Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. 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. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
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
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout
(wild in the managed section and
stocked elsewhere)
Size
Medium
Location
Western North Carolina
Nearest Towns
Ashville
Brevard
Season
Year-round except in Hatchery
supported waters which are closed
during the month of March
Access:
Good
Special Regulations
Fly Fishing Only – Catch and
Release Section
Non-Resident License
State of North Carolina
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 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 Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. 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. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Davidson River, North Carolina – Fishing Report – 12/18/24 The stream is flowing at a normal level and clear. Good hatches continue to take place.
Stream Conditions: Rate: 111 cfs .99 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 40
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data
7 Day Weather Forecast: (click the link below for more detailed weather information)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, nymphs, emergers, duns, spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Winter Stoneflies; size 16/18, nymphs and adults
Perfect Flies are designed and tied to to imitate and behave like the natural foods the trout rely on to survive as much as possible. The more your fly looks like and moves through and on the surface of the water like the real things, the higher your odds of success.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Davidson River:The trout in the Davidson River can become very selective at times. There are plenty of aquatic insects and lots of fishing pressure that cause that. The Davidson is a typical larger size, eastern freestone trout stream with runs and riffles leading into pools. It is very easy to access in the lower portion from a road that closely follows along the water.The slower or moderately moving water and the bottom composition in some areas of the stream permit Green Drake mayflies to exist in rather plentiful quantities, something that is not usually present in the Southeastern Appalachian trout streams. This is one of the most popular hatches even though I doubt it is all that productive of a hatch from a fish catching standpoint. The large mayflies attract anglers about as well as they attract the trout.Like all the streams in Eastern North Carolina, the Davidson has had more than its fair share of low water during some years. It normally has a very good population of wild brook trout in its headwaters along with plenty of wild rainbows and browns in the wild trout section from its headwaters down to the stocked portion of the stream.It is not what most anglers would call an easy trout stream to fish. That just makes it that much better as far as I am concerned. It does offer a challenge. You normally have to do more than merely cast an attractor fly upstream a few feet to consistently catch trout. On the other hand, it is not a difficult stream to fish. Angie and I have always done fairly well and managed to catch some nice trout the several times we have had the opportunity to fish the Davidson River. You wouldn’t want to fish an imitation of a Quill Gorden just after the hatch ended, because there would only be eggs in the stream. If you pay attention to the hatch chart, you should be able to determine what is most available for them to eat at any given time, or at least confine the items on the list to a few choice selections. Most often the larger brown trout feed on non-insect food items. Using a streamer may be the best approach. They work the best under low light conditions where the trout don’t have a good opportunity to closely examine the streamer.The biggest mistake I see being made on the Davidson River is anglers continuing to fish a dry fly when nothing is hatching. That works sometimes in streams where the trout feed purely opportunistically, but not often on the Davidson. If the trout are not responding to dry flies, fish a nymph. This will greatly increase you odds. Of course if you rather catch one trout on a dry fly than ten on a nymph, there is nothing wrong with that approach.Concentrate on what should be the most available food for the trout to eat at any one time. This doesn’t necessarily mean what is hatching. In fact, most often, there isn’t anything hatching. It could be something getting ready to hatch and becoming concentrated in areas the food normally doesn’t exist. It could be some of the insects that has yet to hatch during any given time.
Davidson River Hatches and Trout Flies: Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Davidson River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726. The Davidson River has a very good population of aquatic insects due mainly to its variety of types of water. You have both fast, pocket water sections and moderate flows with long pools with short riffles and runs between them. You have both rock, boulders and sand and gravel areas of bottom, as well as soft, silty type bottoms. Midges hatch throughout the year on the Davidson River, but become more important during the times there isn’t anything else hatching. They are most effective during the winter months.The Blue-winged Olives are the most consistent hatches throughout the year because of the various species of mayflies that are called BWOs. The baetis species begin to hatch in the middle of February, and sometimes even on warm January days. These hatches last through April. In late May and June, you will find hatches of larger Eastern Blue-winged Olives. One species of these hatch again in late August and September. There will be another wave of hatches of baetis species in October and November. Little Winter Stoneflies and Little Early Brown Stoneflies hatch in January through early March. Different species of Little Brown Stoneflies hatch in April. Some of these are almost black. Both Blue Quill and Quill Gordon mayflies begin to hatch in early March. The Blue Quills can continue hatching through mid April. The Quill Gordon hatch ends about the first week or two of April. Brachycentrus caddisflies, American Grannoms, usually called Little Black Caddis hatch in March and early April. In May, June and early July, you will find hatches of Green Sedges. Their larvae, called Green Rock Worms, can be effective throughout the year. Hatches of Cinnamon and Spotted Sedges start occurring in late May and last all the way through September but they are spotted and inconsistent. Fall can bring on some nice hatches of Great Autumn Brown Sedges in October and early November. Hendricksons start hatching in mid April and last for about a month, or until the third week of May. March Browns hatch from the faster water during May and early June. Light Cahills hatch in May and early June. About the first of May, Little Yellow Stoneflies, called Yellow Sallies start hatching. These hatches can last into late June. There’s one species that will hatch in late September. Little Green Stoneflies hatch during late May. Giant Black Stoneflies hatch in the evenings in early May. This hatch last for about three weeks. Nymphs are most effective for the hatch. Sulphur mayflies and Eastern Pale Evening Duns hatch in late May. The PEDs start first and a week or two later, the smaller Sulphurs being hatching. These hatches last about a month and are not very consistent. Eastern Green Drakes hatch during late May. This is a two or three week long hatch that is popular on the Davidson River. The spinner fall, is the most important stage of the hatch. It occurs in the evenings. During the months of June, July, August and September, terrestrial insects become important. Imitations of ants, beetles, inch worms (moth larvae) and grass hoppers work during the summer.Don’t forget to have a good selection of streamers. The large browns feed on minnow, baitfish, sculpin and small crayfish. These work great during the brown trout spawning period and anytime during low light conditions.We recommend our “Perfect Fly” trout flies not only because they are by far the most realistic of the food in the Davidson River, they are also the most effective at catching trout. Many of the flies been tested and proven effective there. We receive email and calls complimenting our flies from anglers coast to coast just about every day. This one is from Craig Lancaster, a North Carolina resident and avid trout angler, referring to a trip on the Davidson River.