Weaverville

21

74

19

421

321

221

276

215

18

16

80

74

26Bryson City

Cherokee

Sylva

Waynesville

Brevard

Asheville

MT. MITCHELL

Marion

Linville

GRANDFATHERMOUNTAIN

Boone

West Jefferson

Sparta

40 40

77

Busick

PISGAH NATIONALFOREST

NANTAHALA NATIONAL FOREST

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINSNATIONAL PARK

21

18

Sparta

77

A L L E G H A N Y

W I L K E S

S U R R Y

CUMBERLAND KNOB PARK

Roaring Gap

MP220

MP230MP240

MP250

1

2

1

3

1

5 47

6

1

Northern Section – Blue Ridge Parkway

2

3

4

5

6

7

big pine creek

brush creek

little glade branch

basin creek

cove creek

meadow creek

cranberry creek

Burnsville

Northern Section – Blue Ridge Parkway

Blowing Rock

DOUGHTON PARK

PISGAH NATIONALFOREST

Thomas would later write the Declarationof Independence, found the University ofVirginia and serve as our third president ofthe United States.

Parkway property covers more than93,000 acres, including 75 miles of mountainstreams and 66 acres of impounded pondsand lakes. Trout live in almost all of thosestreams — dainty brookies at the highest ele-vations, rainbows down a little lower andbrown trout at the lowest elevations. TheN.C. Wildlife Resources Commission managesa third of the parkway’s streams in NorthCarolina as part of its Hatchery-SupportedTrout Waters program. Those streams, plusthe wild trout waters that course around andthrough the parkway’s mountaintops andridges, provide just about all of the opportuni-ties that a trout fisherman could ever want.

The parkway was built from the mid-1930sthrough the late 1980s, when the last section,the Linn Cove Viaduct, was completed. Theoriginal idea was to build a road that wouldconnect the Great Smoky Mountains NationalPark with the Shenandoah National Park —the “Appalachian Scenic Highway” it wascalled originally. But as much as for trans-portation, the parkway was a project thatprovided jobs in the Civilian ConservationCorps for thousands of people in the throesof the Great Depression. That the ribbon ofasphalt could bring people closer to goodtrout fishing was an added bonus.

NORTHERN SECTIONFrom Brush Creek and Big Pine Creek a fewmiles south of Cumberland Knob to theMiddle Prong of the Pigeon River nearDevil’s Courthouse south of Waynesville,opportunities abound for fishermen with arod and reel and a sense of adventure. Anglerscan fish from one end of the parkway to theother with either a Virginia or North Carolinalicense —no trout stamp required. However,because it can be difficult at times to tell whenyou have crossed over from federal land to anarea where more stringent state regulationsapply, it is highly recommended that you pos-sess an N.C. Comprehensive Fishing License.

In general, access to streams is easier thecloser you get to the Virginia line, becausethe stretches of the parkway through Avery,Watauga, Ashe, Wilkes and Alleghany coun-ties don’t tend to hug the ridgelines. In fact,there are long segments where travelers arein relatively low country, paralleling streamsas they course through woods and farmland.

As you move south on the parkway, theroad climbs higher. Most of the streamsbridged by the parkway are too small to fishclose to the road; they require a hike downthe mountain to bigger water. In places, somefishermen leave a vehicle on a road at a muchlower elevation, then park on the parkwayand fish down.

Regulations vary from stream to stream,from hatchery-supported waters with a dailylimit of seven fish and no size or bait restric-tions to wild trout waters with a four-fish dailylimit and a 7-inch size minimum to “specialwaters” that require catch-and-release andrequire single-hook artificial lures or flies.

Hatchery-supported water is what mostfishermen first run into when they enter theparkway via N.C. 89 at Lowgap along theSurry-Alleghany line. Brush and Big Pinecreeks run on parkway property for 7 or 8miles, almost to the junction of U.S. 21. There,Little Glade Branch, a tiny wild trout stream,flows out of Little Glade Mill Pond and cross-es the parkway around Milepost 230. It’s a

narrow stream for sure, but it was part of astream restoration project undertaken by thecommission in the 1990s.

