The Catawba river 12/7/20:

[AndyS]

Took the one hour drive from Charlotte to meet up and float the Catawba river with my guide Matt. I got there before him and fished for about 45 minutes and caught 2 foot long brown trout.
We shoved off at 9am. Soon into the trip I started to do very well, hits and follows by cookie cutter 12 inch trout. Some of the river looked like the Millstone, some of it looked like the Beaverkill up in New York, very few houses were seen during the float, maybe 5 or 10 at best, very rural and scenic. Soon into the float trip the Catawba meets up with Muddy Creek, and yes it was muddy. The combination of the 2 rivers turned the water an awesome turquoise color.
Things really started heating up, by 11am it seemed I was getting a follow or hooked up on just about every other cast, it then went to nothing less than LIGHT OUT FISHING !! I never exaggerate and to say I caught 40 trout in 4 hours is a conservative estimate ! Many in the 10 to 12 inch range, some to 14 inches. Some looked like hold over and some looked like fresh hatchery released fish. I never caught so many trout in one day. We stopped for lunch at 1pm. From 1pm to 4 pm when we took out I only caught 3 fish, go figure !! The entire trip was about 9 miles long. Even the guide was scratching his head as to why the trout stack up as they do during certain times of the year. It was also his first time watching someone catch trout on a jig, he was convinced. Matt also told me there were a few rouge striped bass swimming around the upper part of the river but we never saw them. Just like the guide on the South Holston Matt also recommended I use lures that are white, still trying to wrap my head around that one. We did see a lone kayaker and he tossing big white streamers. I've seen some pretty "fishy" water in my lifetime but this ranked up there in the top 3. Next float trip I do may be out in Tennessee on the Watagua and hope to float the French Broad in the spring with Matt. We got off the river at 4pm and drove back up to the top to retrieve my car, now the power company was doing a 2 generator water release. What was once a peaceful pretty trout stream suddenly became a raging river with what looked like class 3 rapids, insane !

[thmyorke1]

nice action! buttery brown! and only an hour away unlike the other rivers

[AndyS]

One hour from Charlotte where I spent the night at a friends hose, 4 hour drive to get home
Look at that river on Google Earth, basically NO access other than to float in.

[bigfishy]

Sounds like that river deserves a return trip!! Gr8 job!!

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by AndyS

One hour from Charlotte where I spent the night at a friends hose, 4 hour drive to get home
Look at that river on Google Earth, basically NO access other than to float in.

ah! nevermind when will you explore more of the local stuff? No trout but nice bass and other species?

[AndyS]

Some of the local lakes have largemouth and crappie along with channel catfish, really not much here on the Piedmont, most if not all rivers here look like the Millstone, slow and muddy. Plus it's all about access, New Jersey has great access to just about every stream and river in the state, not so much here. I have to learn spots locally for when the shad come up in a month or two. Hopefully next week I can get up to Waynesboro Virginia and fish the South river then head into the mountains and hit the upper Jackson.

[FASTEDDIE29]

That water looks awesome! You had a great day catching for sure. Awesome pics Cap’n !