Are there places to fish along the trail. I’m thinking about bringing some line and a hook, I’ll cook you up a fish if I catch enough.
Yeeeeee Hah
texan
Fishin' - Appalachian Trail
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#2
There’s all kinds of fishin to be done up and down the trail especially in Maine. Real good fishin here in Damascus too.
Lone Wolf
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#3
what are the laws about licenses? I have thought about bringing an ultralite flyrod with me along the trail but don’t need a big fine if I’m breaking state Fish and Game laws. You can fish in VA with a NC license along the parkway. I wonder if there is a similar rule for the AT. I am a strict catch and release fisherman so would be putting back all fish caught.
good question/topic Texan:)
svgklingon
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#5
Most of the fishing done along the AT will be trout fishing with some exceptions of course. For trout fishing in Virginia, you will need a State Fishing License ($12.50 for VA residents, a Trout Fishing License (also $12.50 for VA residents, and a VA National Forest Permit ($3.50). So if you get all this stuff for each state, you are talking some mega bucks, since non resident licenses are much higher. In VA, trout streams are stocked and the dates/times of trout stocking are posted on the www, and in many cases within a few days of stocking, the trout are mostly fished out. Hope this info helps, although I’m sure it’s not exactly what you want to hear. Maintain
Maintain
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#6
You’ve heard of stealth camping, maybe i will try and stealth fish once or twice.
What do you mean ‘a fishing lisence’, sir?
Yeeeeee Hah
texan
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#7
Damascus has a fishing rodeo during Trail Days. The release 1 pound trout in the stream and charge $15 to fish and limit the creel to 5 fish (I think I right on the number). Okie Smokie caught 5 nice trout at the campsite in about 2 hrs. Sat. morning at Trail Days. The majority of the time you are hiking the ridge crest and there are no streams. Superfly carried a fly rod a large part of the trail but only caught fish in Damascus. When you first start you have a chance at Three Forks, then not again until NOC. Then the next place is HOT Spring and Erwin, TN past the smokies. But you are in town and subject to being checked. Not much in VA. There is one nice stream call Trout Stream just before you get to Dragons Tooth, The New River in Parisburg, VA. At the AT center in Boiling Springs, PA is a beautiful trout stream, but the wardens are standing there checking everybody. New York water was bad when we went thru. In New England you cross some good rivers. The Husontonic is a famous trout stream but you can’t eat the fish (PCBs, Mercury and other heavey metals). The streams in New England are also heavly monitored by the Game and Fish people. I saw several checking creels when we hiked through. In the 100 mile widerness in Maine you have a large number of lakes that are stocked. You will carry your rod a long time between opportunities. Good Luck
Papa Smurf
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#8
A good fisherman can always find a good place to drop a line. I recall hiking with Kingfisher last spring. He had a map of the Smokies with all the fishing streams marked out on it. He planned to do some blue blazing over to these streams as he went through. And I recall some good fishing streams in Shenandoah National Park also if you were willing to get off the ridge and go down into the valleys, (Places like Camp Hoover where the former president used to fish).
Peaks
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#9
There are a few spots to fish - ie. Damascus, Boiling Springs and the lakes in Maine but most of the time the trail is up on the ridge well away from fishable water. The Smokies and SNP have good fishing but well off the trail. Bottom line is that it won’t be worth carrying the weight of your fishing equipment.
Steamboag