The next good trout waters are Basin andCove creeks, the headwaters of which are onthe Doughton Park property around Milepost244. A trail leads from the parkway into theBasin Cove drainage. Commission biologistKin Hodges said, “Basin is a great stream —depending on how far you want to go.” It’sfull of wild rainbows, but climbing from poolto pool can be tough at times. Basin and Coveoffer fishermen an opportunity to park onevehicle at the bottom of the mountain onLongbottom Road and another on parkwayproperty for a daylong trek.

Meadow Fork and Cranberry Creek areboth accessible from parkway propertyaround the junction with N.C. 18 at theAlleghany-Ashe county line near Milepost250. Both are hatchery-supported streams.Hodges said that Meadow Fork “is a decentstream, with a good bit of its length on theparkway. We did a creel survey four or five

TROUTTravelogue

WRITTEN BY DAN KIBLER | PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD BERNABE

great fishing is just a stone’s throw off thescenic blue ridge parkway.

Arainbow trout got me in trouble onthe Blue Ridge Parkway 21 years agothis May. On a beautiful Saturday

afternoon, we were on a picnic across theparkway from Sims Pond in Watauga County.Our two best friends were enjoying the after-noon with me and my wife, who was a weekshort of giving birth to our oldest daughter.

Jimmy and I had broken out our fly rods,promising that we’d spend just a few minutestrying to see if we could raise a few fish in theBoone Fork of the Watauga River, whichcrossed under the parkway and skirted thepicnic grounds. Jimmy stayed around the edgeof the woods. I went prospecting.

About 200 yards deep into the woods, Ispied a fish rising at the end of a long pool,just downstream from a tree that had falleninto the water. Five casts in, the fish rose and

missed the fly —I think it was a No. 12Adams —with a splash. That only whettedmy appetite. I guess 10 or 20 minutes passedbefore I got the perfect drift again, and thistime, the fish didn’t miss.

Neither did I. In no time, I had a 14-inchrainbow trout in the little net that clippedonto my vest. When I emerged from thewoods, brandishing the rainbow and twomore small brook trout on a stringer, theatmosphere had become somewhat chilly.“How could you leave me alone for thatlong?” my wife asked. “I’m about to have ababy. You must not care about me at all.” Itwas a long 90-minute ride home. It seemedthat I had chosen a rising trout over my moreimportant duties as a husband.

In my defense, fishing in streams just offthe Blue Ridge Parkway can be good to the

point of distraction. I have been back to theparkway countless times since, with fly rodor spinning rod in hand, and I’ve never for-gotten that trip, which produced the firstrainbow trout I caught in North Carolina. I’vedunked kernels of corn and earthworms, runspinners past likely looking midstream boul-ders, and flipped flies so tiny that I had a hardtime seeing them float past.

The parkway winds 469 miles throughVirginia and North Carolina, starting at theShenandoah National Park near Waynesville,Va., and ending at the entrance to the GreatSmoky Mountains National Park at theOconaluftee Visitor Center. North Carolina’ssection of the parkway, which ends at Mile-post 469, starts around Milepost 216 atCumberland Knob, land that was originallysurveyed in 1749 by Peter Jefferson. His son

4 march 2006 winc

MAPS BY KRISTIE RHODES

8

9

boone fork watauga river

sims creek & sims pond

wilson creek

linville river

10

11

south toe river

big lost cove creek

12

13

upper creek14

carter creek15

MT. MITCHELL

GRANDFATHERMOUNTAIN

LINVILLE FALLS

221

80 40

321Linville

Boone

Busick

Marion

MP280

MP290

MP300

MP310

MP320

MP330

C A L D W E L L

W A T A U G A

M I T C H E L L

Y A N C E Y

M C D O W E L L

A V E R Y

B U R K E

Burnsville

MP340

MP350MP360

88

9

10

11

13

1214

15

Central Section – Blue Ridge ParkwayCentral Section – Blue Ridge Parkway

MOSES H. CONEMEMORIAL PARK

Blowing Rock

PISGAH NATIONALFOREST

8

march 2006 winc 7

years ago, and we found a few wild brownsin addition to the hatchery fish. They werehealthy fish.

