Under delayed-harvest regulations, no trout can be harvested or possessed from these waters between Oct. 1, 2008 and one half-hour after sunset on June 5, 2009. No natural bait is allowed, and anglers can fish only with single-hook, artificial lures.

Effective July 1, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission defined artificial lure as a fishing lure that neither contains nor has been treated with any substance that attracts fish by the sense of taste or smell.

Please refer to the 2008-2009 N.C. Inland Fishing, Hunting and Trapping Regulations Digest for more information.

At 6 a.m. on June 6, 2009, delayed-harvest waters will open to fishing under hatchery-supported regulations only for youths 15 and younger. Under hatchery-supported regulations, there are no bait restrictions, no minimum length limit and a seven-trout-per-day creel limit. These waters will open to anglers of all ages at noon.

Hatchery-supported regulations remain in force until

Oct. 1 each year.

Delayed-harvest waters, posted with black-and-white signs, create high-quality fishing opportunities where anglers can fish densely stocked trout streams on a catch-and-release basis, fall through spring.

In October and November, and March, April and May of 2009, the Commission will stock delayed-harvest waters

with 237,000 catchable-sized trout.

&dquo;Due to the extreme drought of the last two years and the subsequent fish kill at the Armstrong State Fish Hatchery last year, the normal species distribution of 40 percent brook trout, 20 percent brown trout and 40 percent rainbow trout will be altered slightly to enable us to provide the numbers and sizes of fish that our anglers have become accustomed to catching in delayed-harvest waters,&dquo; said Kyle Briggs, fish production supervisor for the Commission.

While most of the region has begun to receive much needed rainfall, Commission personnel will continue to monitor water levels and temperatures prior to the delayed-harvest stockings but do not think that delays in those stockings will be needed. &bsp;

&dquo;With the addition of the two new delayed-harvest waters in Mitchell and Wilkes counties, we now have even more places for the angling public to enjoy catch-and-release fishing,&dquo; Briggs added.

&dquo;We continue to encourage anglers to respect the landowners and the land where they fish.&dquo;

Local Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters include:

&ull; Polk County, the Green River (Fishtop Falls access area to the confluence with Cove Creek)

&ull; Henderson County, the North Fork Mills River (game land portion below the Hendersonville watershed dam;)

&ull; Transylvania County, East Fork French Broad River (Glady Fork to French Broad River) Little River (confluence of Lake Dense outflow to Hooker Falls)

&ull; Haywood County, West Fork Pigeon River (Queen Creek to the first game land boundary upstream of Lake Logan)

&ull; McDowell County, Curtis Creek (game land portion downstream of the U.S. Forest Service boundary at Deep Branch)

&ull; Burke County, Jacob Fork (Shinny Creek to lower South Mountains State Park boundary.)

‐ article submitted