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Free Loaner Rods and Reels Enhance Fishing Opportunities at Old Fort

OLD FORT, N.C. (Sept. 24, 2009) – The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has enhanced fishing opportunities in McDowell County by partnering with Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center to provide loaner rods and reels free of charge to anglers of all ages.

Twenty-five rods and reels are available at the museum through the Commission’s Tackle Loaner Program, which works like a library. Anglers register at the museum office to receive a tackle loaner identification card that lets them check out a rod and reel. Anglers 15 years and younger must have a parent or guardian complete the registration form. 

After returning the loaner rods and reels to the museum office, first-time participants 15 years and younger will receive a free mini-tackle box containing jigs, a small spinnerbait, hooks, bobbers, sinkers and a stringer.

Anglers can use the tackle loaner identification cards at any Tackle Loaner Program site in North Carolina, but they must return the rods and reels to the original loaner site.

Visitors who wish to participate in the Tackle Loaner Program can register for the program and pick up a rod and reel at Mountain Gateway Museum located at 102 Water Street in Old Fort. The office is open from 12 noon–5 p.m. on Monday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 2–5 p.m. on Sunday.

"The grounds at the Mountain Gateway Museum, Mill Creek and the town itself all can be a pleasant experience, but the addition of the Tackle Loaner Program will add so much to a visitor's experience,” said Terrell Finley, museum administrator.  “This program is a great way to get folks involved in the outdoors, especially the younger ones and proves a person does not have to enter a ‘wilderness’ to enjoy the great outdoors.”

In addition to the Tackle Loaner Program, a new section of Mill Creek between the U.S. 70 and I-40 bridges was classified as delayed-harvest on July 1, 2009. As part of the Commission’s trout management plan, the section will be stocked with 425 brook, brown and rainbow trout in October, November, March, April and May. 

While fishing in the 0.7-mile delayed-harvest section of Mill Creek, anglers must use single-hook artificial lures and cannot harvest or possess any trout from Oct. 1, 2009, until one half-hour after sunset on June 4, 2010. The section will then remain closed to fishing until 6 a.m. on June 5 when it reopens to anglers 15 years and younger under hatchery-supported regulations, with no bait restriction, no minimum length limit and a 7-trout-per-day creel limit. The section will open to anglers of all ages at noon on June 5. Hatchery-supported regulations remain in effect until Oct. 1 each year.

Other fishing opportunities in the vicinity include:

  • A 6.7-mile reach of Mill Creek, classified as hatchery-supported, is immediately upstream of the museum between the upper railroad bridge and U.S. 70.
  • A 2-mile section of the Catawba River, classified as hatchery-supported, runs from Catawba Falls Campground to the Old Fort Recreation Park.
  • A 1.7-mile portion of Curtis Creek, classified as delayed-harvest, is located on Commission game lands just off U.S. 70 east of Old Fort and is equipped with two universally accessible piers.

Several locations in Pisgah National Forest are classified as wild trout waters; while Newberry Creek is managed under the catch-and-release/artificial lure only trout regulations.

For more information about the Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center, call 828-668-9259 or click here.  For more information on the Tackle Loaner and Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters programs, as well as a list of delayed-harvest waters organized by county, click here.

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