NC delayed harvest trout

[lampern]

Got to fish some DH trout today in NC.

I caught 4, 1 brook and 3 browns, and my fishing partner caught 2 brook trout.

All caught on Mepps single hook spinners.

Very warm in the mountains.

Water low and clear..

Fish spooked easily despite being stocked fish

 

[lampern]

 

[lampern]

 

[deermaster13]

Whats the creeks look like up there? I was told Cherokee looks bad and lot of western NC in a severe drought. Hillbilly what does the Maggie area look like?

 

[lampern]

Low and clear

The Green River DH is sort of a tailwater but its still low and clear except in the big holes where the water is deeper

I assume Cherokee is the same

We need rain all over WNC

DH trout do not reproduce (they are sterile from the hatchery) so no worries wading DH streams and stepping on trout redds

 

[NCHillbilly]

Whats the creeks look like up there? I was told Cherokee looks bad and lot of western NC in a severe drought. Hillbilly what does the Maggie area look like?

Water is low, but not all that bad. I've seen it a lot worse.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Low and clear

The Green River DH is sort of a tailwater but its still low and clear except in the big holes where the water is deeper

I assume Cherokee is the same

We need rain all over WNC

DH trout do not reproduce (they are sterile from the hatchery) so no worries wading DH streams and stepping on trout redds

Green River is marginal trout habitat to begin with. It doesn't have a watershed starting up over 6,000' like the Oconoluftee and its tribs in Cherokee do. It makes a difference.

 

[lampern]

The DH section comes off the top of Lake Summit.

If water was released from the bottom of the Lake Summit dam instead of the top it would be very cold in the tailwater.

Hence the marginal trout temperatures during the summer

 

[NCHillbilly]

The DH section comes off the top of Lake Summit.

If water was released from the bottom of the Lake Summit dam instead of the top it would be very cold in the tailwater.

Hence the marginal trout temperatures during the summer

Plus, Lake Summit is at an elevation of about 2,000'. The Oconoluftee in Cherokee drains the high spine of the Smokies and Balsams and Plott Balsams. Nearly 7,000' elevations.

 

[lampern]

There are some wild trout up Cove Creek which feeds the Green River but thats about the only wild trout I know of below Lake Summit

 

[NCHillbilly]

There are some wild trout up Cove Creek which feeds the Green River but thats about the only wild trout

They had a bad chemical spill with a fuel tanker on I-26 in that area early this year, too.

 

[NCHillbilly]

There are some wild trout up Cove Creek which feeds the Green River but thats about the only wild trout

Everything above the rez boundary on the Oconoluftee is wild and native trout in the GSMNP, and plenty of them.

 

[lampern]

Everything above the rez boundary on the Oconoluftee is wild trout in the GSMNP, and plenty of them.

Yes and wild brookies too

You'll not find any down off the continental divide unless they have been stocked

I'm happy to catch stocked trout or wild trout

 

[NCHillbilly]

Yes and wild brookies too

You'll not find any down off the continental divide unless they have been stocked

Those are native specks, not wild brookies. Always been here. You will find native specks and native brooks east of the divide in several counties in northwestern NC. The line between native specks and native northern-strain brooks is the New River watershed.

 

[lampern]

Whatever you want to call them.

I just heard that term used over the year to differentiate them from the stocked fish.

wild vs stocked

 

[NCHillbilly]

Whatever you want to call them.

I just heard that term used over the year to differentiate them from the stocked fish.

The specks/brooks (two different subspecies,) are natives. The naturally reproducing streambred but introduced browns and rainbows are called wild fish.

 

[trad bow]

Well then Steve I guess we done be educated on whatever we want to call them.
Lampy no disrespect towards you but specks are what native trout are called by the mountain peoples. Anything else is either stream born non native wild fish(brown and rainbow) or hatchery raised stocked trout.

 

[lampern]

The specks/brooks (two different subspecies,) are natives. The naturally reproducing streambred but introduced browns and rainbows are called wild fish.

Around here the term used years ago was 'native' to all wild trout

Even rainbows and browns were called 'natives' if they were wild

Even the WRC used to classify streams as 'native' vs 'hatchery' until they went to the legal term 'wild'

 

[lampern]

Well then Steve I guess we done be educated on whatever we want to call them.
Lampy no disrespect towards you but specks are what native trout are called by the mountain peoples. Anything else is either stream born non native wild fish(brown and rainbow) or hatchery raised stocked trout.

I always called them brookies and not specks

Specks are what I always called speckled (spotted) sea trout in the ocean

 

[trad bow]

And you’ve always been wrong. Have a good night