North Carolina Brook Trout Association

08/05/2026

Another gorgeous native brook trout, this time from kevin. Look at those halos around the spots and that classic orange fin trim, this is what a healthy Southern Appalachian brookie looks like in the hand.

Thank you for sharing this catch with us. Got a brook trout photo of your own? Send it our way, we love featuring the fish our community is finding in these mountains.

Every donation helps fund habitat restoration work like our Twentymile translocation project, so these fish have clean, cold water for generations to come. Link in bio to give.

Tag a friend who needs to get out on the water this season.

07/28/2026

Look closely at that rock in the streambed. Those folds didn’t happen overnight, they’re the record of rock being folded like taffy under heat and pressure deep in the earth. And those dark, glittering crystals embedded in the quartz-rich stone? That’s biotite mica, grown slowly as the rock recrystallized under intense pressure.

This is the fingerprint of the Alleghanian orogeny, the final continental collision (roughly 325 to 260 million years ago) when Africa slammed into what’s now North America and closed the Iapetus Ocean for good. That collision folded, faulted, and cooked the rock beneath our feet, then built the mountains we know today.

Brook trout came into this story much later. As Ice Age glaciers pushed south, brookies followed the cold water down into the Southern Appalachians, then got stranded here as the ice retreated and warmed water closed in around them. They’ve held on ever since, a living relic of the last Ice Age, swimming over rock forged 250 million years before they arrived.

Thank you Justin Cape | Outdoor Storyteller for the great pictures!

📸 Catch a brookie in these mountains? Share your photo below, we love seeing where they’re still holding on.

💚 Link in bio to support our restoration work.

07/27/2026

Another beautiful Southern Appalachian brookie caught by Treat, caught and released right back home. Those colors, the olive back, gold spots, and orange belly, are what make this native species one of a kind.

These fish only survive where the water stays cold and clean. Every stream we restore is another shot at keeping them there.

📸 Send us your brookie photos, we love featuring catches from across WNC.
💙 Help fund restoration work like Moore Springs Branch. Link in bio to donate.

05/20/2026

In the lead up to the , we want to give a shout out to everybody who donated to NCBTA's charity raffle for brook trout conservation!

Today we're going to feature

Bearwaters Brewing has been a fixture of the Maggie Valley community for years, and their $250 donation is a perfect example of a local business showing up for the mountains they call home. We put that donation to work at , picking up a Wrangler Trout rod and a San Juan vertical chest pack. Two great prizes for two lucky winners.

BearWaters sits right on Jonathan Creek, which means you can eat, drink, and be standing in a trout stream all within about 10 minutes. That is our kind of afternoon.

Raffle tickets will be available at our table at the Maggie Valley Fly Fishing Festival on May 22-23.

🎟 1 ticket for $5
🎟 6 tickets for $25

All proceeds go directly to native brook trout restoration in the Twentymile Watershed of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tag a fishing buddy who owes you a beer.



📸 BearWaters Brewing Company

05/17/2026

In the lead up to the , we want to give a shout out to everybody who donated to NCBTA's charity raffle for brook trout conservation.

Today we're going to feature

Davidson River Outfitters has been a staple of the Western North Carolina fly fishing community for decades, and their generosity says everything about the kind of people that make up this community. Kevin and his team donated a $50 gift card, two hats, and a t-shirt to our raffle. Any angler would be proud to walk away with any of these items.

DRO operates out of Pisgah Forest, NC, right along the Davidson River, one of the most celebrated trout streams in the Southeast. If you haven't fished with them, put it on your list.

Raffle tickets will be available at our table at the Maggie Valley Fly Fishing Festival on May 22-23.

🎟 1 ticket for $5
🎟 6 tickets for $25

All proceeds go directly to native brook trout restoration in the Twentymile Watershed of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tag a fishing buddy who needs to be there and come back tomorrow to see more items we'll be raffling off!

05/05/2026

Nearly a century after brook trout disappeared from these waters, we’re helping bring them back. The NC Brook Trout Association is proud to financially support the 2027 native brook trout translocation into Moore Springs Branch, Twentymile Watershed, in partnership with

Donate and show your support for Southern Appalachian Brook Trout!

04/14/2026

03/19/2026

This is why clean, cold, connected water matters.
Not just for the fish you see, but for the ones you don’t.

FYI, I sacrificed my iPhone for this post 😅

02/25/2026

At one time, every trout stream in these mountains held native brook trout.

Today, only about 18% of trout waters in North Carolina still contain brook trout alone.

This fish isn’t rare because it’s fragile.
It’s rare because its habitat has slowly disappeared.

Cold water warmed.
Barriers broke connections.
Introduced trout filled the gaps.

But where clean, connected habitat still exists, brook trout are still thriving. Just like this one.

Every restoration project, every protected headwater, every supporter matters.

If you want to help keep native brook trout in the Southern Appalachians, visit the website and see how you can be part of it.

Link in bio.

02/23/2026

This stream was restored with Southern Appalachian brook trout in 2009.

Today, it holds a naturally reproducing population.

Conservation is not a quick win.
It’s a long-term investment in habitat, cold water, and patience.

The return?
Wild fish that don’t need us anymore.

That’s the goal.