By Aaron Motley
Headed to Western North Carolina this summer and plan to be in the Maggie Valley area? Then remember to bring your fishing rod. Anglers are allowed to fish Jonathan Creek, which flows from the top to the bottom of Maggie Valley. The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC) regulates the stream as Hatchery Supported trout waters. If you are unfamiliar with this designation, it means the stream is closed to fishing after the last day of February to the first Saturday in April. The stocking reports for each county can be found in the cold water fisheries information on the NCWRC website www.ncwildlife.org.
Anglers should fish Jonathan Creek with smaller-size 12-14 dry flies that are able to support a nymph dropper. A 7.5ft 6X leader is also recommended for this stream. In the longer runs and holes behind the businesses and parking lots, anglers can use a 9ft 6X leader in these more open areas; otherwise a shorter leader will be better. This aids in having a greater distance from your fly line to your flies. Many accesses to the creek can be found at bridges and parking lots of businesses like, Butt’s on The Creek, which is a great place to get some food after fishing. If you need a cup of coffee before you fish, stop in at Maggie Valley Restaurant and have a cup of coffee, and see if you can get any local knowledge before heading to the creek.
The fish found in Maggie Valley will be Brooke, Brown, or Rainbow trout. The wild fish in this area tend to eat early and late during the summer months. A Carolina Wulff, or parachute purple haze in size 16, are my flies of choice. Combine those flies with a dropper of a PMD split case 16 or 18, and you have a very productive system. One stream feature to note about Jonathan Creek is the depth frequently changes so your dropper size, length of dropper, and weight of dropper are factors to revisit often so that your fishing is as productive as possible.
Recently, there have been many anglers that have been using Tenkara rods that are 10-13 feet in length. Braided leaders of 4 -8 feet with a tippet ring are most successful in this stream. I recommend attaching nylon tippet of 6X strength with a braided leader 68 inches long, and then attach 3 ½ feet of tippet, and a dropper of 14 inches to a size 16 tungsten bead frenchie. Remember that the strength of Tenkara is the length of Tenkara. Tenkara is a way the help anglers who have limited hand strength, a hard time wading, or for kids learning to fish. It is a tension based fishing system that children excel at learning, and achieving success, aka, catching fish. Presentation of flies is what makes Tenkara fishing so effective. To learn more about this style of fishing please visit the knowledgeable staff at Hunter Banks in Waynesville, or the Asheville location of Hunter Banks.
Aaron Motley is Operations Manager at the Waynesville location of Hunter Banks. His waterfowl hunting addictions supports his fly tying addiction. He learned his fly-fishing craft from “fishy” people and pursues large trout, bass, and musky on a daily basis. He teaches others to do the same.