Exploring the Whitewater River in NC

Last Saturday I went to the western part of North Carolina to the Whitewater River with my son Stephen. We had never fished the Whitewater River so we wated to explore it for ourselves. The Whitewater River originates in NC and flows south into South Carolina and empties into the Jocassee Lake. (By the way, the Jocassee Lake has seen some record brook trout taken.) It is a most remote area and extremely rugged and that makes it very scenic indeed.

However, the small trail leading from State Route 281 is overgrown and covered with fallen trees so it was a difficult trip. Several times I had to crawl on my hands and knees. Due to my failing eyesight I used a spinning rod and a Rooster Tail which I could easily see while Stephen started with a dry fly.

The browns in the upper portion of Whitewater were cooperative. I missed the first two browns after I thought that I had set the hook. But the next brown hit hard and turned out to be a 10 inch brown who was very fiesty indeed. The browns however, were not interested in dry flies so Stephen tried a tandem rig with a nymph on the bottom. Needless to say, we had to leave due to a heavy rainstorm before he had a chance to determine how effective that would be.

After we dried out somewhat, Stephen went to the 400 foot Whitewater Falls, and hiked down to the river. There he had some eager browns but they were a little smaller and from his pictures, they appeared to be about 6 to 9 inches long. The hike back up to the parking lot was extreme to say the least.

Although the trout are plentiful, I do not recommend the Whitewater River unless you are in top physical shape!