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Fiery Orange Above and Below
Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: October 2024
This chilly month means it’s a fly fishing bonanza. Anglers of all skill levels come to this corner of the Southern Appalachians in October – even in this challenging year still reverberating from a warm, dry summer.
Fortunately, this area has several sections of rivers that are stocked with rainbow, brown and brook trout – part of the state’s Delayed Harvest System. DH means catch-and-release, artificial single-hook regulations apply from October 1 until June 1.
This is probably a good time to offer a bit of wisdom from Friend-of-The-Laurel and Brookings Fly Shop Owner Matt Canter about an often-overlooked stream denizen.
“Most of us know them as brook trout, or brookies, but if you grew up in Western North Carolina you know them as ‘specks,’” says Matt. “Specks are our only native trout species here in the Southeast, and they are technically an arctic char. Millions of years ago, these mountains were carved by massive glaciers that came down from the arctic circle. Those glaciers carried many different things with them, and one of those things was fish. That is how an arctic char found its way to North Carolina and is considered native because man did not put them here.”
These little arctic chars have adapted to life in the Southeast. You cannot find them just anywhere, as they need the cleanest coldest water these mountains can produce. Typically, this means high altitude trout water. Because they live up on the tops of the mountains, the streams themselves are fairly infertile, making for a slow growth rate in specks. A 9- or 10-inch fish is considered to be a prize by today’s standards. Even though they are small relative to other game fish, their beauty and eagerness to rise to a dry fly more than makes up for how big they grow.
Because of where specks live (small streams up high in the mountains), they see very little fishing pressure as it takes some hiking just to get to the stream. The lack of fishing pressure is also very beneficial to the way these fish behave.
“I have heard plenty of anglers say that a speck unwary of your presence will rise to almost any type of dry fly as long as it is presented in a way that it looks like food,” says Matt. “I would agree to that to some extent but have also seen a few days where they too can become very selective. The advantage of pursuing them in the fall, is that the males will get into their spawning colors starting in September. They are always beautiful fish, but in the fall it would be hard to imagine a fish more perfect with their fiery orange vibrance!”
