By Meredith Sessoms
We have heard a lot in the recent years about the public land struggle in the western states of the lower 48, but what people don’t know, is that the public land struggle on the east coast is affecting anglers in our home region as well. Several western states like Montana have laws in place that allow public access on private sections of land, so long as the angler is within the “high water mark” of the river. In essence, you are allowed to fish as long as you are wading within the riverbanks. Unfortunately, in North Carolina, this is not the case. Anglers are not allowed to wade upstream within the high-water mark, thus greatly limiting public fishing access.
Most eastern states don’t have any laws addressing public access. Here in North Carolina, you can get in trouble for wading on a state designated public stream if the landowner has posted “their” section of the stream. As a professional guide service that solely guides on public water, we at Due South Outfitters have taken a stance on the issues at hand with the production of “Our Water”, a film that we have created to highlight NC angling access (you can find it on YouTube). The response has been overwhelming to say the least and in return, people asked; “Well are they doing anything to help with the problem that we can be involved with?” The answer is a very enthusiastic “YES!”.
We have since created The Due South Classic, which is a public access fly fishing tournament that takes place in beautiful Boone, NC. The tournament is unique in the sense that the anglers aren’t fishing on private streams that are shut down to the public, instead the anglers are fishing right along side members of the public. We wanted to highlight how crowded our public access waters can be and how important it is to protect and continue to add to public access. The proceeds of the event will be donated to the nonprofit Middle Fork Greenway, which is working to build a greenway that connects Blowing Rock to Boone, running alongside the Middle Fork of the New River. That section of river is currently under a hatchery supported regulation. This year the tournament is taking place March 8th and 9th. March 8th will be a banquet style fundraiser with Booneshine Brewing providing refreshments, with donations from Mast General Store, Syndicate, Hardy, and Aftco for a raffle and auction. March 9th is the tournament where we currently have a waitlist for anglers that we can add you to or feel free to join us as a volunteer to help judge the event. It takes everyone to protect our diminishing access to our resources.
For more information on the event please visit www.duesouthoutfitters.com/blog or call the shop at 828-355-9109. You can also watch the video we made “Due South Classic” on YouTube to get an idea on how the event goes.
Meredith Sessoms is the Owner of Due South Outfitters located in Boone & Banner Elk, NC .