BirdTroutOpen the map Is the Yadkin River good for brown trout?
Yes, with a caveat. NC DEQ recorded brown trout in the Yadkin River in 2007, at one sampling site on it, and the river's measured July mean of 73.0 °F runs above the 54–66 °F this fish prefers but below the 75 °F it stops feeding at — so the cold stretches carry it and the warm ones are marginal in high summer. That was 19 years ago — it is the most recent record NC DEQ publishes for this water, not a reading from this season. Fish of 8–16 inches are what North Carolina reports as typical.
What the state's records say
- Species
- Brown trout (Salmo trutta)
- In North Carolina
- introduced
- Record here
- surveyed present
- Holds in
- 54–66 °F, stops feeding above 75 °F
- Typical
- 8–16 inches
- Spawns
- Late October into December, on gravel riffles, later in the season than the rainbow and overlapping the brook trout.
Introduced. Wild in the larger mountain rivers and the tailwaters, and stocked into hatchery-supported water alongside rainbow.
Is the water cold enough
Measured, not modelled: 1 gauged stretch of this river average 73.0 °F in July , against the 54–66 °F this fish holds in and the 75 °F it stops feeding at.
| Gauge | Now | July mean |
|---|---|---|
| Patterson | 61.2 °F | 73.0 °F |
What you may keep
North Carolina WRC classifies this water as Hatchery Supported Trout Waters. The management tier on those reaches is stocked holdover. This is a designation of the fishery and not the season and creel rules.
NCWRC public mountain trout waters → North Carolina season and creel rules →
What to fish for it
- Little Black Stonefly — January–April, #16–18
- Little Brown Stonefly — February–April, #12–16
- Blue-Winged Olive — March–May and September–November, #16–22
- Quill Gordon — March–April, #12–14
- Blackfly — April–June, #18–22
- Blue Quill — April–May, #16–18
- Cranefly — April–June and September–October, #6–10
- Grannom — April–May, #14–16
The insects recorded from this river's region, earliest first. The full calendar →
More about Yadkin River
Yadkin River — live water temperature, regulations and access
- Is the Yadkin River good for brook trout?
- Is the Yadkin River good for rainbow trout?
- When to fish the Yadkin River, North Carolina
- How to get to the Yadkin River, North Carolina
- Yadkin River fishing report
- Yadkin River fishing regulations