Trout waters open
Delayed-harvest trout waters will open for the summer on Saturday, June 4, giving anglers the chance to catch a dinner from the state’s 34 streams and two lakes falling under the designation.
For the first six hours — from 6 a.m. to noon — the waters will be open to youth under 16 only, with waters opening to anglers of all ages afterward.
Though fishing is allowed for most of the year in delayed-harvest waters, it is catch-and-release only except during the open season that runs through Sept. 30. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission stocked 370,000 trout this year from March to May, with stocking happening again in October and November.
“In early summer, when some streams become too warm for trout to survive, we open these stocked streams to harvest under hatchery-supported regulations before stream conditions get too warm,” explained David Deaton, the Commission’s fish production supervisor.
Delayed-harvest trout waters are posted with diamond-shaped, black-and-white signs. Through Sept. 30, anglers can keep up to seven trout per day with no bait or size limits.
