Western NC Archives - Page 55 of 74

The other WNC fish

Western North Carolina streams may be best known for trout, but many of the larger ones offer another excellent and often overlooked fishery: smallmouth bass. When it comes to action, few fish can match the fighting ability of a smallmouth, and to hook one using light spinning tackle or a fly rod has to be the angling equivalent of paradise. […]

A reward of $20,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed a black bear and desecrated its carcass in Buncombe County this past week.

Big reward offered in bear poaching/desecrating case in Buncombe County

North Carolina Sportsman

A reward of $20,000 has been offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and N.C. Wildlife Federation for anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed and desecrated a black bear this past week in Buncombe County. […]

Hybrid bass, not stripers, will become a top-level predator at Lake Norman once stockings by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission take hold.

Commission stocking hybrids; will replace stripers in Lake Norman

NCWRC Release

Fisheries biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission on Wednesday stocked 162,500 hybrid striped bass into Lake Norman, marking a shift in the agency’s management of the 32,510-acre reservoir from a striped bass fishery to a hybrid striped bass fishery. […]

Illegal bear-hunting activities accounted for many of the convictions announced last week as part of an undercover wildlife sting.

Ten sentenced in four-year, bear-hunting sting

North Carolina Sportsman

Ten defendants were sentenced on Monday, June 10, in U.S. District Court in Bryson City for illegal hunting activities involving black bears and other wildlife and related offenses uncovered by “Operation Something Bruin,” an initiative involving agencies of the federal government and wildlife agencies in North Carolina and Georgia. […]

Wild brook trout live in small, hard-to-reach streams high in the mountains, like Moses Creek.

Bless the wild brook trout

Robert Satterwhite

Brook trout are easy to locate and easy to catch; getting to them is the hard part. Native brooks inhabit the headwaters of mountain streams, the wild, hard-to-reach sections of creeks accessible only by foot where the water is pure and cold, places choked with rhododendron and mountain laurel. […]

Streamers and nymphs are commonly fished on the Trail’s streams to get down into deeper water where trout are often caught.

Tackle to match the Trail

Glenn Corley

Jason Cole, who owns and guides out of Hooker’s Fly Shop in Sylva, said the small to medium creeks on the Trail are perfect for a 7 ½- to 10-foot, 3- to 5-weight rod with weight-forward, floating line. […]

Unique “trout trail” offers fishermen plenty of water in Jackson Couty, N.C.

Traveling the trout trail – From big streams to little ones, the Western North Carolina Fly-Fishing Trail has something for trout fishermen of every skill level

Glenn Corley

With summer approaching, where does a fisherman go to beat the heat? Want to go somewhere a little cooler where you can fish a lot of different places without driving too far? […]