22 inch Catawba Tailrace Brown Trout

The Catawba Tailrace is a unique tailwater fishery below Bridgewater Dam in Morganton, North Carolina. The cold water discharges from the dam create a habitat for brown trout that the NCWRC stocks every year. The brown trout that are placed in this fishery grow at a very fast rate. It only takes a few years for the stocked fish to become classified as “trophy” fish. The Catawba Angler specializes in guiding on the catawba tailrace and offers full day float trips for $350.

The most effective way to fish the tailrace is from a raft or drift boat because access is limited on foot. We mainly nymph fish this section with an indicator using stonefly patterns, and smaller jig head nymphs as dropper flies. Streamer fishing can be very exciting on the tailrace because you can turn and catch some very large fish. The best colors to use are black and white. Our favorite streamer to fish is a black peanut envy designed by Kelly Galloup.

Our favorite time to fish the tailrace is from October to May. There is excellent dry fly fishing in the spring. We have a really good caddis hatch in early March which allows us to sight fish for some large brown trout.

This male brown trout was caught on October 19th. Fall brings beautiful color changes to the brown trout in the Catawba Tailrace.

Black stonefly nymphs are excellent flies to use on the Catawba Tailrace. This healthy brown trout took a stonefly during one unit generation.

Catawba Tailrace Caddis Hatch

Springtime dry fly fishing in western North Carolina!

The Catawba Tailrace has an excellent caddis hatch beginning in early March that can last till mid April. Throwing dry flies to rising brown trout is hard to beat! The best fishing is on days when there is no generation. (Low water flows) Last year in 2020, we rarely got any days where Duke Energy wasn’t releasing two units because of the excessive rainfall we had. I am going to be optimistic about having desirable flows for throwing dry flies this year. There is nothing better than sight fishing to rising trout from our NRS rafts. This is some of the most exciting fishing the Tailrace has to offer besides streamer fishing. The Catawba Angler specializes in offering float trips on the Catawba Tailrace and would love to have the opportunity to show you what this great fishery has to offer anytime of the year.

The elk hair caddis is my personal favorite fly. This pattern floats well and can easily be skated across the surface for some explosive strikes on the Catawba Tailrace in March and April.