Boone Fork Creek North Carolina Fishing Report & Options for Selecting Flies: Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Rainbow Trout (wild and stocked with
holdovers)
Brown Trout (wild and stocked with
holdovers)
Brook Trout (native)
Size
Small
Location
Northwestern North Carolina
Nearest Towns
Boone
Season
Year-round
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
State of North Carolina
Weather
Season:
The season runs year-round
Winter:
Trout can be caught some days during the Winter
Spring:
Spring is the best time for fly fishing Boone Fork Creek
due to the hatches.
Summer:
Summertime is okay – the water stays cool.
Fall:
Fall is a beautiful time to fish this stream
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Fly Fishing On Boone Fork Creek In North Carolina
Boone Fork Creek is located near Boone, North Carolina, and begins at Price Lake Dam just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The entire stream is “catch and release” only. It’s a beautiful little trout stream that’s a tributary of the Watauga River. It enters the Watauga
River near Foscoe, North Carolina. It has brown, brook and rainbow trout. Some of the browns reach a large size. Fly fishing Boone Fork Creek is a pleasurable experience. It’s an excellent small, wild trout stream.
The Boone Fork actually begins above Price Lake from springs and along with another small stream, Cold Prong, flows into Price Lake. This area is within the Julian Price Memorial Park. The park is managed by the National Park Service. When it first flows out of the lake’s spillway, it goes through a picnic area. The park, including the picnic area, is located at the intersection of U. S. Highway #321 and the Blue Ridge Parkway at Bowling Rock. Sims Creek, a small tributary, also enters the Boone Fork inside the park.
The picnic area itself isn’t worth fishing during the Summer or peak tourist times because the people using the area spook the trout. It can be fished during the off season times and early in the day. The Julian Price Memorial Park also has a large campground with
facilities that’s located adjacent to the picnic area. Its best to park at the end of the road inside the park to begin fishing during the times the park is busy.
When the stream flows out of the picnic area, it falls through a much steeper decline and becomes a series of plunges and long pools. This section of the creek flows for over two miles within the park’s boundaries. Fly fishing Boone Fork Creek in this area falls under the fly fishing, catch and release only regulations inside the park.
The Boone Fork Loop Trail follows the creek inside the park and provides good access to most of its waters. It isn’t a piece of cake to hike the trail. As just mentioned, the streams falls at a steep decline in this area. The Boone Fork Loop trail forms a circle that is 5.5 miles in length. Of course not all the trial follows the creek. Fly fishing Boone Fork Creek can be challenging in some areas.
There’s a small tributary, Bee Tree Creek, that enters Boone Fork Creek at the point the trail departs the stream. Parts of these streams are closed ( I think it includes Bee Tree Creek) so you need to be check the current signs and regulations to make sure your not
fishing a closed section. The Boone Fork Loop Trail follows Bee Tree Creek for a ways after it departs the Boone Fork. The stream flows through private property outside of the park.
One good thing about the stream is that it stays cool even in areas it is exposed to the sun in meadows and other areas void of trees. This is because the elevation of the creek in the picnic area is approximately 3900 feet. The weather is much cooler at the higher
elevation. Most of the stream runs through hardwood and pines and is shaded.
Boone Fork Creek has a low pH compared to other high elevation streams in the North Carolina mountains. It begins with some spring water which increases the pH. Because of that, it also has a good population of aquatic insects, many which are not so common in the nearby other streams. Green Sedges and Cinnamon Sedge Caddis are plentiful and so are scuds. The stream has a lot of other aquatic insects that are plentiful in the other streams such as Quill Gordons, Blue Quills, Blue-winged olives, Light Cahills, American March Browns, Sulphurs, LIttle Yellow stoneflies, Golden stonesflies, Giant Black stoneflies, Winter stoneflies, Needle stoneflies and others.