“Cranberry is the stream where the folksyou talk to up here go when they want to fisha hatchery-supported stream,” Hodges said.“People will swear that it holds more fish, butwe stock it at the same level as the others. It’sa little bigger, so you can get in there with afly rod without having to go through busheson your hands and knees.”

CENTRAL SECTIONIn Watauga County, the center of parkwaytrout fishing is the area around Moses ConeMemorial Park and Julian Price MemorialPark, between Mileposts 292 and 298. TinySims Creek, Sims Pond and the Boone Forkof the Watauga River are around Milepost 296.“The Boone Fork is managed as wild troutwaters upstream of the lake on the park-way,” Hodges said. “Downstream from PriceLake, it’s catch-and-release only now. Thecatch-and-release section used to go all theway to the Watauga River, but some privatelandowners closed that end, and now it’s justcatch-and-release on the parkway.”

Wilson Creek is one of North Carolina’smore renowned trout streams. Its headwatersrise along the parkway on the eastern slopesof Grandfather Mountain around Milepost302. Wilson Creek and a number of its smallertributaries actually cross the parkway, butcommission biologist Bob Brown said, “Theparkway is so high up that where they cross,they’re small. You’ve got to park and hikedown to do any good.”

The parkway’s next offering is also one ofits most famous: the Linville River. Throughmuch of Avery County, the parkway coursesthrough the mountains east of the continentaldivide, so its streams flow east, eventually tothe Atlantic Ocean. The Linville, aroundMilepost 316, is one such stream, rolling downthe mountains through Linville Gorge beforeflattening out and pouring into Lake James.“The Linville is a bigger stream; it’s hatch-ery supported, and there’s a lot of access, a picnic area and all,” Brown said. “It’s a

relatively big stream, 75 feet wide in someareas, and some places even wider, and westock it pretty heavily.”

After the Linville, however, there’s verylittle fishing available until you reachMilepost 349 and Mount Mitchell, thehighest point east of the Mississippi River.The headwaters of the South Toe River arearound the parkway’s junction with N.C. 128(the road that leads up to Mount Mitchell),including Big Lost Cove Creek, Upper Creekand the South Toe. The best access to thestreams, according to Brown, is from U.S.Forest Service roads that branch off theparkway and head down the ridge intoYancey County. “It’s all wild trout throughthere, brookies on the upper end and rain-bows and browns further down,” Brownsaid. “Some of those streams are fishedheavily, but it’s not like people are standingshoulder to shoulder.”

Commission biologist Scott Loftis ofWaynesville said that on the western side ofMount Mitchell there is at least one streambefore the parkway reaches Asheville that’sworth hiking in to fish: Carter Creek. Its head-waters are on parkway boundaries aroundMilepost 355. “It’s a good little wild brooktrout stream,” Loftis said. “It’s catch-and-release, single-hook artificial lures only, andit has limited access from the bottom. One ofthe better ways to reach it is from the top, butyou may have to walk in an hour to reachfishable water.” Of course, if you enjoy soli-tude and catching wild fish, the walk mightbe worth it.

3

2

6 march 2006 winc

Sylva

Cherokee

Weaverville

Asheville

Waynesville

Brevard

PISGAH NATIONALFOREST

276

19

74

S W A I N

26

MP380

MP390

MP400

MP410

MP420MP430

MP440

MP450

MP460

1617

19

20

21

22

2324

2526

27

16

17

lake powhatan

bent creek

south fork mills river

looking glass creek

davidson river

north fork french broad river

dark prong

18

19

20

21

22

yellowstone prong

23

middle prong

rough butt creek

24

25

piney mountain creek

26

H A Y W O O D

M A D I S O N

B U N C O M B E

H E N D E R S O N

T R A N S Y L V A N I A

J A C K S O N

Southern Section – Blue Ridge Parkway

40

Southern Section – Blue Ridge Parkway

215

27

18

north fork mills river

(Milepost 410.3), then you’ve got LookingGlass Creek, the Davidson River and theNorth Fork of the French Broad River.”

The Middle Fork of the French Broad orig-inates under Devil’s Courthouse (Milepost422.4), an unusual exposed bare rock summitthat’s rich in Cherokee legend. “You’ve gotbrookies up high and mainly rainbowsbelow,” Loftis said. “There are brookies andbrowns in the Pink Beds area, and brookiesin a number of the small tributaries that formthe South Fork. As you get down into lowerelevations, it’s mostly browns. The stream ispretty small on the upper end; there’s betteraccess from U.S. 276.”

