BirdTroutOpen the map Is the Yadkin River good for rainbow trout?
Yes, with a caveat. NC DEQ recorded rainbow trout in the Yadkin River between 2006 and 2011, at 4 sampling sites on it, and the river's measured July mean of 73.0 °F runs above the 55–65 °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 15 years ago — it is the most recent record NC DEQ publishes for this water, not a reading from this season. Fish of 7–14 inches are what North Carolina reports as typical.
What the state's records say
- Species
- Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
- In North Carolina
- introduced
- Record here
- surveyed present
- Holds in
- 55–65 °F, stops feeding above 75 °F
- Typical
- 7–14 inches
- Spawns
- Spring — March into May — on gravel, which is what separates it from the two autumn spawners above.
Introduced, and now the most widely distributed trout in the western counties — wild in the tumbling gradient water and stocked through the hatchery-supported season.
Is the water cold enough
Measured, not modelled: 1 gauged stretch of this river average 73.0 °F in July , against the 55–65 °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