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Trout Lake Dam, North Carolina
Trout Lake Dam on Laurel Fork Creek in North Carolina.
Open in BirdTrout36.1692, -81.5164 · Watauga County · NID NC00152. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Laurel Fork Creek carries no anadromous run on our corridor map, so this page makes no claim about salmon or steelhead at this dam. What it sits on is coldwater — resident trout water — and the section below says which classification says so.
The structure
- Owner
- Powder Horn Mountain Property Owners Association Private
- Purpose
- Recreation
- Completed
- 1971
- Type
- Earth
- Height
- 49 ft
- Length
- 170 ft
- Spillway
- None
- Storage
- 60 acre-ft · 3 acre pool
- Condition
- Fair · High hazard potential
From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.
The water above and below
- Laurel Creek 0.15 mi from the dam · Catch and Release/Artificial Flies and Lures Only Trout Waters · wild (NCWRC)
- Elk Creek 0.74 mi from the dam · Hatchery Supported Trout Waters · stocked holdover (NCWRC)
Coldwater designation is the state's own classification. A dam sits on one river and this list is every designated reach within a mile and a half of it, so a tributary mouth shows up here too.
Water right now
| Gauge | Distance | Temp | Flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yadkin River at Patterson, NC | 12.5 mi | 64.6 °F | 43 cfs |
| Yadkin River at Patterson, Nc | 12.5 mi | 64.6 °F | 43 cfs |
Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not.
Getting to it
- Pine Run 6.9 mi · walk in · South Fork New River
Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.
Fly shops nearby
- Waypoint Outfitters 8.3 mi · Boone · +1-828-865-1100
- Appalachian Outfitters 8.8 mi · Boone · +1-828-372-7003
- The Speckled Trout Outfitters 9.3 mi · Blowing Rock
- Footsloggers Outdoor & Travel Outfitters 9.3 mi · +1 828-295-4453
- Fly Shop 10.4 mi