South of Waynesville are some of Loftis’favorite streams on the parkway, theYellowstone Prong and Dark Prong, whichjoin to become the East Fork of the PigeonRiver. He said that the Yellowstone Prong isexcellent around the Graveyard Fields area(Milepost 418.8). “You pull off near GraveyardFields, and about a mile downstream, you’vegot a series of falls below Graveyard Fieldsthat are called Yellowstone Falls (Milepost417.9),” he said. “In the Graveyard Fields area,you’ve got a lower gradient section with acoarse sand bottom and bedrock. It’s man-aged as wild trout waters. Downstream ofGraveyard Fields, it gets more rugged, going

through a series of falls, then the Dark Prongcomes in. Below the confluence of theYellowstone Prong and Dark Prong, itbecomes the East Fork of the Pigeon River.It’s a pretty good one-day trip back andforth to the parkway.”

The headwaters of the West Fork PigeonRiver and Middle Prong are a few miles far-ther south, around Milepost 424. “The MiddleProng is a nice wild brook trout stream,”Loftis said. “People will leave a car down onN.C. 215 toward Canton near the SunburstCampground, park up on the parkway andwork their way downstream. It’s a real niceweekend trip; you have to camp overnight inthe woods. There are brookies toward theheadwaters, and you get into somebrowns on the lower third. TheMiddle Prong is wild trout to theconfluence with the West Fork.”

The last major streams alongthe parkway are along that sectionof the road that forms the Haywood-Jackson county line. Loftis said thata number of excellent wild troutstreams are in the Caney Forkwatershed for several miles on eitherside of Milepost 430. “You’ve gotstreams like Laurel Creek, RoughButt Creek and Piney MountainCreek, which form Caney Fork,”Loftis said. “It’s pretty good fly-fishing in there, with brookies inthe headwaters and rainbows thefarther down you get.”

So tie some flies, pack the rods and jumpin the car. Angling adventure waits just off theBlue Ridge Parkway. Just make sure your dutiesare taken care of at home before you go —youmight want to stay and fish for a while.

Dan Kibler is the longtime outdoors editor of theWinston-Salem Journal.

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march 2006 winc 9

SOUTHERN SECTIONOn the south side of Asheville,the commission manages 6 miles of Bent Creek ashatchery-supported waters,upstream from the N.C.Arboretum around Milepost393. A section between 4 and5 miles long starts on theparkway and ends at LakePowhatan, a 7-acre pond thatis stocked by the commissionand includes a pier. “I’d cate-gorize Bent Creek as amedium-sized stream,”Loftis said. “Lake Powhatanprovides a fishing opportunityfor people who may not beable to wade a trout stream.There’s good access to thepond, plus a pier, and youcould drag a canoe from theparking lot to the pond. Thearboretum boundary isdownstream from the lakemaybe a mile.”

From Bent Creek south tothe end of the parkway, mostof the stream access is by hik-ing down from parkway prop-erty, Loftis said. The first

major stream that can be reached that way isthe North Fork Mills River, between mile-posts 400 and 405. “Those are all headwatersstreams with wild trout,” Loftis said. “Twoof the creeks come together to form theHendersonville water supply impoundment.The headwater streams are managed for wildtrout above the impoundment to their source.The North Mills River is designated delayedharvest below the impoundment downstreamto the U.S. Forest Service Boundary.”

The parkway provides access to streamson both sides of the road for several milesbelow Mount Pisgah, Loftis said. “The park-way is the boundary between Transylvaniaand Haywood counties, and on one side, youdrop off into the South Fork Mills River head-waters, the Davidson River headwaters, theFrench Broad headwaters, and on the otherside, it’s the East Fork and West Fork PigeonRiver. It’s kind of interesting, because on oneside of the parkway you’re fishing the MiddleProng of the Pigeon River drainage, and onthe other, it may be the French Broad Riverdrainage. The headwaters of the South ForkMills River are around the Pink Beds area

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8 march 2006 winc