. Kyle Briggs, fish production coordinator for the Commission, suggests that anglers properly dispose of trash and litter, park only in designated areas, close gates and avoid blocking driveways and side roads. Hunting, camping, picnicking and activities other than fishing typically are not allowed unless the landowner grants permission.

“We think the delayed-harvest program provides terrific fishing opportunities for the general public, but it has become such a big program that we can only do it in cooperation with private landowners,” Briggs said. “And landowners will only continue to grant access to waters on their properties as long as anglers are respectful of their privacy and their properties.”
For a list of delayed-harvest waters organized by county, click here.

Makings of a "Power" struggle!

Anglers a lining up on both sides of the debate over the use of "Powerbait" and other scented bait products on the state's delayed harvest streams. Delayed harvest fisheries are limited to artificial lures having only one hook. The recent repeal of North Carolina's natural bait exemption also inadvertently repealed the legal definition of natural bait thus opening the doors for scented doughs on fisheries where they had not been previously allowed.

The latest word is that the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission plans on conducting a random angler survey in an attempt to gauge sentiment from the state's anglers. Fly fishing groups generally feel that the use of these type baits cause higher trout mortality due to swallowing the tasty morsels deeper than they would a comparable artificial.

The random survey will be limited to around 1500 participants so if you want to make your opinion known about this issue you may want to contact the NCWRC commissioners directly. Contact information is available via the NCWRC website.

We have been following this issue for some time and have been unable to obtain comment from the interested parties. However, the credit for the heads up on this latest development goes to the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum users Wilhelm and Marty who attended the meeting and made presentations before the board. (We hope we didn't leave anyone out)