Streamers and nymphs have been producing some good trout on the Tailrace this winter. We’ve caught a handful of browns on our float trips, but the majority have been rainbow trout. It is encouraging that some of the stocked fish from last fall (2020) survived the floods and the warm summer this past year and have the opportunity to becoming trophy fish.
Earlier this fall we were informed that the Tailrace wasn’t going to get stocked because of the trout shortage in North Carolina. Fortunately the NCWRC was able to pull stock from private hatcheries and different state hatcheries to help replenish the numbers that were lost in the flooding from Hurricane Fred, and were able to stock the Tailrace.
The rainbow trout that they put in are 10-14 inches and are supercharged this time of year. The fish make hard runs and acrobatic jumps in the swift flows from the dam. The key to success at the Tailrace is getting the flies down fast enough to reach the target zone. A lot of times light flies never get down to where the fish are holding so you drift over a lot of them. When throwing streamers use sink tips and lines to get the flies down to that 3 to 4 foot depth range. Everyone knows black is an excellent choice for streamers and stoneflies on the Tailrace, but you will be surprised with other colors that work down there. The last two float trips I had on the Tailrace my clients started with black, but I quickly changed colors after crossing some productive riffles without any strikes. We changed to a more natural color and it was the color we stuck with the rest of the trip. There are a lot of holes on the Tailrace where you aren’t going to be able to get your flies down fast enough using a traditional dry dropper set up or an indicator. We have been utilizing 10 foot or longer rods with clients over the past few years using the tight lining method and have seen lots of success. The tight lining method eliminates any drag on the flies allowing them to shoot straight to the bottom. This is where those trophy fish hang out. All four fish that went over twenty inches last year were caught dredging the deepest holes on the Tailrace.
Outlook for the Catawba Tailrace (January-May)
The Catawba Tailrace will continue to fish well until the end of May this year. We stop fishing it at the end of May and solely focus on wild trout in the higher elevation streams and smallmouth bass in the larger rivers. As always we anticipate a good Caddis hatch starting in early March and some excellent nymph fishing when the stoneflies begin to hatch. The best fishing has been on the minimal flow release which allows you to anchor and target areas which you normally blow past on one or two unit generation. Nymph fishing has been best on the one unit generation. If they are pushing two units it’s best to stay at the house.
I’m expecting another great season on the Tailrace and I welcome long time clients and new ones looking to explore a really cool tailwater in North Carolina. There is always the possibility of catching a trophy brown trout on this fishery! Our March and April are starting to fill up so contact us soon to reserve your preferred dates. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you on the water!
