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/Tailwater
Species
Rainbow Trout (stocked and wild)
Brown Trout (stocked and wild)
Size
Medium
Location
Western North Carolina
rest Towns
Bryson City
Franklin
Season
Year-round in some areas, NC
general season in others. Closed in
hatchery supported waters during
the month of March
Access:
Good
Special Regulations
Delayed Harvest Section
Non-Resident License
State of North Carolina
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.
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 2016 James Marsh
Nantahala River Fishing Report: November 20, 2024 The stream is flowing near a normal level and clear. Good hatches continue to take place. You should be able to catch good numbers of trout.
Afternoon Water Temperature: 48
Clarity: clear
USGS flows at Bryson City
Flows: 897 cfs
Height: 2.23 ft
7 Day Weather Forecast:
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
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
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, nymphs, emergers, duns, spinners
Mahogany Duns, size 18, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Green Sedge Caddis, size 16/14, larva, pupa 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 The Nantahala River North Carolina: The Nantahala is probably the best know river in North Carolina but not because of its fly fishing opportunities. It’s because of its white water. It’s a very popular kayaking stream. Fly fishing the Nantahala River is also popular. This stream flows through sections of the Nantahala National Forest. It begins on Standing Indian Mountain from a number of small headwater streams that have some brook trout. They are protected only by the sheer distance one has to go in order to fish them. Kimsey Creek, Park Creek, Bearpin Creek, Big and Little Indian Creeks, and Curtis Creek are the major tributaries. The upper part of the Nantahala River is all managed as wild trout waters except for Kimsey and Park Creeks.From Mooney Falls downstream for about six miles an unpaved Forest Service Road #67 follows the stream. It’s still quite small and in a canyon-like area part of the way. There are two campground along this section of the river. Below the lower campground, Standing Indian Campground, highway #64 follows the stream. The lower section of the river, above Nantahala Lake is mostly all private property. There are two sizeable tributary streams – Bucks Creek and Jarret Creek above the lake. Jarret Creek enters the lake rather than the river. Upstream of the lake, Buck Creek enters the stream. Bucks creek has some wild trout, mostly rainbows. Its small, wide and shallow but does provide about three miles of water to fish. Jarret Creek has a population of small wild rainbows and a little over a mile of water that can be fished. Below Nantahala Lake, the river changes drastically because most of the water is discharged from the lake through a pipe to a powerhouse at the upper end of Nantahala Gorge, a distance of seven miles. The only water that comes out of the lake comes through the spillway and at that point, it’s almost zip. The only water in the seven mile stretch comes from small tributary streams, so there’s usually not much water in this section. This area is stocked. At the end of this section, from Appletree Campground on highway #1401 downstream, there’s another three and a half miles of water that’s within the National Forest Land. The main source of water comes from White Oak Creek. Below White Oak the stream is heavily stocked. The section downstream from White Oak Creek to the Powerhouse falls is under North Carolina’s Delayed Harvest Regulations.Fly fishing the Nantahala River in this section is by far the most popular area to fish it. It can be accessed from State road #1310 (Ball Road) which turns off Highway #19. The road takes you to the powerhouse. The Delayed Harvest section starts above the powerhouse. It’s still a relatively small stream in the DH area.When the water comes out the pipeline at the powerhouse, the flow of the Nantahala River increases big time. It flows for about eight miles through the Nantahala Gorge that’s so popular with those that float the whitewater on rafts. Of course, when the dam isn’t generating, the water doesn’t gush from the pipe and this part of the river is a moderately flowing stream that can be waded. When it is flowing, it’s almost impossible to wade. This section of the river is stocked and contains a lot of holdover trout. This section is very easy to access. Highway #19 follows closely along the river. Fly Fishing Guide for the Nantahala River: This Nantahala River fly fishing guide is mostly about the water below Lake Nantahala and in the gorge below the powerhouse. As mentioned in the introduction page, fishing the Delayed Harvest section is by far the most popular section to fish. The other areas see fewer anglers. From March through the month of July, you can keep fish from the Delayed Harvest Area. This means you will see a lot of bait fisherman there. The other months, it’s catch and release rules. These fish are sometimes quite large. Holdover trout are caught ranging up to twenty inches on occasions. This area is small stream fishing. It can easily be waded and fished from the banks in most places. It can also be crowded at times. It’s easy to find yourself fishing upstream behind someone. Keep an eye on the rocks along the bank for wet wader prints.As also mentioned, the flows in this area are from the feeder streams upriver, not from a dam. It isn’t a tailwater although it’s below a dam. The water bypasses it through a pipe. You do have to pay attention to the amount of melting snow and rainfall, mostly rainfall, to make sure you are not going to fish when the water is off color and high.When you are fishing the Nantahala Gorge below the powerhouse, it’s important to check on the discharge rates and schedule. You don’t want to get caught wading out in the middle of the stream when the water suddenly rises. You must be very careful. You also don’t want to get run over by one of the many rafts or kayaks. This could be a problem if you were wading. When they are generating power during the summer, normally the only time you can wade this section of the river is early in the mornings before they start generating.We have found that nymphs out produce dry fly fishing in the tailwater sections almost all the time. There are some dry fly fishing opportunities but it’s mostly below surface feeding that takes place. Streamers are also very effective in this section, especially when the water is slightly off color from heavy rainfall.In the Delayed Harvest area, it’s almost right the opposite. Of course, you can always do well fishing nymphs but this section offers a lot of dry fly opportunities. In fact, you can catch trout on dry flies some days even during the middle of the Winter. The recently stocked trout are not difficult to fool but the larger holdovers that have been in the river for over a year can be difficult to fool. You are always better off imitating the most available food the trout have to eat than you are using generic and attractor flies.
