The Art of the Cast: Fly Fishing the Carolina High Country
Cold, clear mountain streams and a growing network of guides have made western North Carolina a destination for anglers chasing wild trout.
There is a meditative quality to fly fishing that the Carolina mountains seem designed to enhance.
Cold water, wild trout
The high country's streams run cold and clear, home to native brook trout and their introduced cousins. For anglers, the region offers hundreds of miles of fishable water, from easy roadside runs to remote headwaters reached only on foot.
A network of guides and outfitters has grown to serve the pursuit, teaching newcomers the patient art of the cast.
More than the catch
Seasoned anglers speak less about fish than about place — the sound of moving water, the rhythm of casting, the deep quiet of a mountain stream.
Fly fishing, in the Carolina high country, is less a sport than a way of inhabiting the landscape, one careful cast at a time.
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