By James Marsh
The Davidson River is considered one of North Carolina’s best trout streams. From the headwater section down to Avery Creek, the stream is managed as a wild trout stream. Fly fishing only, is allowed and it’s all catch and release. Below Avery Creek, the stream is stocked by the state on a regular basis. It has a very healthy trout population and easy access. It’s one of North Carolina’s most popular fly fishing destinations. Fly fishing the Davidson River can be a true pleasure.
This stream is fairly close to Asheville, and is quite easy to reach from the interstate. It is heavily fished, especially in the lower section from the fish hatchery down to Avery Creek. The stocked area of the stream is also heavily fished. It isn’t only fly fishing that the stream is popular for. There are tubers galore, canoeists, picnickers, kayakers, and people just swimming. During the summer months, you won’t find many pull offs along Highway #276 or the Forest Service Road #475 that don’t have vehicles parked on them.
The Davidson River is a beautiful freestone mountain stream. It has a large population of trout and many trophy size fish. This is mostly due to the year-round catch and release regulations. The stream has a good supply of many different species of aquatic insects and other food for the trout.
The Davidson River can also become crowded in places with anglers. There’s a good reason for it. Anglers catch and release a lot of trout. It is the great fishing that makes it crowded. One way to deal with the crowds of Summer is to fish early and late in the day.
Don’t forget that you can fish the Davidson River year-round. Fishing is often good in the middle of winter but certainly fall and spring may be the best times to fish the river. One often-overlooked feature of the Davidson is its headwaters. They are small but well worth fishing.
The section of the Davidson River from the Avery Creek confluence downstream to the Forest Service boundary is heavily stocked with trout. It receives month stockings of rainbows, browns and brook trout from March through August. Many of the trout are harvested but this section also has a large number of holdover trout. There are also some wild trout in this section. During the winter months you won’t find many anglers fishing this section and fly fishing can be especially rewarding and fun.
Upstream of Avery Creek, it is strictly “catch-and-release” fly fishing.
The catch and release section has some large pools where trout can be sight-fished. The water is often gin clear and the fish very wary due to the heavy pressure but it is still possible to catch trout in this manner. The main tributary is Looking Glass Creek. The stream is very small above Looking Glass Falls but this small tributary has some rather sizable fish from the falls down to its confluence with the Davidson just over a mile or so downstream.
Upstream of the Pisqah State Fish Hatchery, the Davidson River becomes more of the typical, small mountain stream. It has a good population of wild rainbows and brown trout. It is mostly all pocket water. Most of the trout are relatively small, averaging about six inches in length but going up to twelve. The water has a much lower pH than the water downstream of the fish hatchery. The aquatic insects are mostly clinger mayflies and stoneflies. Few anglers fish this section of the Davidson, so you don’t have to worry about pressure.
The section of the Davidson River from the diversion weir downsteam of the hatchery receives almost all of the fishing pressure. It isn’t exactly easy to catch trout in this section of the river. The trout are large, well educated fish. They constantly see anglers and flies. As mentioned above, it can be very crowded on the weekends. It is much better to fish this section during the week.
There’s a substantial amount of water that’s diverted from the Davidson River through the fish hatchery. It is common to see large trout. The water below the fish hatchery is different from the freestone section above it.
The hatchery fish are constantly fed and food is flushed downstream. It is also the reason the trout grow to large sizes. The average size trout is probably over 16 inches. Some go up to 20.
Catching these trout is usually difficult. It is far more to do with the constant disturbance of anglers than anything else. Sloppy presentations won’t cut it. At times, perfect presentations don’t seem to fool them. It is the constant pounding the fish get that’s the biggest problem. The fishing can be much better if you simply get away from the hatchery and fish further downstream. There’s plenty of large trout downstream all the way to Avery Creek.
Just to be certain, we are clear on the regulations, from the Davidson’s headwaters downstream to Avery Creek, is classified as “Catch-and Release”, Artificial Flies Only water.
Just below the town of Pisgah Forest, there is a privately managed “trophy” section of water. Davidson River Outfitters manages this three-mile section of the stream.
James Marsh is the Owner of The Perfect Fly online and catalog mail-order store. www.perfectflystore.com