Hatches and Trout Flies for the Nantahala River: 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 Nantahala 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. 1-800-594-4726The first insects to hatch in January in the Nantahala River are the little Winter Stoneflies. The hatch through the month of March. Little Brown Stoneflies will start hatching about the first of March and hatch until the end of April.Blue-winged Olive are the most consistent hatch throughout the year in the Nantahals River. You will start to see some hatches about the middle of February and they will continue off and on throughout the entire year. These include the Baetis species along with the Eastern BWOs, Little BWOs and Small BWOs consisting of about 15 different species, some of which are bi-brooded meaning they hatch twice a year. Blue Quills will start to hatch about the middle of February and last into the first of April. They are usually very large hatches that are very consistent. About the same time you will begin to see the Quill Gordons. They hatch until as late as the first week of April in the higher elevations. This hatch can be heavy in the Nantahala River Gorge.The middle of February will also bring about one of the largest caddisfly hatches of the year – the Little Black Caddis or Brachcentrus species. This hatch is always very consistent.The Hendricksons start hatching near the last week of March. They are short lived, hatching for only about a month to six weeks at the most. It is moderate and only occurs in certain locations in the Nantahala River, mostly in the slow to moderate sections.Around the middle of April, American March Browns will begin to hatch. These mayflies are just about everywhere you fish but they hatch inconsistently until around the first week of June. Much more consistent are the Light Cahills. They start about a week or two after the March Browns and last as long as three weeks, depending on the elevation. Both of these are fast water species.The middle of April will bring about a hatch of the Short-horned Sedges. These are verysmall black caddisflies that are quite abundant. About the same time you should notice the first hatches of the Green Sedges. They hatch everywhere there is fast water for over two months but never in large quantities. They are plentiful in this river.Around the second week of May, Eastern Pale Evening Duns will start hatching. Most anglers call these Sulphurs but the true Sulphurs will not start to hatch for another couple of weeks. Both hatches last about a month but are very sparse. They are slow to moderate water hatches. The first of May the Giant Black Stoneflies will start hatching. These hatch at night anddeposit their eggs at night. Nymphs work well in the late afternoons. The Little Yellow Stoneflies, called Yellow Sallies are one of the best hatches that takes place in the Nantahala River. They will start around the first of May and last until mid July. The Golden Stoneflies start hatching around the first of June and last about five weeks. The Little Green Stoneflies start about the last week of May and last until July.During the month of June, grasshoppers, beetles, ants and inch worms, all terrestrial insects, become important food items for the trout. There are few hatches occurring, so most anglers start using imitations of these terrestrials. The inch worms, or moth larvae, are especially important due to the large numbers of them in the forest of the park.In addition to the terrestrial and aquatic insects, theres a lot of other food for the trout. Small Crayfish is one of those items. The brown trout are especially fond of them. Another one is Sculpin. These small fish are abundant in most of the stream. Imitations of them can be very effective. The Black Nose Dace is another baitfish that is important. Streamers imitating these and other minnows work great especially when the water is slightly off color.Midges are abundant in the river. They can be very important when the water is cold and nothing else is hatching. Imitations of the larva and pupa will catch trout anytime of the year.We recommend our “Perfect Fly” imitations. They are the best, most effective flies you can purchase and use anywhere trout exist. They have proven to be very successful on the Nantahala River. Although the trout in this river will take attractor and generic flies, you will find that imitating the specific insects that are most plentiful at any one time is far more effect. If you haven’t done so already, please give them a try. You’ll be glad you did.The last week of June through the month of August you will find some Cream Cahills. These are sparse but important at that time of year. By the middle of August hatches of Little Yellow Quills will start to occur mostly in the higher elevations. This is a very good hatch that last until the end of October. By the middle of August, hatches of Mahogany Duns will begin to occur. This hatch last for as long as two month.Also by the middle of August you should start seeing some Needle Stoneflies. These hatch in fairly large numbers until as late as November, especially in the higher elevations.From the middle of May until the middle of November, a long period of time, you will find hatches of Slate Drakes occurring. These mayflies hatch out of the water but never in large quantities. Imitations of the nymphs and spinners can be important.The Great Autumn Brown Sedges, start hatching at night by the first of October and last into the first of December.